Full Description
From country and blues to rap and punk, Texas music is all over the map, figuratively and literally. Texas musicians have pioneered new musical genres, instruments, and playing styles, proving themselves to be daring innovators who often call the tune for musicians around the country and even abroad. To introduce some of these trailblazing Texas musicians to a wider audience and pay tribute to their accomplishments, Michael Corcoran profiles thirty-two of them in "All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music". Corcoran covers musicians who work in a wide range of musical genres, including blues, gospel, country, rap, indie rock, pop, Cajun, Tejano, conjunto, funk, honky-tonk, rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and Western swing.His focus is on underappreciated artists, pioneers who haven't fully received their due. He also includes well-known musicians who've been underrated, such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Selena, and invites us to take a closer look at the unique talents of these artists. Corcoran's profiles come from articles he wrote for the Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman, Houston Press, and other publications, which have been expanded and updated for this volume.His musical detective work even uncovers a case of mistaken identity (Washington Phillips) and corrects much misinformation on Blind Willie Johnson and Arizona Dranes. Corcoran closes the book with lively pieces on the Austin music scene and its most famous, if no longer extant, clubs, as well as his personal lists of the forty greatest Texas songs of all time and the twenty-five essential CDs for Texas music fans.
Contents
Preface EAST TEXAS/HOUSTON 1. SOUL STIRRERS (Trinity) In Search of Rebert Harris 2. HARRY CHOATES (Port Arthur) Death in a Jail Cell 3. WASHINGTON PHILLIPS (Freestone County) Lift Him Up, That's All 4. CLARENCE "GATEMOUTH" BROWN (Orange) At the Crossroads 5. THE GETO BOYS AND DJ SCREW (Houston) Where the Dirty South Began 6. ARCHIE BELL AND THE DRELLS (Houston) "Hey, everybody! That's me" 7. FLOYD TILLMAN (Houston) Honky-tonk Triple Threat DALLAS AREA 8. T-BONE WALKER (Oak Cliff) Architect of Electric Blues 9. ELLA MAE MORSE (Mansfield) "You sing like a black girl" 10. SLY STONE (Denton) The Funk Grows in Texas 11. ERNEST TUBB (Crisp) The Original E.T. 12. ARIZONA DRANES (Dallas) The Gospel Beat 13. FREDDIE KING (Gilmer) The Stinging Leads Heard 'cross the Atlantic 14. RONNIE DAWSON (Waxahachie) The Blond Bomber WACO AREA 15. BILLY JOE SHAVER (Waco) "The second time I done it on my own" 16. BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON (Marlin) The Soul of a Man 17. CINDY WALKER (Mexia) First Lady of Texas Song 18. WILLIE NELSON (Abbott) The Red-Headed Stranger at 70 AUSTIN 19. STEVIE RAY VAUGHAN Straight from the Heart 20. BLAZE FOLEY Death of a Songwriter 21. BUTTHOLE SURFERS Showing Worm Movies 22. RAY WYLIE HUBBARD From Rednecks to Rilke 23. TOWNES VAN ZANDT Death on New Year's Day 24. DON WALSER Last of the Singing Cowboys 25. ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO Hands of the Son SAN ANTONIO AND THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY 26. STEVE JORDAN (San Antonio) The Invisible Genius 27. DOUG SAHM (San Antonio) The Genre Conqueror 28. SELENA AND LYDIA MENDOZA (Corpus Christi, San Antonio) The First and Last Queens of Tejano WEST TEXAS 29. WAYLON JENNINGS (Littlefield) An Outlaw at Rest 29a. THE CHUCK WAGON GANG (Lubbock) Higher Power through Harmony 30. BOBBY FULLER (El Paso) Rock 'n' Roll Mystery BONUS TRACKS 31. The New Sincerity Austin in the Eighties 32. The Texas Top 40 Michael Corcoran's List of the Best Texas Recordings Ever 33. The Dead Clubs of the Live Music Capital 34. Twenty-five Essential Texas Music CDs Acknowledgments Index of Names
