Sir Douglas Quintet | |
|---|---|
 Sir Douglas Quintet in 1965 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1964 (1964)–1973 (1973) |
| Labels | |
| Past members | Seemembers section |
TheSir Douglas Quintet was an Americanrock band formed inSan Antonio, Texas, in 1964.[2] With their first hits, they were acclaimed in their home state. When their career was established (subsequent to working with Texas record producerHuey Meaux), the band relocated to the West Coast. Their move coincided with the burgeoning San Francisco psychedelic rock scene of the mid 1960s to early 1970s.[3][4] Overall, the quintet were exponents of good-times music with strong roots in blues and Texas-regional traditions. The band's songs were most noted for the instantly distinguishable organ sound ofAugie Meyers'Vox Continental.[5]
Doug Sahm, a veteran of the professional music scene who first sang on radio at the age of five, formed the Quintet (first called simply "Sir Douglas") in 1964 with longtime friendAugie Meyers and the other original members, Jack Barber, Frank Morin, and Johnny Perez. Sahm had started incountry music and had played (at age eleven) on-stage withHank Williams, Sr. during the latter's final performance. Sahm went on to play in blues clubs in his teenage years and had gained experience as a band leader.
The initial success of the new group, the Quintet, on the airwaves and sales charts was achieved when they made records in conjunction with Houston music producerHuey P. Meaux.[6] Houston's recording industry had become the center of TexasR&B music.[7]
The Quintet was born in a cross-cultural south Texas musical melting pot that included the sounds and traditions of Mexico, Ireland, Scotland, Appalachia, Bohemia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, and African-America. Aware of major trends, producer Huey Meaux advised connecting the new group with the English pop-music trend.[8] As a consequence, the Texas-localR&B,Tex-Mex, and other veins the musicians were familiar with initially went through a period of influence by the British pop bands of the early and mid 1960s.[9] For a short while, the youthful members of the group emulatedBeatles-like "mop-top" demeanor and antics on stage. However, they soon outgrew these trappings.
The Quintet is perhaps best known for the 1965hit single "She's About a Mover"written by Doug Sahm. The song, which has a12-bar blues structure, was once named thenumber one 'Texas'song byTexas Monthly. With an infectiousVox Continentalorganriff provided byAugie Meyers andsoulful vocals from Sahm, the track has aTex-Mex sound. The regional smash became a breakaway hit, and the recording was used in the soundtracks of the filmsEcho Park (1986),American Boyfriends (1989),The Doors (1991),Riding in Cars with Boys (2001),Sorority Boys (2002), andBeautiful Darling (2010).[10] The Quintet's recordings were used as well in the soundtracks of other films, such asCisco Pike andAn Officer and a Gentleman.[11]
In addition to "She's About a Mover," the band is known for its songs "The Rains Came" (1966), "Mendocino" (1968), "It Didn't Even Bring Me Down" (1969), and "Dynamite Woman" (1969). "Mendocino" was released in December 1968 and reached No. 27 in theU.S.Billboard Hot 100 by early 1969, spending 15 weeks in thechart. It was more successful inEurope, selling over three million copies there.[12] The track was featured in the generally highly regarded filmHigh Fidelity, starringJohn Cusack andJack Black.[13] Having made considerable musical impact, the Quintet at one point went on to share the same European bill asthe Beach Boys andthe Rolling Stones.[9]In 1983, Sahm and Augie Meyers signed with the Swedish Sonet label, and made several extensive European tours that revitalized their careers. The single "Meet Me In Stockholm" from their Midnight Sun LP went platinum and was one of the biggest selling records ever in Scandinavia. "We were having riots on stage," said Doug. "Swedish chicks (were) running up on stage, knocking me over, ripping my clothes."[14]
The Quintet played varied styles with an instrumental lineup that was typical of blues bands: one guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, and drummer, and a member who could play either trumpet or saxophone. Despite the blues band lineup and a musical influence from the blues, the Quintet's live sets did not overemphasize misery or tension in the lyrical content or musical feeling of the songs. In their sets and on record, the Quintet included such blues classics as "I Don't Believe" (originally byBobby Blue Bland) along with the upbeat "Hey Little Girl" (originally byTexas blues manFrankie Lee Sims) and "T-Bone Shuffle" (originally by blues giantT-Bone Walker).
