Sir Douglas Quintet : Baby, Let's Go To Mexico [ purchase ] While we're visiting Mexico.... The godfather of Tex-Mex rock'n'roll, Doug Sahm earned the nickname Doug Saldana from South of the Border fans. "They said I had so much Mexican in me that I needed a Mexican name" he told biographer Joseph Levy. This song sure makes visiting Mexico sound like a good idea. I've been there a few times and I'd suggest visiting somewhere other than one of the country's famous [...]
The great Flaco Jiménez We've written about this act before, probably too many times, but there is no way around it: the Texas Tornados are a great live act. Anchored by guitarist/singer Shawn Sahm (son of the late, very great Doug Sahm), keyboardist Augie Meyers and the very, very great accordionist Flaco Jiménez, the Tornados bring some Texas thunder every place they play. Thursday night under a perfect sky, and with Houston's gleaming skyline in the background, the Tornados played a free show in Discovery Green park that drew one of the season's biggest [...]
As many of you know, I have been running a lot this year. I'm getting pretty good at it. I started by visiting Runyon Canyon a few times a week, then Elysian Park, Echo Park, and the Silver Lake Reservoir. I had to branch out because I get bored running in circles on the same [...]
( Sad Songs & Waltzes is a recurring feature on Muzzle of Bees, where artists share their favorite sad songs. Previous contributors include Megafaun , Delta Spirit , Damien Jurado , Sharon Van Etten , Over The Rhine , Conrad Plymouth , Frontier Ruckus , Strand of Oaks , and Roadside Graves .) I met Giorgio Angelini several years ago during SXSW while he was playing with The Rosebuds . We reconnected this past March and he shared with me his new material under the [...]
Sir Douglas Quintet, 1965 L-R: Doug Sahm: vocals, guitars, fiddle, arrangements Augie Meyers: organ Johnny Perez: drums Jack Barber: bass Frank Morin: saxophone, percussion, harmony vocals Huey Meaux died a week ago today (April 23, to be precise) at the age of 82, the last 15 years of which were spent behind bars. We don't need to immerse ourselves in the specifics of his internment, but I will quote the great prophet, Richard Pryor : "Thank God we have penitentiaries." [...]
To say that Huey Meaux was a complicated man is an epic understatement, but one guy who prefers to remember only the good in the late Crazy Cajun is Augie Meyers, keyboardist in the Sir Douglas Qu... Continue reading "Sir Douglas Quintet's Augie Meyers Remembers Huey P. Meaux" >
Huey P. Meaux Huey P. Meaux, the legendary and controversial Southeast Texas music producer who discovered the Sir Douglas Quintet, Freddy Fender, "Jivin' Gene" Bourgeois and Barbara Lynn, died Saturday at the age of 82. Meaux had been in federal prison since 1996, when a police raid of his Sugar Hill studios in Houston uncovered evidence that Meaux participated in child pornography, sex with underage females and drug trafficking. He skipped bail and ran to Mexico, but he finally gave up and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Meaux was released in 2007 [...]
Huey Meaux loved to say that he came up with the idea for the Sir Douglas Quintet while holed up in a San Antonio motel armed with nothing but Beatles records, Thunderbird wine , and underage Mexican hookers. His drunkpiphany was that The Beatles were basically playing a variation on the Cajun two-step, with a similar accent on the beat. Meaux called Doug Sahm , then 22 and still a relative unknown, cajoling him, "Bring your guitar and come over, Doug. I'm drunk, but I've got that beat. And that's how [...]
Lightnin' Hopkins and his official marker from the State of Texas Two of Texas' greatest musical legends have received permanent markers in their respective home towns, signs that share their legends with visitors. Bluesman Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins received an official Texas State Historical marker in Houston's Third Ward, while legendary rock and roller Doug Sahm got a permanent marker atop the hill named after him in Austin. The colorful marker now atop Doug Sahm Hill Hopkins, who died in 1982, is only [...]
Welcome to our big Labor Day singles spin-a-thon ... I believe I mentioned earlier that the first single I ever bought was "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys. Naturally, I still have it in a box some place. So yesterday I'm looking for it, and as I flipped through the stacks of old 45s a wave of memories came flooding back to me. My grandmother on my mother's side and her second husband (not my grandfather) owned a pool hall/dive bar back in the 1960s, in Catahoula, Louisiana. Called Knott's, the place was [...]
