How do you define Texas music, by the greats of the past or by the talented new kids on the block? The answer is, of course, with both. As big as the state and just as varied, Texas has produced a whole herd of famous (and some infamous) musical sons and daughters: Ruby Agnes Owens (Sophie Tucker of Country), Janis Joplin, Buddy Holly, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kinky Friedman, ZZ Top, Seals and Croft, Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson, Bob Wills, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Don Henley, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ray Price, George Strait, and that famous Texas rock band, Bloodrock. These are just the sprinkles on a veritable Dunkin' Donut of great musicians.
The Lone Star State is the birthplace of the special Tex-Mex sound, like that of Los Lonely Boys, Texas Tornados and Tish Hinojosa. The uniqueness of Texas Swing - toe-tapping, uplifting, never matched but always copied - is forever part of the legacy of the great Bob Wills. A true minimalist in composition, but not at all sparse in talent, Willis Alan Ramsey stays a favorite in our CD player and on the patio turntable. I can belt out "Spider John" anywhere, anytime on cue.
I grew up listening to the nasaly twang of Ernest Tubb, E.T. to his friends and peers. Tubb's Texas Troubadours were one of the first touring country bands to add electric guitar (so the band could be heard above the honky-tonks' raucous din) and to use drums (for the same reason). The music scene would be duller and dustier than the back tail lights of a pickup truck in Pecos without the sounds of Texas.
The links below will lead you to sound clips of the good stuff:
Los Lonely Boys
Reckless Kelly
Randy Rogers Band
Willis Alan Ramsey
Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours
Tish Hinojosa
Texas Tornados
Eleven Hundred Springs
Hope I have introduced you to some new ear candy. Enjoy!
4 comments:
And a fine list you've got here, Miss Pattie. Back in pre-historic times - the mid-1960s, when I was living in Houston, I would, on occasion, travel to Austin on the weekend for the express purpose of listening to the great local bands in the many terrific clubs there.
Among the artists I regularly sought out in those days was Janis Joplin, as yet unrecorded then and if memory serves without Big Brother and the Holding Company yet.
She is still a favorite although in my old age, I find that a couple of her Big Brother albums are unlistenable without a little - uh, chemical aid.
But it took awhile for me to appreciate the local music. My introduction to country and Texas music was in a beer bar in Houston.
Imagine a young 20-something from San Francisco (which didn't even have a country music radio station) who considered herself oh-so-big-town-sophisticated in her musical tastes. Then imagine that girl sitting in that beer bar surrounded by a bunch of rowdy cowboy types she'd never seen the likes of before in their Stetsons and cowboy boots, and this comes on the jukebox: Buck Owens singing, "I've Got a Tiger By the Tail."
That's a song?
As it turned out, it made that young faux sophisticate laugh and I've been listening to it all ever since.
Thanks for joining the meme, Pattie.
Ronni
Got a question for you. I recently picked up a cd by Ned Sublette. "Cowboy Rhumba" is the title, put out in 1999. He's a Lubbock boy, same as Buddy Holly and Jerry Jeff Walker (although Jerry Jeff is actually a transplanted Jersey guy). Have you heard of him? If so, do you have any info about him, like, have you seen him play? The cd is an absolute treat. How he combines cowboy music with country music with Mexican music with Spanish music is an aural delight. If you've not heard of him I strongly suggest getting yourself a copy of the cd. The liner notes, which he conccted himself, are worth the price of the cd alone. Let me know if you know anything about him. I'd appreciate it.
Thanks for another wonderful blog entry.
wow! I had no idea all of those artists were from Texas...very impressive
What a wonderful list, Pattie! Those names take me back to so many times and places in Texas.
I haven't had my coffee yet, so while I know there are other Texan musicians I'd put on such a list, I can't come up with their names. Or maybe it's not the lack of coffee that's the problem...
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