Texas | All About Blues Music

ANGELA STREHLI

Singer and songwriter Angela has been an important part of the modern Texas Blues scene although, like so many of those old-timers who took the Sunset Route, she now lives on the West coast. Angela took an early interest in the Blues, learning to play bass and harp, and travelling to Chicago so she could…

ANSON FUNDERBURGH

White Blues guitarists like Anson’s fellow Texans Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan made the point that you don’t have to be Black to play the Blues, which was a moot point among music critics back in the day. Listening to classic Blues records and seeing Freddie King, Jimmy Reed and Albert Collins playing in…

DOUG SAHM

Little Douglas Wayne Sahm got started by playing steel guitar on a San Antonio radio station when he was just five years old. As a teenager Doug recorded for various small Texas labels and formed a gigging band called The Pharoahs, and in 1965, producer Huey Meaux encouraged him to form The Sir Douglas Quintet,…

CLARENCE ‘GATEMOUTH’ BROWN

With its wide range of influences, from French cajun to Irish folk, and Scandinavian ‘shilling songs’ to polkas, as well as the obvious African, Caribbean and country roots, Texas Blues comes up with some colourful and innovative artists, but guitar and fiddle player Clarence was one of the finest. Playing harp and drums, as well…

ROBERT SHAW

Distinctive and influential Texan piano player Robert Shaw paid for his own piano lessons as a kid, because his parents didn’t approve. He would leave the farm and travel into Houston, where he picked up a liking for barrelhouse style playing, and earned a living on the ‘Santa Fe Circuit’, following the freight train routes.…

LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS

Sam ‘Lightnin’ Hopkins was a master stylist of Blues guitar, who had an engaging talent for improvising humorous lyrics to his vast repertoire of songs. His complex guitar work had the flavour of early Texas Blues styles, and although his voice was dry and scratchy, his songs and the spontaneous stories he told at his…