Doug Sahm Month Ain't Over Yet

Doug Sahm  -  Oh No Not Another One

Doug Sahm's final studio album, The Return of Wayne Douglas, was released not long after his death from a heart attack in Taos, New Mexico hotel room in 1999.  The name of the disc was a reference to an alias he'd used to release a cool 1970 Mercury honky-tonk 45, and as you'd expect with a title like that the album itself was pure deep-fried country music from beginning to end.  Not surprisingly, Sahm, like a lot of people, was completely disenchanted with the pop and rock sounds that were becoming the hallmark of hit country records and used this track to blow off a little steam.

Doug Sahm Month

We'll Take Our Last Walk Tonight

Sir Douglas Quintet - Nitty Gritty

Sir Douglas Quintet  -  Nitty Gritty

The shiner Doug's sporting in the photo above was the result of a fractious 1973 run-in with police in Balcones Heights, just outside of San Antonio.  Doug was enjoying an evening out with some friends at La Rosa Mexican Restaurant, when some clearly over-aggressive policing led an officer to ask who owned the gold and black Oldsmobile Cutlass with the California license plates.  When Doug volunteered that he owned the car in question, the cop asked him to step outside while his fellow officers stayed inside to hassle Sahm's companions in the hopes of getting a low level drug bust.  A moment later, drummer George Rains looked outside and witnessed a cop take Sahm, handcuffed at the time, and slam his head into the hood of his car.  The police never did find any drugs on Sahm or in his car, so they settled for a charge of public intoxication, but that was quickly thrown out of court.  The whole incident was a catalyst for Sahm's decision to relocate to the friendlier town of Austin.

Source: Texas Tornado: The Times & Music Of Doug Sahm by Jan Reid.

Doug Sahm Month - Pick Me Up On Your Way Down

Alvin Crow & The Pleasant Valley Boys (w/ Doug Sahm on guitar & vocals) -  Pick Me Up On Your Way Down

In the late 90s, Doug Sahm spent some time occasionally sitting in on steel guitar on gigs with his old pal Alvin Crow & The Pleasant Valley Boys.  In fact, one of my fondest musical memories is seeing Sahm play steel for Crow all evening at a show at a honky-tonk called the Broken Spoke in south Austin back in about 1996 or so.  As I recall, the entire evening Crow referred to Sahm as Wayne Douglas, which is the pseudonym Sahm used on a Mercury country 45 released in 1970, which is audible here.  In fact, at the end of this performance Crow can be heard acknowledging Sahm's performance by enthusiastically calling out "Sir Wayne!"

I'm not 100% sure but I think he may have been playing lead guitar, as opposed to steel, at this particular gig, which was recorded in Dallas in January 1997.

Doug Sahm - High School Greaser

 
Doug Sahm & The Markays  -  Why Why Why

If you ever want to immerse yourself in some of Sahm's most formative early rock & roll efforts, you should definitely make it a point to check out the CD San Antonio Rock (Norton), which shines the spotlight on his hard to track down 45s cut between the years '57 and '61.

Andrew Brown's illuminating liner notes set the stage for the smouldering Why, Why, Why, a San Antonio favorite and Doug's big breakout local hit:  "....Doug (now a senior in high school) recorded Why, Why, Why at Texas Sound Studios in early 1960 with the great tenor saxophonist Rocky Morales and his band, the Mar-Kays.

Why, Why, Why was the first big hit, Doug told Deron Bissett.  "Funky record, I love it.  It was goin' up the charts when school was out.  It bugged me 'cause then I couldn't go to school to say, 'Hey look at me, boy....cruise around the drive-in and say 'Hey, I got a hit.  What are you doing?' "

Adios Mexico

Sir Douglas Quintet  -  Adios Mexico

Look, I know musical taste is something that's inherently subjective, but I defy you not to love this song.

Doug Sahm - I'll Be There

Sir Douglas Band  -  I'll Be There

Doug tips his cap to one of the all-time Texas greats, Ray Price....

Photo: Huey Meaux and Doug Sahm in the studio.

Wayne Douglas aka Doug Sahm

Wayne Douglas - Be Real 

Released under a half-hearted pseudonym (he inverted his first & middle names), Be Real is an interesting gem from the Doug Sahm archives.   Sahm recorded it in Nashville with some Music City studio aces and it came out on Mercury, which was handling Doug at the time.  Unfortunately the record went nowhere but it's solid Texas honky-tonk shuffle that's sure to please any hard country fan.

Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone?

Another musical question from Ichiban courtesy of Doug Sahm.  A number one hit for Charley Pride in 1970.  Thanks to Postman Tom for the tape.

Where Life's Such A Groove You Blow Your Mind In the Morning...

In 1969, Hugh Hefner called upon the Sir Douglas Quintet to play live on his Playboy After Dark show, so Doug and the guys showed up and delivered this electrifying performance of Mendocino, providing some pretty solid evidence that Doug was the greatest hippie ever.  Admittedly, the competition may not have been all that stiff, but the clip really is a great deal of fun to watch.

Little Doug

Doug Sahm

Via Rolling Stone archives 1971

Doug Sahm - She Purt The Hurt On Me

Doug Sahm  -  She Put The Hurt On Me

Juke Box Music has to be one of my favorite Doug Sahm LPs.  Released on Antone's Records in 1988 out of Austin, it gives Sahm the opportunity to send a big wet kiss to the classic R&B and doo-wop sounds that he loved.

She Put The Hurt On Me comes from the pen of Otis Redding and if you'd like to hear his version, here you go.

Membership Card

Join The Sir Douglas Quintet International Fan Club!  (thanks to Postman Tom)

Cowboy Peyton Place

Doug's Country Groove

Sir Doug & The Texas Tornados  -  Country Groove

Of all the tricks Doug Sahm had in his nearly bottomless bag, none made me smile more than his tendency to revel in his love for honky-tonk sounds, as he does on this 1976 album track that appeared on his Texas Rock For Country Rollers LP on the ABC-Dot label.  His lyrics, delivered over a superb shuffle beat, salute country MVPs like George Jones, Lefty Frizzell, Willie Nelson and fiddler Link Davis.

By the way, the Texas Tornados that appear here are not the same Texas Tornados that Sahm recorded and toured with beginning in the early 90s, though keyboardist Augie Meyers was on hand for both projects.  For much more information about this LP, and the opportunity to stream each track, head over to the Adios Lounge.  You'll be glad you did.

Sir Doug Serves Up The Bacon Fat

Sir Douglas Quintet  -  Bacon Fat

Welcome back to Doug Sahm Month.  Yesterday we served up the SDQ's version of The Rains Came, so tonight we'll check out the other side of this astonishingly superb 45.  Despite what the label here says, Bacon Fat was written by the larger than life R&B kingpin Andre Williams.  I have no idea how the name Syd Nathan (president of King records in Cincinnati) was listed as the author.  In any event, the Sir Douglas Quintet really nails this one.  It's one of my all time favorite 45s.

The Rains Came (Doug Sahm Month)

Sir Douglas Quintet  -  The Rains Came

The Rains Came, written by the fabled Texas music man Huey P. Meaux, was originally recorded in 1962 as a tender ballad by Big Sambo And The House Wreckers and released as the flipside of their storming R&B stomper At The Party.  Hear them both (in the same clip) over on YouTube.

The Sir Douglas Quintet got hold of it three years later and turned it into a unbelievably catchy organ-led rocker.  As with the Big Sambo version, Meaux was handling the production duties.

Doug Sahm

July is Doug Sahm Month on Ichiban!!  Big thanks to Michael McMahon for the video!