Died On This Date (November 18, 1999) Doug Sahm / Influential Texas Singer-Songwriter
themusicsover Doug Sahm
November 6, 1941 – November 18, 1999
Doug Sahm was a Texas singer, songwriter and musician who was musical styles covered a wide spectrum, from country to Cajun to blues to western swing to rock. He was Tex-Mex. And he was Americana, some 30 years before the term was coined. A child prodigy, Sahm mastered at least a dozen instruments, his earliest being the guitar, violin and guitar by the time he was five. It was that same year he made his radio debut, and when he was 11, he made his first record. He even performed on stage with Hank Williams Sr. before he turned 12. By the end of the ’50s, Sahm was fronting his own band and touring around the clubs of Texas. In the mid ’60s, he formed the Sir Douglas Quintet, choosing the name as to be less conspicuously American during the British invasion. It only worked until Sahm opened his mouth and the band kicked into their obvious Tex Mex flavored rock ‘n roll. The band did score a top 20 hit in 1965 with “She’s About a Mover.” Three years later they hit again with “Mendocino” which cracked the top 15 and sold in excess of 3 million copies worldwide. Sahm was also a favorite session player and singer throughout his career. He’s recorded with the likes of Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and the Grateful Dead. In 1990, Sahm formed the Texas Tornados, a so-called Tex-Mex supergroup with Freddy Fender, Flaco Jimenez and old friend, Augie Meyers. The group recorded four albums including their Grammy wining debut, Texas Tornados. On November 19, 1999, Doug Sahm, 58, suffered a fatal heart attack while asleep in a Taos, New Mexico hotel room.
What You Should Own
The bigger-than-life Country Dick Montana was the founding drummer, co-lead vocalist, and heart and soul of the great San Diego roots rock band, the Beat Farmers. Formed by Montana, Jerry Raney, 
Amy Farris was an Austin fiddler who in recent years was living in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, the much-respected musician and singer had collaborated with a who’s-who of Austin and Los Angeles musicial fixtures. That list includes Brian Wilson, Peter Case, Alejandro Escovedo, Exene Cervenka and Kelly Willis. As a session player in Los Angeles, she played on musical tracks on such television shows as Mad Men and CSI: Miami. She was also part of Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women, both the album and the current tour. Several online sources have speculated that Farris may have committed suicide. Official cause of death was not immediately released. She was 40 years old.
Gram Parsons was a highly influential singer-songwriter who helped launch what would later be called country rock and then alt-country or Americana. Parsons began playing the guitar as a teenager to escape a less than ideal home life. The first group he played with, the Shilohs, were a folk band in the tradition of the Kingston Trio. When the band broke up, he and other Boston area folk musicians formed the International Submarine Band with whom he began to develop a sound the borrowed the best from country, folk and rock. They enjoyed moderate success, primarily getting airplay on the up-and-coming progressive radio stations. In 1968, Parsons was asked to join the Byrds as a replacement for David Crosby and Michael Clarke. He started on keyboards but soon switched to guitar, helping guide the group down a more country rock path. Parsons left the Byrds in the summer of 1968. He joined back up with the Byrds’ Chris Hillman soon after to form the Flying Burrito Brothers whose debut, The Gilded Palace of Sin would be a direct influence on the likes of the Eagles, Dwight Yoakam and later, Wilco and Ryan Adams. By the early ’70s, Parsons was working as a solo artist while recording and performing with good friend, Emmylou Harris. It was during this period that Parsons’ inner demons were taking control in the form of substance abuse. He was also spending more and more time in an area he had become fond of, Joshua Tree National Monument in the desert outside of Los Angeles. He liked to go there and take LSD while searching for UFOs. It was during one of these trips that Gram Parsons apparently overdosed on morphine and alcohol and died at the age of 26.
