Live From Austin Texas
Few 1960s garage-band rockers enjoyed a more eclectic and enduring career than the late Doug Sahm. After his Sir Douglas Quintet recorded a string of hits, including "She's About a Mover" and "Mendocino," Sahm released both country and blues albums as a solo artist and subsequently formed the Texas Tornados as a Tex-Mex, Grammy-winning supergroup. This 1981 Quintet reunion performance, recorded for theAustin City Limitsseries (also available on DVD) finds Sahm and band touching all those musical bases, with Augie Meyers (also Sahm's partner in the Tornados) providing the signature, telegraph-key organ and Alvin Crow serving as a vocal and instrumental foil for Sahm. Highlights range from a cover of Charlie Pride's hit "(Is Anybody Goin' to) San Antone" in medley with Sahm's "Texas Tornado" to revivals from the '60s songbooks of the Kinks ("Who'll Be the Next in Line?"), ? and the Mysterians ("96 Tears"), and legendary Texas ravers the 13th Floor Elevators ("You're Gonna Miss Me"). Though Sahm introduces "Groover's Paradise" as the Austin version of the national anthem, it's "At the Crossroads" that should be. Throughout the performance, Sahm, band, and the Texas audience are all plainly having a ball.--Don McLeese