This year marks the most fun I've had yet putting together twenty songs to soundtrack your summer. The mix came together organically and joyfully while I did summery things, and the contentment I feel lately in these weeks is embedded in the picks. I declared on January 1 (when I did the Polar Bear Plunge ) that 2010 was going to be a flippin' fantastic year, full of new experiences - and it certainly is living up to the promise. Enjoy these as I have, play them at the BBQs to come, and burn them on CD [...]
From the closet this week is the San Antonio based Sir Douglas Quintet, whose albums, The Best of the Sir Douglas Quintet (1966) and Mendocino (1968) were pretty much the soundtrack to my childhood. The latter of which is still one of my favorite albums of all time. Riding on the coattails of the British invasion of the early sixties, Doug Sahm , (who passed away about 10 years ago) decided on a British sounding name, despite his obvious Texan drawl and with fellow members predominantly from Mexico. Regardless of their lack [...]
Most folks, particularly those from Texas, know a little about Doug Sahm. Twice on the cover of Rolling Stone, he was the original cowboy hipster and a Texas icon. Fans revere Doug for his genre-defining work with the Sir Douglas Quintet, who in the 60s forged the sound of Tex Mex music, and they admire [...]
I recently finished reading Jan Reid's (cowritten with Shawn Sahm) new Doug Sahm biography, Texas Tornado: The Times & Music of Doug Sahm out now from Texas University Press. This post isn't so much a review of the album above, but more of a short audio compendium to the book, highlighting some of Doug's favorites, standards, where he came from and what he inspired. Stay tuned to Aquarium Drunkard where our full review should appear in the next couple days. mp3: Bobby "Blue" Bland - [...]
The Sir Douglas Quintet - Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day ( buy ) It's been too long since we've heard one from Doug Sahm on these pages. Here's one of my favorites. And here's a picture of Doug as a young boy. Already a local legend at the age of 11, Doug played on stage with Hank Williams in 1952, only a few weeks before Hank Sr. died.
On a foggy morning recently, I climbed to the top of Doug Sahm Hill. It was just a few days after a bunch of Austin musicians gathered at Antone's to pay respect to the late, great Douglas Wayne Sahm. I didn't go to the concert but I did drop by Austin's new Lady Bird Lake park and took the winding path up to the top of the hill named after this legendary Texas musician. Doug Sahm Not much to see from the top - especially with the fog and all [...]
As we transition from summer to fall, I think it's only appropriate that we kick summer's angry ass out the door Adios Lounge style. Here's a compilation of music that's helped keep me sane during a summer of continuous 100+ degree weather. I think it's a good mix of soul and rock, but those designations are a bit loose. The soul stuff rocks and the rock stuff has soul, so everyone wins. Incidentally, if someone asked you what the Adios Lounge sounds like, you could probably do worse than send them this mix. I'll [...]
Sir Douglas Quintet: Nuevo Laredo It's been ages since the last Doug Sahm post . Time to dust off the boots for this Texas legend.
How in the name of Billy Joe Shaver did I overlook the Sir Douglas Quintet cover of "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues?" It's only one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs! Well, inspired by stewART's generous link to the Dylan/Sahm rendition in the comments to my previous post, said oversight is now corrected and improved upon. Sir Douglas Quintet (w/Alvin Crow) - Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues (1983) [ purchase ] Taken from a 1983 gig at the Whisky a Go Go in LA and [...]
"I first met (Bob Dylan) in '65. We've had a friendship for a long time. He decided to play on a record I was making in New York. We were just friends playing together. All of a sudden, people made a big thing out of it. I can see how he got bitter toward the press. He couldn't take a shit without it being something heavy. That's being under the big gun, that pressure." --Doug Sahm to longtime compadres, Jim Groenenwegen and Bill Bentley, in the Austin Sun (1975) [...]
Star Maker Machine
30 Days Out
Swan Fungus
Muzzle of Bees
The Adios Lounge
Houstoned Rocks
I AM FUEL, YOU ARE FRIENDS
Austin Town Hall
An Aquarium Drunkard
The Rising Storm
Groover's Paradise
Art Decade
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
New Music Tuesday
