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The Groover
Doug Sahm was the funkiest cowboy of them all. A new retrospective captures the man on the rise.
The other Bob and Doug.
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The word 'groove' wafts through the classic Sir Douglas Quintet song "Mendocino" like a sweet cloud of reefer. And then, of course, there is its warm, THC-infused chorus: "Mendocino, Mendocino, where life's such a groove, you blow your mind in the morning..."
To my ears, Doug Sahm sounds like he's basically made of cannabis. The man who fronted the Sir Douglas Quintet on and off for some 35 years kept his groove when all about were losing theirs, burning the cherry all the way through the decidedly ungroovy '80s and '90s, and right up to his too-early death in '99.
Sahm's goodvibes weren't just some artifact of his '60s roots, when the Quintet had its first and biggest hit with "She's About a Mover." Sahm was internally groovy. It was fundamental to his nature. It's partly why we love him so much, and it's also why he gets away with dropping the phrase "it sure does wig me out" right in the middle of a song as otherwise haunting and stately as "At the Crossroads." It further explains how he can come up with something as simultaneously daffy and beautiful as the amber Texas pop of "Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day."
Doug Sahm sure liked that word, groove. Casting back over the man's towering catalogue, we also find "Country Groove" from 1976's Texas Rock for Country Rollers, and a 1973 team-up with the CCR rhythm section for an album with the ultimate Doug Sahm title -- Groover's Paradise. Besides the song of the same name, he also throws in a laid back R&B number called "Just Groove Me" for good measure.
This week, the similarly groovy reissue label Sundazed (motto: "Kinda like a record company, except fun and run by music lovers") dropped its two-album retrospective, Sir Douglas Quintet, the Mono Singles, '68 - '72. Sahm fans will want it, even though we all probably have every track already, in multiple formats. But it's a form of tribute to a genuine original who never released a bad record, and whose canon is unmatched in its pure sense of joy.
LISTEN TO THIS:
The Sir Douglas Quintet - "Mendocino"
For those unfamiliar with Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quintet, you lucky bastards, this set gives you the full monty of Sahm's utterly unique cosmic American vision; a funky border mix of Tex-Mex country soul and cajun western blues. Music this groovy gives you the munchies. ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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warbler
1 year ago
A great unsung hero
Easily one of the greatest American music legends no one's ever heard.
I always knew of his early work, but my interest in Sahm was renewed in 1993 when he appeared on Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne ("Give Back the Key to my Heart").
For me, Sahm is right up there with that other great Texas troubadour, Townes Van Zandt. No doubt they are both somewhere on a dusty afterlife crossroads knocking back a few drinks and jamming the afterlife away.
Charles Campbell
1 year ago
Formerly Brothers
I first really connected with Doug Sahm through the 1989 collaboration with American expat Amos Garrett (now of Alberta) and Gene Taylor, on Return of the Formerly Brothers. Then I got more curious about the rest. I second the opinions of Adrian and Warbler. Any Doug Sahm is good Doug Sahm, and every bit of it is better than almost all of the rest.
lizzyb
1 year ago
Thanks for the memory
I was a young barmaid in Austin Texas in the 1970's. I'll never forget Doug. This article brought back a memory of Doug showing up at the bar one morning before opening, and while I was setting up, he hoisted himself onto a stack of Lone Star beer boxes while telling me about his new ambition to conduct the symphony. He proceeded to work himself into a conducting frenzy. Reading this brings back the unbridled passion of that moment. When you refer to his pure sense of joy, you hit the nail on the head. Doug lived in San Antonio, but spent lots of time in Austin, the town he christened "groovers paradise." (and well, maybe it was the inescapable fog of cannabis in the air back then...)
Adrian Mack
1 year ago
Wow, thanks lizzyb for the
Wow, thanks lizzyb for the great anecdote! Whenever I talk to anybody who knows the music or knew the man, the love POURS out -- without fail. He really was something special. And Charles, this is so worth repeating: "Any Doug Sahm is good Doug Sahm, and every bit of it is better than almost all of the rest." Hell yeah!