FOOD | ARTS | COMMUNITY | STYLE+LEISURE
THE BAYOU BLUES:
HONORING HOUSTON’S RICH BLUES HISTORY
By Carlos Brandon | Photography by Anthony Rathbun
Ask an outsider what Houston is known for and you might get a wisecrack about traffic and mediocre
football. Ask a Houstonian the same question and they will rattle off about rodeos, oil companies and,
frankly...mediocre football. While one hundred people might answer that question one hundred dif-
ferent ways, few are likely to mention the blues. The Bayou City is many things: a diverse metropolis,
an international travel hub, the home of Beyoncé. It is also a key figure in the history of the American
blues, and in greater part, of black music.
Behind the Charity Baptist Church, a short drive northeast of Downtown in
Houston’s historic Fifth Ward, there sits an empty lot. What once stood on
that lot was of immense historical value. THE BRONZE PEACOCK should
have been a protected landmark, and perhaps in Memphis or Chicago it
would have been. But Houston has been late to honor its blues history. Don
Robey opened the Bronze Peacock nightclub in 1946. In its heyday, the
club was vital to black culture and post-war prosperity. Robey later turned
the club into the headquarters of Duke-Peacock Records. Before the rise
of Detroit’s Motown Records, Duke-Peacock was the largest black-owned
record label in America, spawning legends such as Big Mama Thornton
and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Big Mama’s hit song “Hound Dog”
has been recorded over 250 times since 1952, and was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame. Although Don Robey and his empire are arguably
the focal point of Houston’s blues lineage, the city’s contributions to the
genre predate Peacock by more than two decades.
In the first years of the 20th century, George Thomas settled his family in
Houston. They would soon become a prominent blues family. Most notably,
Beulah Thomas, who gained national recognition as
Sippie Wallace. In the 1920s Sippie played with the
likes of Louis Armstrong. Though her initial career was
short-lived, she later resumed playing thanks to the
folk revival of the 1960s, and was eventually nomi-
nated for a Grammy. Another acclaimed Houstonian
was Victoria Spivey, of the famous Spivey family.
Her recordings date back to 1926, and her track
“Black Snake Blues” is a bona fide blues standard.
Unfortunately, many musicians of the era were forced
to leave Houston to pursue careers in cities with more
established music industries. New Orleans, Chicago
and St. Louis laid claim to the careers of countless
Buffalo Bayou musicians.
Perhaps the most iconic and widely recognized Houston blues man of the
century was country blues musician Lightnin’ Hopkins. The Houston legend
made a name for himself with his distinctive finger-picking style and slurred
souther n vocals. Hopkins has been described as one of the last true blues
artists, with contemporaries such as Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Although
he played professionally since the 1930s and was nationally discovered in
1946, Hopkins was not introduced to integrated audiences until 1959.
Another beneficiary of the ’60’s folk revival, Lightnin’ made his Carnegie
Hall debut in 1960, and went on to record a number of classic blues tracks,
including his most popular hit, “Mojo Hand.”
The men and women of the Houston blues era are indispensible to the
city’s cultural legacy. Their work inspired Texas music icons such as ZZ Top
and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The blues of the mid-century became the rock
n’ roll and R&B of the ’70s and ’80s. Today, Houston’s blues legacy can
be found in the music of soul and indie-rock acts such as The Suffers and
The Tontons, and is perhaps best represented by the city’s vibrant hip-hop
culture. This remains a city that breeds musical talent and respects those
who chose to stay. Though most of its blues landmarks
have been lost to time, the spirit of the bayou blues
lives on through the music and the people of Houston.
may 17 |
L O C A L
53