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Texas Sings the Blues
Trivia: The Texas Blues movement
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Texas Blues: Not Just Stevie Ray!
When most people think blues, they think first of either the flashy electric indulgence of Chicago or the lowdown shuffle of the Delta. However, just as the deep South makes up Hip-Hop’s Third Coast, Texas has long been the underappreciated bastard son of the Blues community. Of course there’s Stevie Ray Vaughan, everyone’s favorite Texan bluesman, but his style ultimately owed far more to the Windy City than to the already strong Texas blues tradition. To really talk about “Texas Blues”, you have to go a bit further back.
The real spirit of Texas Blues is much closer to the Delta than Chicago, based on acoustic playing and tightly centered around the interaction of vocals and (often acoustic) guitar. However, giants like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lightnin’ Hopkins had a looser, lighter, more melodic sound when compared to the dark, thumping intensity of John Lee Hooker or Robert Johnson. T-Bone Walker and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown also exemplify the sound—and though he’s not actually from Texas, so does Lazy Lester.
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To take a more geographical tack, start off with Randy Garibay and Doug Sahm, two trad’ and true electric Tex-Mex stylists with substantial legacies of their own. Also with a little bit of weight behind them are the more rock-leaning Omar and the Howlers and Lou Ann Barton (who has performed with both Stevie Ray’s Double Trouble and The Fabulous Thunderbirds), as well as the emminent Marcia Ball, whose boogie-woogie piano casts a long shadow in some circles.
There’s also plenty of new blood around, from rising lights like Candye Kane and Toni Price to relative unknowns like Guy Forsyth, Steve James, and Sue Foley.
Links to all things Texas Musical
A link to Delta Ryde's sister site at the San Antonio Blue's Society pages: The Band
The Texas Heritage Music Foundation: (Thank you, Kathleen!) T.H.M.F.
The Texas Music Coalition: Join and support it, if you love Texas Music! T.M.C
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