A brief history of Doug Sahm
If you go to a record store and ask for Doug Sahm, chances are you’ll find his albums (if you find them at all) filed under country. While Sahm wrote and played some fine country music (see “Give Me Back the Key to My Heart” from Uncle Tupelo’s Anodyne), country was only a small part of what Sahm was about.
Listen to Give Me Back the Key to My Heart:
What Sahm was about is American Roots Music. Blues, R&B, country, western swing, doo-wop, and early rock’n’roll – he could play it all, and with more feeling and aptitude than just about anyone else. Along the way he also cut some fine Tex-Mex music (a highly infectious dance music which originated along the Texas-Mexico border and features accordion and ‘oom-pah-pah’ rhythms — polkas basically).
Above all though is Sahm’s voice. Soulful and earthy, with just enough grit to cut through on R&B numbers, but smooth enough for ballads. And, whatever style of music he played, his voice and singing style fit the music as if he were born to play it. Which, I suppose, he was.
Aside from a few songs recorded in the mid- to late sixties by Sahm’s faux Brit-invasion Sir Douglas Quintet (i.e., “She’s About a Mover”, “The Rains Came” & “Mendocino”), Sahm didn’t experience much in the way of chart success and remained largely an unknown quantity. Considering that record companies have seldom known how to market artists whose music doesn’t fall into tidy categories, this isn’t too surprising.
Despite the apathy of the record buying public and the “cluelessness” of record company execs, Sahm continued recording music (largely on his own terms) and touring, right up to his death by heart attack in 1999.
Sadly, Sahm may be gone, but luckily he left a ton of great music for us to enjoy (including a surprising amount of live clips on YouTube). Check it out.
Bob Dylan stated, “Look, for me right now there are three groups: Butterfield, The Byrds and the Sir Douglas Quintet.
Dylan loved the guy. Here’s another quote:
“Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that period of time that I connected with. His was a big soul. He had a hit record, ‘She’s About a Mover,’ and I had a hit record [‘Like a Rolling Stone’] at the same time. So we became buddies back then, and we played the same kind of music. We never really broke apart. We always hooked up at certain intervals in our lives. . . . I’d never met anyone who’d played on stage with Hank Williams before, let alone someone my own age. Doug had a heavy frequency, and it was in his nerves. . . . I miss Doug. He got caught in the grind. He should still be here.”
And here’s a link to a review of the new Sahm biography: http://www.statesman.com/life/books/texas-tornado-doug-sahm-and-his-groove-295915.html