Augie Meyers - The West Side Sound

Great feature by veteran music reporter Jim Beal on Augie Meyers, a pioneer of the Westside Sound of San Antonio.

August "Augie" Meyers (b. 31 May 1940 in San Antonio, Texas) is a Texas musician. He is best known as keyboard-player with the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados.

In the early 1960s Meyers was, with Doug Sahm, a founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet. His Vox organ was a main ingredient in the sound of the quintet, as heard in hits like "She’s About A Mover" (1964), "Mendocino" (1969), "Nuevo Laredo" (1970) and many others. Later Meyers also played on many of Sahms solo albums and released his own solo records, also in Tex-Mex-style.

In the 1990s Meyers was, with Doug Sahm, Flaco Jiménez and Freddy Fender, a member of Tex-Mex-supergroup Texas Tornados. He was also sought after as a studio musician. He worked, amongst others, with Bob Dylan on his albums Time Out of Mind (1997) and Love and Theft (2001).

In 2005 he played on John Hammond's CD covering Tom Waits songs, Wicked Grin, and toured with Hammond.

Meyers lives in Bulverde, Texas. Since the 1970s he runs his own record labels from there, namely The Texas Re-Cord Company, Superbeet Records and White Boy Records.

Local papers are reporting today that a donor has finally been located for Augie's needed kidney tranplant. Best wishes to Augie Meyer's, family, and friends.

More San Antonio Westside Sound:
Sir Douglas Quintet
The Royal Jesters
Randy Garibay
The Krayolas
Esteban "Steve" Jordan

UPDATE: San Antonio Current reports Augie Meyers received a new kidney and is doing well. (4/24/2010)

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Flaco Jimenez and Ry Cooder - The Girls From Texas

Cover of Squeeze Box King

Well, I met a girl from Texas 'bout a year ago
Hadn't known her for too long when I had to let her go
You see, she had a razor, was ten inches or so
And every night you'd hear her knocking at my door
She said, "Baby, I'll give you the clothes on my back
You can have everything that I've got in my shack
But if you ever try to leave they'll take you out in sack
'Cause me and my razor will see to that”

That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas

I thought about my situation, decided not to tarry
For my own self preservation, I decided we should marry
When the preacher started reading 'bout 'till death do us part
I told him, "Skip it, she had that understanding right from the start”
She said, "Baby, I'll give you the clothes on my back
You can have everything that I've got in my shack
But if you ever try to leave they'll take you out in sack
'Cause me and my razor will see to that”

That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas

Well we settled down, got me a little old job, '65 Fair lane Ford
Every Friday night I would stop in and cash my pay check
Down at the grocery store
They had a little girl worked in there, must have been about seventeen
She was the cutest thing I had ever seen
It's the same old story and I'm afraid it wasn't too very long
Before we had fallen deeply in love and I knew it was wrong
I said baby, we got to stop this thing right here.
In tearful supplication, she looked up in my face
I could feel her heart was breaking as these sad words she did say
"You should have told me you was married, baby”
She pulled out a forty-Eve and let me have it
Right smack between the eyes

That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas
She was guilty, I was dead
(That's the way the girls are from Texas)
Now, what'd you think that the old judge said?
(That's the way the girls are from Texas)
"Ah, that's just the way the girls are down here in Texas
Case dismissed!"
That's the way the girls are from Texas
(Houston to San Antone)
That's the way the _girls are from Texas _
(Houston to San Antone)
That's the way the girls are from Texas
(Got to love 'em right or leave 'em alone, boy)
That's the way the girls are from Texas
That's the way the girls are from Texas

Credits:
Lewis, James [Songwriter]
Holiday, Jimmy [Songwriter]
Chambers, Cliff [Songwriter]
EMI UNART CATALOG INC [Publisher]


Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez (born March 11, 1939) is a Tejano music accordionist from San Antonio, Texas. Jiménez's father, Santiago Jimenez Sr. was a pioneer of conjunto music. He began performing with his father at age seven and recording at age fifteen, as a member of Los Caporales. He played in the San Antonio area for several years, and then began working with Douglas Sahm in the 1960s. Sahm, better known as the founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet, played with Jimenez for some time. Flaco then went on to New York City and worked with Dr. John, David Lindley, Peter Rowan, Ry Cooder and Bob Dylan. He appeared on Cooder's world music album Chicken Skin Music. This led to greater awareness of his music outside America and after touring Europe with Ry Cooder he returned to tour with his own band, and on a joint bill with Peter Rowan.


Jimenez won a Grammy Award in 1986 for "Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio", a song of his father's. He was also a member of the supergroup Texas Tornados, with Augie Meyers, Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender. The Texas Tornados earned a Grammy Award in 1990, and Jimenez earned one on his own in 1996, when his Flaco Jimenez won the Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Performance. In 1999, Flaco earned another Grammy Award for Best Tejano Performance (Said and Done, Barb Wire Records), and one for Best Mexican-American Performance as a part of supergroup Los Super Seven. Jimenez has also won a Best Video award at the Tejano Music Awards and earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from Billboard Latin Magazine for "Streets of Bakersfield" with Dwight Yoakam and Buck Owens.


Jimenez has appeared in the film Picking up the Pieces, with Woody Allen and Sharon Stone. He also appears on the soundtrack to that movie, and in many others, such as Y Tu Mamá También, The Border, Tin Cup, and Striptease. The Hohner company collaborated with Jimenez to create the Flaco Jimenez Signature Series of accordions.


Jimenez's latest CD is Squeeze Box King (2003, Compadre Records).


Ryland "Ry" Peter Cooder (born 15 March 1947, in Los Angeles, California)is an American guitarist, singer and composer.


He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in blues-rock, roots music from his native North America, and, more recently, for his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.


Cooder's solo work has been an eclectic mix, taking in dust bowl folk, blues, Tex-Mex, soul, gospel, rock, and much else. He has collaborated with many important musicians, including The Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, Earl Hines, Little Feat, Captain Beefheart, The Chieftains, John Lee Hooker, Pops, Mavis Staples, Gabby Pahinui, Flaco Jimenez and Ali Farka Touré. He formed the Little Village supergroup with Nick Lowe, John Hiatt, and Jim Keltner.


Cooder was ranked 8th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."

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Two Tons Of Steel Crash Into Landa Park

Texas favorites Two Tons of Steel give a decidedly western swing twist to the Ramones punk classic Sedated. (2009 KNBT Crossroads Party):



Two Tons of Steel


Texas band Two Tons of Steel might be described as equal parts Elvis Presley and Elvis Costello, with a liberal dose of Buddy Holly and a dollop of The Ramones. It’s a one-of-a-kind sound that bandleader and frontman Kevin Geil likes to call “countrybilly.”


It’s also a sound that’s boosted the group to renown as the face of Texas music: with its live performance at historical Gruene Hall; of Two Tons of Steel in the internationally released IMAX film “Texas: The Big Picture”; its performance of King of a One Horse Town in the roots-country documentary that screens continuously at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame; its swing tune as part of Lone Star beer’s ongoing regional radio campaign; and by becoming Texas music ambassadors to ecstatic fans in Cuba and at sold-out shows throughout Europe. Two Tons of Steel continues as an institution at Texas’ famed Gruene Hall, where its annual Two Ton Tuesdays summer series draws 12,000 fans, and as a popular act at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry. For eight years, it’s been voted Best Country Band by the San Antonio Current, its hometown weekly.


Lead singer Geil handles acoustic guitar, Dennis Fallon plays electric guitar, Ric Ramirez plucks the upright bass, Chris Dodds provides drums and percussion, and Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Famer Denny Mathis adds more steel muscle.


Two Tons of Steel Website