Texas Blues: The Rise of a Contemporary Sound
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Overview
Texas Blues allows artists to speak in their own words, revealing the dynamics of blues, from its beginnings in cotton fields and shotgun shacks to its migration across boundaries of age and race to seize the musical imagination of the entire world. Fully illustrated with 495 dramatic, high-quality color and black-and-white photographs—many never before published—Texas Blues provides comprehensive and authoritative documentation of a musical tradition that has changed contemporary music. Award-winning documentary filmmaker and author Alan Govenar here builds on his previous groundbreaking work documenting these musicians and their style with the stories of 110 of the most influential artists and their times. From Blind Lemon Jefferson and Aaron “T-Bone” Walker of Dallas, to Delbert McClinton in Fort Worth, Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins in East Texas, Baldemar (Freddie Fender) Huerta in South Texas, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in Austin, Texas Blues shows the who, what, where, and how of blues in the Lone Star State.
Synopsis
Texas Blues allows artists to speak in their own words, revealing the dynamics of blues, from its beginnings in cotton fields and shotgun shacks to its migration across boundaries of age and race to seize the musical imagination of the entire world. Fully illustrated with 495 dramatic, high-quality color and black-and-white photographs—many never before published—Texas Blues provides comprehensive and authoritative documentation of a musical tradition that has changed contemporary music. Award-winning documentary filmmaker and author Alan Govenar here builds on his previous groundbreaking work documenting these musicians and their style with the stories of 110 of the most influential artists and their times. From Blind Lemon Jefferson and Aaron “T-Bone” Walker of Dallas, to Delbert McClinton in Fort Worth, Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins in East Texas, Baldemar (Freddie Fender) Huerta in South Texas, and Stevie Ray Vaughan in Austin, Texas Blues shows the who, what, where, and how of blues in the Lone Star State.
Living Blues
"Texas Blues has value that transcends music scholarship. . . The book does an admirable job of balancing range and depth."-Living Blues
Editorials
Joe Nick Patoski
"Alan Govenar's book is easily the most ambitious, most sweeping volume specifically dedicated to the subject of Texas blues. No other book even comes close."—Joe Nick Patoski, author of Willie Nelson: An Epic LifeLiving Blues
"Texas Blues has value that transcends music scholarship. . . The book does an admirable job of balancing range and depth."-Living BluesThe Texas Observer
"This book is a unique collection of publicity photos, snapshots, and reproductions of concert posters, album labels and album covers."-Texas ObserverLiving Blues
"Texas Blues has value that transcends music scholarship. . . The book does an admirable job of balancing range and depth."-Living Blues
The Texas Observer
"This book is a unique collection of publicity photos, snapshots, and reproductions of concert posters, album labels and album covers."-Texas Observer
Library Journal
As this massive, vibrant, and colorful study shows, the importance of Texas Blues is demonstrated by the number of musicians who have practiced or are practicing this art. The coverage is expansive, with introductory essays, interviews conducted by Govenar and others, and a wealth of photographs. Govenar (Meeting the Blues) manages to profile an amazing number of guitarists, pianists, singers, and others, both well known and obscure, who show how much pioneering blues musicians like T-Bone Walker and Lightnin' Hopkins influenced their own development. The discussion of the role played by tiny establishments, radio stations, country music, and several key record labels is particularly enlightening. These vignettes, along with a carefully chosen discography and bibliography, contribute to making this a special book on the blues field, particularly its Texas developments. Recommended for all libraries, especially those with large music holdings.
—William G. Kenz