Doug Sahm - Doug Sahm and Band
On this week's episode, we dig into another listerner's pick - the debut solo LP by Texas legend Doug Sahm, 1972’s Doug Sahm and Band.
Doug Sahm was by all accounts a musical prodigy, having mastered the guitar, steel guitar, mandolin,and fiddle by age 8. Born and raised in San Antonio, TX, Sahm was attracted to a variety of music: blues from the black clubs of his neighborhood, the horn heavy conjunto music of the west side, country, polka, rock n' roll, really anything that had soul. Like a sponge, Sahm soaked it all up and used it to create his own sound, first with the Sir Douglas Quintet and later on his own as a solo artist, that was a unique blending of all of it.
For his first real solo effort Doug Sahm and Band, Sahm was joined by one heck of a studio band, with Bob Dylan, Dr. John, David "Fathead" Newman, Flaco Jimenez, David Bromberg and Kenny Kosek (to name a few). Instead the ego driven mess this could have been, the album is a fun and energetic romp that draws upon all of his musical influences. Its eclectic and its a joy to listen to.
Recommendation for this episode: Songs of Sahm by the Bottle Rockets.
THINGS WE DISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODE
Doug Sahm was a musical prodigy. At age 5, he began singing. At Age Six, he was playing the steel guitar and by age 8 he could play the fiddle, guitar, and mandolin.
In 1955, at age eleven, Sahm’s recorded his first single Under Little Doug and the Bandits: "A Real American Joe" backed with "Rollin' Rollin'.” It was released on Texas label Sarg Records.
Hank Williams made his final public appearance before his untimely death at the Skyline Club in Austin on December 19th, 1952. On stage with him at the time was an 11 year old Doug Sahm.
Doug Sahm’s high school yearbook photo.
In 1953, Sahm met Augie Meyers at Meyer's mother's grocery store, and the two talked baseball and became friends. Meyers would later join Sahm in the Sir Douglas Quintet as a keyboardist, and remain a musical partner for the rest of Sahm’s life.
Augie Meyers (early 1960s).
The Sir Douglas Quintet in all their finery. Pictured (L to R): Augie Meyers, Frank Morin, Doug Sahm, Jack Barber, and Johnny Perez.
Sahm met Bob Dylan sometime in 1965 while both were on tour and hit it off.
Dylan recommends the band at a San Francisco Press Conference broadcast in 1965, after aa reporter asks him if there are any young folksingers that you recommend we hear?
The Sir Douglas Quintet appeared on Playboy Afterdark in 1969. Atwood Allen is with the band to sing back up. The problem was because of his large, burly appearance, the show’s producers didn’t want him to appear on camera.
At Sahm’s insistence, the producers allowed Allen to perform, but did so behind a curtain.
In December 1968, Sahm appeared with his son, Shawn, on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine for a cove story about Texan musicians in the San Fransico scene. Three years later, he would appear on the cover about his return to Texas.
In 1973, Jerry Wexler, who was in charge of Atlantic Records’ newly formed Country Music Division, came to Austin to look for new artists to sign. He says he looking for country artists who also had some soul. He ends up signing Willie Nelson and buying Sahm's contract from Mercury. Wexler and Arif Mardin produced Doug Sahnm and Band.
Pictured (L to R): Arif Mardin, Doug Sahm, Willie Neslon, and Jerry Wexler.
Dylan played an integral role in the recording of Doug Sahm and Band, singing back up, and playing guitar on several songs. Sahm and Dylan even sing together on the Dylan song “Wallflower” for the album.
Doug Sahm and Band in studio.
The album cover for Doug Sahm and Band was done by Austin, TX artist Gilbert Shelton. Shelton is most famous for having created the comic characters the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers (pictured), a fictional trio of stoners that first appeared in The Rag (an underground newspaper published in Austin in 1968) before finding international success later on.
Maybe the most well known (if not the most celebrated) picture of Doug Sahm (at least in Texas).
Sahm helped get the career of another Texas music legend Roky Erickson (lead singer of the 13th Floor Elevators) back on track by getting him back in the studio after this release from Rusk State Hospital in 1972.
Pictured (L to R): Jerry Jeff Walker, Roky Erickson, and Doug Sahm at the Soap Creek Saloon, Austin, TX.
In 1983, Sahm and Augie Meyers signed with the Swedish Sonet label, and made several extensive European tours that revitalized their careers. The single "Meet Me In Stockholm" from their Midnight Sun LP went platinum and was one of the biggest selling records ever in Scandinavia.
You can watch video for the song below.
Once the Traveling Willburys were established, Sahm wanted to start his own super-group, one with a Tex-Mex twist, which he dubbed the Texas Tornadoes.
Picture (L to R): Doug Sahm, Augie Meyers, Freddir Fender, and Flaco Jimenez.
