Blind Lemon Jefferson

Blind Lemon Jefferson, a physically large, visually impaired individual with distinctive ‘owlish’ facial features, was a familiar figure on the streets of Dallas for over two decades. Wearing a wide-brimmed hat and carrying a tapping stick, he played his guitar with a tin cup hanging from his neck. His distinctive singing, marked by a sharp,…

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SMOKIN’ JOE KUBEK

Texas ‘Roadhouse Blues’ is always a popular form of music, and while it rarely breaks new ground, it always makes for a good night out! Smokin’ Joe Kubek and his side-kick Bnois King have formed a very ‘complimentary’ guitar partnership that is far more than the sum of its parts. They have been pounding the…

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ROY GAINES

Roy Gaines was born on 1934 in Waskom, Texas and brought up in Houston. There was music in the family, as his older brother Grady played sax as a session musician for Don Robey‘s Peacock Records, and later joined Little Richard‘s band The Upsetters. Roy started out playing piano, but switched to guitar because he…

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‘SMOKEY’ HOGG

‘Smokey’ Hogg was an old-school Texas Blues guitarist and pianist who moved to the West-coast after WWII and had a couple of good R&B chart hits with a smooth piano Blues sound, alongside his dozens of country-style, guitar based records. His down-home delivery and eccentric sense of timing sounded old-fashioned in an era of frenetic…

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WHISTLIN’ ALEX MOORE

Whistlin’ Alex Moore was an eccentric Texas pianist whose career stretched from the early 20s into the late 80s. His archaic playing style incorporated elements of ragtime, barrelhouse and ‘stride’ patterns, and his talent for endless improvisation, spur-of-the-moment diversions and wild, Thelonius Monk-like spatterings of ‘blue-notes’ spoke of an inventive man whose main job was…

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WC CLARK

Austin, Texas has a vibrant live Blues scene, enriched by the presence of WC Clark, whose solid Blues band and soulful voice have been a mainstay of the club circuit there for decades. As a bass player he has backed many legendary players and as a guitarist his elegant lines recall the laid-back, tasteful style…

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BLACK ACE

Black Ace was the recording name of BK Turner, a Texas Bluesman with a melodious voice and a fine slide-guitar style, who took his Blues name from his only popular record. He was a well known radio personality in Fort Worth before WWII, when his records sold well across the South, but he was never…

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FRANKIE LEE SIMS

Frankie Lee Sims was a Texas Blues guitarist with a rocking, roughed-up style that gave him some early regional popularity and one national hit record in the 50s. He lived a rough life too, and got into the kind of trouble that scared record companies away, so he didn’t figure in the Folk/Blues revival ten…

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HOP WILSON

Lap-steel guitar player Hop Wilson was Texas born and bred, and almost unknown outside his home state, but through his influence on Johnny Winter and Jimmie Vaughan, his sound still echoes today. Ronnie Wood is another fan of Hop’s guitar licks, because Hop could also play a mean slide on a conventional guitar. A contemporary…

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MANCE LIPSCOMB

Mance Lipscomb was more than just a Blues singer. He could be more accurately be classed as a songster in the Leadbelly tradition, with a wide range of folk songs, spirituals, ragtime tunes and children’s songs. He played them in a variety of styles and keys, often using slide-guitar but equally at home with a…

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