I meant to post this article when it ran back in January in the Dallas
Morning News. I found it again when looking for an article in today's paper
that says Maria Holly is not only suing MCA but also two of the Crickets as
well. I couldn't find it but thought I would post this anyway. Can any
other state match up with Texas? Jerald
Texas musicians whose influence helped shape the sound
of the century
01/21/99
By Thor Christensen / Pop Music Critic of The Dallas
Morning News
Coming up with a list of influential Texas musicians is
easy. But trimming
that list down is like whittling a symphony to a handful of
notes.
In deciding which artists made the cut, we placed
originality and artistic
vision above mere popularity (in other words: no Vanilla Ice).
Here, in chronological order, are the 25 most influential
Texas musicians
of the 20th century:
Scott Joplin(1868-1917) - Though he was born in Texarkana, the
pianist-composer bolted for St. Louis in his teens soon
after learning to
play the 88s. By the turn of the century, he'd popularized
ragtime and set
the stage for jazz.
Blind Lemon Jefferson (1897-1930) - The pride of Deep Ellum
wasn't
the first blues singer, but he was clearly one of the first
blues legends. He
died at 32, but not before making dozens of landmark
records that
shaped everyone from T-Bone Walker to Bob Dylan.
Jack Teagarden (1905-1964) - The Vernon-born trombonist was
known in the jazz world as a hard-drinking hellion. But
whenever he put
his instrument to his lips, he made transcendent music that
was inspired
by the blues singers he heard growing up in Texas.
Bob Wills (1905-1975) - The Fort Worth fiddler and his Texas
Playboys performed musical alchemy - mixing country, pop
and big-band
jazz into a brave new sound called Western swing.
T-Bone Walker (1910-1975) - His calling card was a somber
ballad,
"Stormy Monday." But "Oak Cliff T-Bone" shook up the blues and
paved the road for rock with his rough-and-tumble playing
on the electric
guitar.
Lightnin' Hopkins (1912-1982) - One of the most widely recorded
artists of his era, the Houston singer-guitarist was also
one of the most
influential. You can hear a little of his country-blues in
everyone from
Buddy Guy to R.E.M.
Ernest Tubb (1914-1984) - He started off in San Antonio as
a Jimmie
Rodgers imitator, but after a tonsillectomy left him unable
to yodel, he
carved out an ultra-blue country sound all his own.
Charlie Christian (1916-1942) - The Jimi Hendrix of jazz. The
Dallas-born guitarist almost single-handedly turned
electric guitar into a
lead instrument.
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (Born 1924) - He shaped the sound of
Texas guitar blues, but his impact doesn't stop there. An
omnivorous
musician who roves from blues to country to Cajun and
swing, the
Orange, Texas, native practically invented the word
"eclectic."
Lefty Frizzell (1928-1975) - Along with the lonesome wail
of Hank
Williams, Lefty's blue yodel is one of the signature sounds
of honky-tonk.
The Corsicana-born singer had a profound effect on the
likes of Dwight
Yoakam, Randy Travis and Willie Nelson.
Ornette Coleman (born 1930) - The Fort Worth sax player
broke new
ground by doing away with traditional rhythms and harmony.
He dubbed
the sound "harmolodics," while the writers named it
"free-form jazz."
Whatever you called it, it was pure revolution.
George Jones (born 1931) - With his rich, expressive voice
and his thick
back catalog of heartache, the Saratoga-born "Possum" is a
living
definition of old-school country music.
Albert Collins (1932-1993) - "The Iceman" of Houston was a
phenomenal showman who spent as much time jamming in the
crowd as
he did onstage. But stinging instrumentals such as "Frosty"
and "The
Freeze" are towering blues landmarks.
Willie Nelson (born 1933) - Nobody's going to tell you Mr.
Nelson is an
incredible singer. But the Austinite is one of country's
greatest resources,
both as a songwriter ("Nightlife," "Crazy") and as the
leader of the '70s
"outlaw" movement that smashed the barriers between rock
and country.
Van Cliburn (born 1934) - The Fort Worth pianist earned a
ticker-tape
parade in New York after he traveled to Moscow at the
height of the
Cold War in 1958 and won the First International Tchaikovsky
Competition. Forty years and millions of album sales later,
he's a bona
fide classical icon.
Freddie King (1934-1976) - To get a gauge on exactly how
blistering
the Dallas-based guitar player was, compare his versions of
"Hideaway"
and "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" with Eric Clapton's
remakes. The
contest isn't even close.
Buddy Holly (1936-1959) - In the span of less than two
years, the
Lubbock singer-guitarist recorded a body of songs that
ranks as one of
the most important in rock history. "Not Fade Away" indeed.
Roy Orbison (1936-1988) - Approaching every song as if it
were a
three-minute opera, the singer from Wink, Texas, set out to
put high
drama into rock 'n' roll. Thanks to his super-elastic
tenor, he pulled it off
with ease.
Flaco Jimenez (born 1939) - His grandfather and father
pioneered
conjunto music around San Antonio. But Flaco became its biggest
ambassador, playing his jubilant accordion alongside Bob
Dylan and the
Rolling Stones and in the Texas Tornados.
Janis Joplin (1943-1970) - The Port Arthur native didn't
find fame until
she moved to San Francisco in her early 20s. But the roots
of her
powerhouse vocal style came straight from the blues of Texas.
Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997) - The hard-living patron saint
of Texas
singer-songwriters, the Fort Worth-born Mr. Van Zandt wrote
sad,
timeless stories ("Pancho & Lefty," "Tecumseh Valley") that
influenced
everyone who's anyone in country-folk.
ZZ Top (members born 1949) - Nevermind those goofy music
videos.
The Houston-based trio of Billy Gibbons, Frank Beard and
Dusty Hill
will go down as one of the few rock bands that actually
knew how to
play industrial-strength blues.
George Strait (born 1952) - One of country's most
consistent hitmakers,
the Pearsall, Texas, native was also the man who got the
neo-traditionalist movement rolling in the early-'80s.
Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-1990) - The countless imitators who
emerged after the Dallas-born guitar hero's death never
quite captured
his blitzkrieg style - or his underrated singing.
Steve Earle (born 1955) - The godfather of the burgeoning
alt-country
scene, the San Antonio-raised Mr. Earle makes the sort of edgy,
unpredictable music that sends Nashville music execs
running in horror.
