Is there any live blues music in S. TX? (Houston: appointed, price)

[benandgrace]

I'm a fan of blues and after searching it looks like there's not really any blues concerts or blues festivals. I especially haven't seen any popular blues artists playing anywhere but Dallas and even very few rare artists. Am I wrong about southern TX not having any live blues music? I'm considering moving to San Antonio. If I do, will I have to drive all the way to Dallas to hear any live blues? Thanks for any help.

[love roses]

I can't imagine that's the case. You must not be looking in quite the right places.

[love roses]

I did a google search and came up with a few things:

1. San Antonio Blues Society
2. Sam's burger joint
3. mysa.com
4. Barbed wire grill
5. Bayou's Overlook
6. Below Zero
7. Big Don's Lounge
8. Boomerang's Cocktails
9. Cafe Soleil
10. Carlsbad Tavern
11. Casbeer's Center Bar & Grill
12. The Cove
13. Fiasco
14. Gus & Woodrows
15. Santa's Place
16. Snoops
17. Sunset Station
18. The Tee Spot
19. Tin Pan Alley
20. The Trap
21. Tycoon Flats
22. Wings
23.Niles Winebar

some other clubs listed were: P&M Lounge, Partner's Club, Phoenix room, Roadhouse Saloon, Rocky's Lounge, Rolling Oaks Sports Bar & Grill, Rox room, Hilton Palacio Del Rio, Houston Street Ale House, ******, Kangaroo Court, La Tuna, Laboratory Brewing Co., Main Street, Mustang Sally's, and N. St. mary's Brewing Co..

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by benandgrace

I'm a fan of blues and after searching it looks like there's not really any blues concerts or blues festivals. I especially haven't seen any popular blues artists playing anywhere but Dallas and even very few rare artists. Am I wrong about southern TX not having any live blues music? I'm considering moving to San Antonio. If I do, will I have to drive all the way to Dallas to hear any live blues? Thanks for any help.

Not many cities have extensive blues districts...chicago, memphis, and thats pretty much it......per texas, considering J Joplin and a bunch of others came from here, Im sure there are plenty...realize that blues is a dying art, and as mucha museum piece as a jazz club, pretty much just rehashing old riffs and songs. Also, the artists tend to be ancient, cause there aren't many around, and hardly any coming up...even BBKING just turned 82...and albert cray was considered a young up and comer, and hes in his late 40's already....Texas focuses more on whats going on now, but there are plenty of blues-influenced bands...not the stereotypical
black guy with shades that's pushing 78 though.....thats old anyway, and chicago's blues district is almost 100% tourist based....with the same
muddy waters...dah dah dah dah beat you've heard a zillion times!

[Moonlady]

Um...that would be Robert Cray. Albert was the other King, lol. Seriously, Austin has a pretty good blues legacy. Janis got her start in music here, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn too. Austin has its own homegrown blues artists as well - Gary Clark Jr. and Guy Clary (not related). We've got Marcia Ball, Lou Ann Barton, Toni Price and a few up and coming bands here as well. I've seen BB King, Robert Cray, Stevie (RIP) and Jimmie, Susan Tedeschi and a handful of others right here in Austin.

And don't forget Antone's! Clifford Antone was instrumental in bringing live blues to Austin and his legacy remains at Antone's club.

We used to have bi-weekly free concerts in the summer at Zilker called "Blues on the Green" but I haven't seen much publicity on it this year yet.

I spent 2 months in Memphis this year and was really disappointed. For a city that calls itself "Home of the Blues", there really isn't much left. Beale Street doesn't have any blues except BB King's club. Now drive an hour south to Clarksdale and that's another story. (Gotta love Super Chick'an!) Seriously, Austin's blues scene is better than Memphis.

So, we may not have a blues district, but the music is there if you look for it.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

Um...that would be Robert Cray. Albert was the other King, lol. Seriously, Austin has a pretty good blues legacy. Janis got her start in music here, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn too. Austin has its own homegrown blues artists as well - Gary Clark Jr. and Guy Clary (not related). We've got Marcia Ball, Lou Ann Barton, Toni Price and a few up and coming bands here as well. I've seen BB King, Robert Cray, Stevie (RIP) and Jimmie, Susan Tedeschi and a handful of others right here in Austin.

And don't forget Antone's! Clifford Antone was instrumental in bringing live blues to Austin and his legacy remains at Antone's club.

We used to have bi-weekly free concerts in the summer at Zilker called "Blues on the Green" but I haven't seen much publicity on it this year yet.

I spent 2 months in Memphis this year and was really disappointed. For a city that calls itself "Home of the Blues", there really isn't much left. Beale Street doesn't have any blues except BB King's club. Now drive an hour south to Clarksdale and that's another story. (Gotta love Super Chick'an!) Seriously, Austin's blues scene is better than Memphis.

So, we may not have a blues district, but the music is there if you look for it.

