With its rolling Chicano rhythms and pumping Farfisa organ SDQ influenced numerous new wave acts including Elvis Costello who patterned both his band and his vocals after the SDQ.ĭoug Sahm and Augie Meyers formed the conjunto band Texas Tornadoes in 1989 with Flaco Jiménez, and Freddy Fender, a band that continues to tour today. I heard several artists whose music was clearly influenced by SDQ including Marcia Ball, Carolyn Wonderland, Alejandro Escovedo, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and even the longtime county act Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys. I had the pleasure of enjoying musical acts in clubs, bars, Christmas craft shows, dance halls, concert halls, and arenas. He was a beloved artist whose band performed in venues and rooms for a mix of Black, Latino, and White audiences where the only color in the room was the music. I lived in Texas for many years and ran across some people from all walks of life who loved Doug Sahm. It contains the great line, “You can teach me lots of lessons you can bring me a lot of gold but you just can’t live in Texas if you don’t have a lot of soul.” This song was from the album as Mendocino (#27 in 1969) and peaked on the charts at #104. The song I have chosen from their pantheon of great blues and white soul material is “At the Crossroads.” The band had a couple of hits with their first single “She’s About a Mover”, and the classic “Mendocino” from the album of the same name which they recorded after moving to San Francisco in the mid-‘60s. Much of the music of the Sir Douglas Quintet was a bit too far out to be classified as Pop. This was an emerging blues and TexMex sound that was also influenced by the Texas swing of Bob Wills, the guitar blues of T-Bone Walker, and the Mexican-American rockers like Don Santiago Jiménez of San Antonio which was Doug Sahm’s hometown.
The music scene at that time included Boz Scaggs, Johnny Winter, Freddie King, and Janis Joplin.
Sahm had listened to these artists and their ilk laying down their blues styles in Fort Worth and San Antonio as had many others who would go on to perform authentic Texan music and refused to compromise their style to become top 40 artists. Their musical style was heavily influenced by the sound of bluesmen Jimmy Reed, Bobby “Blue” Bland, and Lightnin Hopkins. He assembled the Sir Douglas Quintet with his childhood friend Augie Meyers and original band members Jack Barber, Frank Morin, and Johnny Perez, in 1964. He formed his first band, the Knights, in high school when he realized he’d rather play music than football. He crafted his musical skills and style in the barrios, dance halls, juke joints, and parking lots across the Lone Star State. Michael has become a regular!ĭoug Sahm began his career as a country singer as a young boy, performing at age eleven with Hank Williams Sr. Today’s SotW was written by guest contributor, Michael Paquette.
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