Author Jan Reid enlists Sahm's son Shawn,who played in his dad's band, for valuable first-person accounts in hisbiography, Texas Tornado: The Times &Music of Doug Sahm (University of Texas Press). LikewiseReid relies on Sahm's numero uno campadre,Augie Meyers, who was part of theoriginal Sir Douglas Quintet and Sahm's final go-round with Freddy Fender andFlaco Jimenez as the Grammy-winning Texas Tornados.
The Sir Douglas Quintet's 1965 success withthe Ray Charles homage “She's About a Mover” set Sahm on a course that he wouldmaintain for his adult life. Though never a top-selling artist, he was widelyrespected by his peers. Atlantic Records'Jerry Wexler, himself an icon and sagacious scout of talent said, “I reallyregard him as the best musician I ever knew because of his versatility and therange of his information and taste.”
Growing up in San Antonio, Sahm was served up a buffet of music from country toMexican sounds from across the border to Cajun sounds from the fertile Gulf Coastregion of east Texas and Louisiana. Reid also notes the impact that anearby blues club had on Sahm. At a young age he witnessed performances by thelikes of T-Bone Walker and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
With the British Invasion came themanagement of “The Crazy Cajun” Huey P. Meaux, who thought the Sir Douglasmoniker would gain a seat on the bandwagonthat is until the band's undeniabletwang gave them away. Times were changing fast in the '60sjust not fast enoughfor Sahm and his long-haired buddies. Sahm headed for Californiafollowing a drug bust, but he would return to the open-minded oasis of Austin, Texas.It was here at clubs like the Soap Creek Saloon and the Armadillo WorldHeadquarters that his genre-melding talents were best put on display.
In Reid's 1974 book, The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock,he hints at the importance of the Austin scene but cops out and mainly dealswith folkies like Michael Martin Murphey. Reid makes up for it in Tornado with a vivid snapshot of a scenethat had a hard time telling the cowboys from the hippies and where only themusic mattered. In 1973 Sahm would venture to New York City to record hisclassic Atlantic album Doug Sahm and Band,which included contributions from Bob Dylan and Dr. John, among others.
In the decades to follow, Sir Doug never letup and was continually regrouping for another project, living at times in Canada and Scandinavia.Reid does Sahm justice in portraying the restless figure who stood by the leanyears of his buddy Roky Erickson and the devoted baseball nut who would drivehundreds of miles to catch a minor league game. By the time the book gets toSahm's death at age 58 in 1999, Reid has more than explained how Sahm got hisnickname.
