Journal of Texas Music History

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10877/66

The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history, first published in 2001 and now with subscribers from around the world. The journal is published by the Texas State University Center for Texas Music History

Official Journal Site: Journal of Texas Music History

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 183

The Accidental Texan: How Johnny Cuviello Became a Texas Playboy
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2008-01) Lannon, Deirdre
Drummer Johnny Cuviello had never been to Texas when he became one of Bob Willis's Texas Playboys in 1946. Neverthless, when Cuviello worked up a drum-oriented song for the band, Wills insisted on titling it "The Texas Drummer Boy." After the tune became a hit, Cuviello himself would come to be known as The Texas Drummer Boy, a nickname belying the fact that he had visited the Lone Star State only briefly while on tour with Wills. Cuviello never identified as Texan, but during his time with the Texas Playboys, the patina of a fabricated Texas cowboy image tinted his role in the band, and thus his professional identity. Ironically, the fact that he was not a true Texan, unlike many of the other band members, also may have played a role in the abrupt end of his tenure as a Texas Playboy.
"Amarillo By Morning" The Life and Songs of Terry Stafford
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2015-01) Specht, Joe W.
In the early months of 1964, on their inaugural tour of North America, the Beatles seemed to be everywhere: appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, making the front cover of Newsweek, and playing for fanatical crowds at sold out concerts in Washington, D.C. and New York City. On Billboard magazine's April 4, 1964, Hot 100 list, the "Fab Four" held the top five positions. One notch down at Number 6 was "Suspicion," by a virtually unknown singer from Amarillo, Texas, named Terry Stafford. The following week "Suspicion" - a song that sounded suspiciously like Elvis Presley using an alias - moved up to Number 3, wedged in between the Beatles' "Twist and Shout" and "She Loves You." The saga of how a Texas boy met the British Invasion heads-on, achieving almost overnight success and a Top-10 hit, is one of the triumph and disappointment, a reminder of the vagaries that are a fact of life when pursuing a career in music. It is also the story of Stafford's continuing development as a gifted songwriter, a fact too often overlooked when assessing his career.
The 'Baptist Beat' in Modern Jazz: Texan Gene Ramey in Kansas City and New York
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2004-01) Addis, Cameron
Gene Ramey never expected to earn a living playing the string bass, but he landed in the right places at the right times. Shortly after moving from Austin to Kansas City at age nineteen, he switched from tuba to bass and found work in one of the premier jazz cities of the 1930s. In 1942, he went to New York with his dance band, the Jay McShann Orchestra, just as swing crested in Harlem and modern jazz emerged on 52nd Street.
The Blue Yodeler is Coming to Town: A Week with Jimmie Rodgers in West Texas
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2001-09) Specht, Joe W.
Jimmie Rodgers, often called the Father of Country Music, was born, raised, and buried in the state of Mississippi. But in the minds of many, he has long been associated with Texas, and well he should be. For the last four years of his life, 1929-1933, Rodgers resided in Kerrville and then in San Antonio. He recorded three times in Dallas and once in the Alamo City, and several of his songs make direct reference to the Lone Star State. During this period, he also traveled around the state on numerous occasions performing and making personal appearances in towns both large and small. As country music historian Bill Malone has pointed out, Rodgers’s link with Texas was such that noted folklorist Alan Lomax, almost thirty years after the singer’s death, still identified him as "a San Antonio railroad brakeman" and "this Texas brakeman." Rodgers’s biographer, Nolan Porterfield, has done an excellent job of documenting dozens of Rodgers comings and goings within the state, but as he acknowledges, the full extent of Jimmie’s outings in Texas remains incomplete. The following essay attempts to fill in a few of the gaps.
The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum Celebrates Texas Country Music
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2002-09) Hartman, Gary A.
Since it opened in April 2001, the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum has hosted a variety of exhibits and educational events designed to promote the understanding of the Lone Star State’s unique and complex history. The impressive four-story museum, located at the corner of Congress Avenue and Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard in Austin, includes 34,000 square feet of exhibit space, along with a 200-seat "Spirit of Texas" performance theater and a 400-seat IMAX theater. Although individual exhibit areas emphasize particular themes in Texas history, the collective focus of the museum is on telling "the Story of Texas" by celebrating the richly diverse traditions of the state and the many people who have made it their home over the past several centuries.
Bob Wills: The King of Western Swing
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2002-09) Evans, Rush
In the 1930s, America was immersed in the great economic Depression, but it was also experiencing a technological and cultural explosion. The motorized transportation and the new electronic media would forever change the world. And yet, from the Midwest to the Pacific Ocean, we were still a developing, open, agricultural wild land. The music that had been carried through the folk tradition continued being passed down through the families that had worked the land, the families who had faced dust storms and other hindrances to their hard work west of the Mississippi.
Celebrating "Das Deutsche Lied" in Texas
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2003-09) Heide, Jean M.
Towards the end of the Republic of Texas and in the early days of statehood, German settlers began arriving at the Ports of Galveston and Indianola. They were coming to Texas largely because of promises made to them for a better political and economic life by the Society for the Protection of German mmigrants in Texas, the Adelsverein. The Adelsverein was an organization formed in 1842 by German noblemen who wanted to create prosperous new settlements in what is now central Texas. The first group of German settlers to arrive under the auspices of the Adelsverein was led by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. On March 21, 1845, the Adelsverein established its first community in central Texas and named it "New Braunfels" in honor of the Prince’s estate in Europe.
Charlie Sexton: Too Many Ways to Fall
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2019-01) Crouch, Jason
Charlie Sexton’s story reads like the quintessential Texas music fable: raw talent and sheer determination tempered by frustration and missed opportunities, much of it lived in the public eye. Sexton’s career began as child prodigy guitarist in the Austin music scene, fostered by some of the most celebrated artists there. He became an international heartthrob in his teens, struggled with major label woes, and rubbed elbows and performed with jet-setting rock stars. He searched for his lyrical voice and found success in the recording studio as an acclaimed producer. The journey has been costly in many regards, but at this point in his life, Charlie Sexton is the essence of the Austin music scene distilled in one career and man. More than thirty-five years into his career, Sexton remains a vital guitarist, a commanding vocalist, and, now, an in-demand producer.
Contributors [2002 : Issue 2]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2002-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2003 : Issue 1]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2003-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2003 : Issue 2]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2003-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2004 : Issue 1]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2004-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2004 : Issue 2]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2004-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2004]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2004-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2005]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2005-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2006]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2006-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2007]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2007-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2008]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2008-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2009]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2009-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.
Contributors [2010]
(The Center for Texas Music History, 2010-01)
The Journal of Texas Music History is the first academic journal to focus on all aspects of southwestern music history. This document lists the contributors to this issue of the journal.