Musical Marginalia
David says: Hank Williams died in a car, but he did NOT die in a car WRECK! What a disappointing error -- I thought every self-respecting country-music fan knew that! (October 14th, 2009 at 11:48am)
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The Big Bopper, on a 1959 tour with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and others in the freezing Midwest, got the flu and, being a truly big bopper, had a hard time sleeping on the small tour bus seats. The Beaumont deejay persuaded Waylon Jennings, who was playing bass in Holly’s band, to give him his seat on the prop plane Holly had chartered to take his band to the next town. Not long after takeoff, the plane crashed, killing everyone on board. True. Jennings’ last words to his friend Holly were, in jest, “I hope your ol’ plane crashes.” MICHAEL HALL
Deejays Who Changed Everything
Lavada Durst The accomplished barrelhouse pianist, a.k.a. Dr. Hepcat, began his radio career in the forties on Austin’s KVET-AM. Speaking in rhymes, he perfected the patter that became the standard for disc jockeys everywhere and published a dictionary of his slang, The Jives of Dr. Hepcat.
Manuel Davila One of the first Latino broadcasters to play Texas acts instead of the more popular Mexican ones—on KUKA-AM in San Antonio—he went on to operate KEDA-AM, Radio Jalapeño, until his death, in 1997. His son Ricky (a.k.a. Guero Polkas), is making sure that the station remains a showcase for conjunto music.
Skipper Lee Frazier The sound of black Houston for more than three decades, he exposed African American music to a larger audience on radio station KCOH-AM.
Jim Lowe His deep-bass voice and low-key presentation on the nightly “Kat’s Karavan” show on WRR-AM in Dallas turned a generation of white kids on to the blues in the fifties and sixties.
Misty Originally the Frontier Girl on Fort Worth’s KXOL-AM (and one of the only women in a male-dominated field), she began broadcasting in Lubbock in 1956, soothing South Plains ears with “Music With Misty.” She currently works the evening shift on Lubbock’s KDAV-AM.
Wolfman Jack Born Robert Smith, the greatest American disc jockey of the Top Forty era honed his howling style in the early sixties across the border from Del Rio in Ciudad Acuña on XERF-AM, the Big X, whose 250,000-watt signal (five times the power legally allowed in the U.S.), blasted R&B and rock and roll throughout most of North America.
Bill Mack For more than thirty years the Midnight Cowboy—heard on WBAP-AM in Dallas—Fort Worth and five other stations across the country—has been playing Texas-centric country music to a nationwide trucking audience. In his spare time he composes hits such as “Blue” (LeAnn Rimes).
Joe “the Godfather” Anthony The San Antonio veteran played non-mainstream music for two generations of South Texans. In the fifties and sixties he hosted the “Harlem Hit Parade” on KMAC-AM; in the seventies, on KMAC and its sister station, KISS-FM, he generously exposed listeners to heavy metal, cementing the Alamo City’s reputation as the Detroit of the South.
The Big Bopper Known for his romping, stomping rock and R&B shows on KTRM-AM in Beaumont in the fifties, Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr., was the first deejay to become a recording star in his own right, charting in 1958 with “Chantilly Lace.” One year later, he died in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly. JOE NICK PATOSKI
Characters Who Make Noise
Bongo Joe Also known as George Coleman, this beloved street entertainer wowed crowds in Galveston, Houston, and San Antonio with his proto-raps, “character” voices, whistling, and drumming on 55-gallon oil drums. He died last December, leaving only one album, 1968’s George Coleman: Bongo Joe.
Roky Erickson Once the lead singer for Austin’s intense 1960’s psychedelic rock group the 13th Floor Elevators, he was arrested for marijuana possession in 1969 and pled insanity to avoid a prison term. The subsequent electroshock therapy further unhinged a mind already in disarray, though he continued to record brilliant if nightmarish material.
Jandek A reclusive Houston musician who has released 28 haunting, decidedly lo-fi albums since 1978. This summer, look for a tribute CD featuring members of Sonic Youth, Sebadoh, Pavement, and Half Japanese.
Daniel Johnston Like Erickson, Johnston battles mental illness, and his home-taped cassettes—and later, professionally recorded CDs—have grabbed the attention of alternative-music lovers nationwide. His painfully honest songs of love and hate have been covered by artists like Yo La Tengo and Mary Lou Lord.
Gerry Van King Austin’s famous bass-playing busker has sung his Funkadelic-inspired tunes on the streets for fifteen years. Last March he put out his first full-length CD, The Cause of It All; this summer he’ll be the subject of a documentary, Gerry Van King (The King of Sixth St.).
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy The alter ego of Lubbock’s Norman Odam incorporates Old West and space themes into his lyrics, and in concert he dances spastically around the stage, sometimes stripping down to his underpants. He is best known for his 1968 hit, “Paralyzed,” but he’s still got it: Last October he released his first CD in eight years, Live in Chicago, and in March he played to a large, somewhat bewildered crowd at Austin’s South by Southwest.
The Singing Psychic In addition to her work as a private detective, Dallas’ Frances Baskerville appears on various shows, including Howard Stern’s, crooning her predictions about celebrities and politics. Her recorded work is as strange as it is hard to find, ranging in subject from world peace to JFK and UFOs.
Al Strehli, Jr. The songwriter is considered one of Lubbock’s very best by, among others, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, who has covered him on several albums. Now living a hermitlike existence in a Colorado cabin, Strehli is reportedly writing choral music scored for brass and string sections. KATY VINE
Heroes behind the Scenes
Bill Arhos In 1974 he had the bright idea of putting musicians in front of a live audience, turning on the cameras, and getting the hell out of the way. The result was Austin City Limits, whose 25-year run has introduced the world to cosmic-cowboy rock, western swing, conjunto, zydeco, and other evidence that Texas is the world’s richest musical melting pot.
Alan Lomax Few figures better represent the eclecticism of Texas music than the son of folklorist John A. Lomax. He made his life’s work the collection and preservation of Texas and American folk music, and the astounding variety and richness of his field recordings continue to inspire musicians and music fans.
Huey P. Meaux The onetime barber from Winnie had a talent for matching a voice with a song, and it made him the most powerful producer in Texas and Louisiana. The Crazy Cajun produced hits by Doug Sahm, Lightnin’ Hopkins, George Jones, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Freddy Fender, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others.
Casey Monahan Texas was the first state to open its own music office, in January 1990, and Monahan has been its only director. Working under three governors, the former music journalist has tirelessly promoted the state’s music and musicians, helping artists understand the intricacies of business and government, and helping business and government speak the language of art.
Norman Petty The producer’s open mind and background in hit-parade pop allowed him to be the kind of visionary for Buddy Holly that George Martin was for the Beatles. Musicians from all over the Panhandle came to Petty’s little studio in Clovis, New Mexico, including Roy Orbison, Buddy Knox, Waylon Jennings, and Carolyn Hester.
Luis Silva In the twenty years that the Tejano Music Awards have been given out, he has won the songwriter of the year award eight times, but his dominance of the genre runs much deeper. He discovered and championed Mazz in the seventies and La Mafia in the mid-eighties and helped introduce the synthesizer to their music, thus creating the modern tejano sound.
Bill Ham The archetypal heavy-handed, tightfisted band manager turned a Houston boogie band into the biggest rock act in the world (ZZ Top) and a Houston lounge singer into a country superstar (Clint Black). The secretive Ham also owns Hamstein Cumberland Music Group, one of the largest independent music publishers in the world. MH, JR, JS, KV
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