Again, blues, like jazz, just goes over the same stereotypical ground now, so it is no loss to not have a "blues" district....If there was one, it would just pander to stereotype, and offer tourists the same stuff..I just got back from Chicago's blues fest, and it was as derivative as usual...same people....same styles, music..........I think it just stopped growing around 1962, after the stones copped all the riffs, and died shortly after robert plant copped the rest in the late 60's.......
Pinetop Perkins will be at Antones this month, and that should be a good show..Marcia ball will be at blues on the green, and is always great.....
yes, there is some blues in Austin, but as I mentioned, blues is at best derivative, and at best panders to tourists.....My point...98% sound like Muddy Waters "Hootchie Coochie Man"....and 1,000,000 derivatives of the same......however, for blues INFLUENCED guitar....SRV, and lots of others, are in austin playing often and that is much preferred to the stereotypical dah dah dah dah muddy waters beat..with the harp in the background going wha wah wah wah...again, the tourists in chicago love it to death though!

[benandgrace]

Originally Posted by scongress1234

Again, blues, like jazz, just goes over the same stereotypical ground now, so it is no loss to not have a "blues" district....If there was one, it would just pander to stereotype, and offer tourists the same stuff..I just got back from Chicago's blues fest, and it was as derivative as usual...same people....same styles, music..........I think it just stopped growing around 1962, after the stones copped all the riffs, and died shortly after robert plant copped the rest in the late 60's.......
Pinetop Perkins will be at Antones this month, and that should be a good show..Marcia ball will be at blues on the green, and is always great.....
yes, there is some blues in Austin, but as I mentioned, blues is at best derivative, and at best panders to tourists.....My point...98% sound like Muddy Waters "Hootchie Coochie Man"....and 1,000,000 derivatives of the same......however, for blues INFLUENCED guitar....SRV, and lots of others, are in austin playing often and that is much preferred to the stereotypical dah dah dah dah muddy waters beat..with the harp in the background going wha wah wah wah...again, the tourists in chicago love it to death though!

I agree with you. the blues I like best is guitar blues/blues rock (some pearl jam, gov' t mule, young neil and the vipers, ray fuller and the blues rockers, etc.) or texas blues. I don't like the Chicago blues i've heard at the Chicago Blues Fests very much. I thought most of it sounded too much like RnB. Anyway, I thought Texas would be the place to find texas blues but it's starting to look like that's not the case. That's kinda strange. Thanks everyone for the info. I'll search through it.

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

Um...that would be Robert Cray. Albert was the other King, lol. Seriously, Austin has a pretty good blues legacy. Janis got her start in music here, Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn too. Austin has its own homegrown blues artists as well - Gary Clark Jr. and Guy Clary (not related). We've got Marcia Ball, Lou Ann Barton, Toni Price and a few up and coming bands here as well. I've seen BB King, Robert Cray, Stevie (RIP) and Jimmie, Susan Tedeschi and a handful of others right here in Austin.

And don't forget Antone's! Clifford Antone was instrumental in bringing live blues to Austin and his legacy remains at Antone's club.

We used to have bi-weekly free concerts in the summer at Zilker called "Blues on the Green" but I haven't seen much publicity on it this year yet.

I spent 2 months in Memphis this year and was really disappointed. For a city that calls itself "Home of the Blues", there really isn't much left. Beale Street doesn't have any blues except BB King's club. Now drive an hour south to Clarksdale and that's another story. (Gotta love Super Chick'an!) Seriously, Austin's blues scene is better than Memphis.

So, we may not have a blues district, but the music is there if you look for it.

Don't you love when someone says "UMMMM" when they correct you?
Sorta like "DUHHH!"......yes, I should have known, seeing RC play live with Eric Clapton in '06, but I must have had brain freeze, eating Amy's ice creams(no, she spells it ice creams)........

[scongress1234]

Originally Posted by benandgrace

I agree with you. the blues I like best is guitar blues/blues rock (some pearl jam, gov' t mule, young neil and the vipers, ray fuller and the blues rockers, etc.) or texas blues. I don't like the Chicago blues i've heard at the Chicago Blues Fests very much. I thought most of it sounded too much like RnB. Anyway, I thought Texas would be the place to find texas blues but it's starting to look like that's not the case. That's kinda strange. Thanks everyone for the info. I'll search through it.

Did you forget ZZ Top? Yes, they are derivative, but they make up for it in the two minutes it takes them to whip through La Grange...
"They gotta lotta nice women down tharree....a hare hare hare".......and that guitar break..pure heaven......and they are very much Tejas Boyz!

[benandgrace]

Originally Posted by scongress1234

Did you forget ZZ Top? Yes, they are derivative, but they make up for it in the two minutes it takes them to whip through La Grange...
"They gotta lotta nice women down tharree....a hare hare hare".......and that guitar break..pure heaven......and they are very much Tejas Boyz!

I can listen to them just a bit. I'd listen to them more if they shaved