"The hallmark ofDoug Sahm's warm, reliable, steady-rockingTex-Mex is that it always sounds like you've heard it before—not the lyrics, which Doug just jotted down on somerolling papers five minutes ago, but the riffs. This can drive you crazy ... When the mood is right, though, it gives the music a kind of folkish inevitability that doesn't get boring because Tex-Mex is such a stew of influences."
The Sir Douglas Quintet is considered a pioneering influence in the history of rock and roll for incorporating Tex-Mex andCajun styles into rock music.[16] However, early influences on the band's emerging Texas style were of course broader than this, and included ethnic and pop music from the 1950s and 1960s, such asdoo-wop,electric blues,soul music, andBritish Invasion.[6]
In the mid-1960s, the band relocated to theSan Francisco Bay Area and absorbed features of the nascentSan Francisco Sound, including the loud and lushelectric bass tone and freer percussion and guitar stylings. Band members also explored musical elements specific to modern jazz. Forstudiorecordings, they sometimes added an extrasession musician or two, often to flesh out the brass dimension of a track's sound. Good examples of what they produced by absorbing the new jazz and psychedelic elements into their music can be found on thealbumSir Douglas Quintet + 2. The lyrics in a Quintet song such as "The Song of Everything" are plainly in the realm of the mystical, whimsical lyrics regarded as one of the characteristics of psychedelic music.[17]
In live performances, blues, often with swing or shuffle beats, was usually a substantial component of the set. Besides doing their own original material, the Quintet revived several classics such asJimmie Rodgers' "In the Jailhouse Now" andFreddy Fender's "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" to be found on the albumsSon of San Antonio (originally onThe Best of The Sir Douglas Quintet, 1966) andTexas Fever (originally onThe Return of Doug Saldana, 1971), respectively.[citation needed]
In 2005, they were among the new class of musicians nominated for induction into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame for the 2006 induction ceremony.[18]
In addition to Sahm and Meyers, original Sir Douglas Quintet members included Jack Barber on bass; Frank Morin on saxophone, trumpet, and keyboards; and Johnny Perez, Ernie Durawa, or T.J. Ritterbach on drums.Martin Fierro joined the band on tenor sax in 1968. In 1969 Harvey Kagan joined the Quintet on bass, forming their most familiar line up – Kagan, Morin, Perez, Sahm, and Meyers. BassistJim Stallings also contributed to several albums during this period of shifting personnel which included, among others, guitarist Tom Nay ofSarasota,Florida (who played with the group for about a year) andJohn York, who later replacedChris Hillman inThe Byrds, and contributions from San Antonio crooner/saxophonist Danny Segovia. Sahm and Meyers were later also members ofthe Texas Tornados (withFreddy Fender andFlaco Jiménez) in the early 1990s. Frank Morin and Martin Fierro both appeared on the firstMother Earth albumLiving With the Animals (1968).
In 1972, the group split up when Sahm contracted to produce asolo album. Meyers, Perez, Morin, and Stallings briefly regrouped as The Quintet, with Sonny Farlow taking Sahm's place. In 1973, several Sir Douglas Quintet outtakes were released in their final album from the group's classic era,Rough Edges.
Sahm and Meyers continued to work together throughout the late 1970s, and rejoined with Perez in 1980 for a reuniontour and album. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the band was joined by Louie Ortega, formerly of the 1960s bandLouie & the Lovers and currently of theTexas Tornados.[19]
Founder Doug Sahm died of aheart attack in his sleep in a motel room inTaos, New Mexico, on November 18, 1999, at the age of 58.
Johnny Perez owned Topanga Skyline Studios, with "the vibe and the magic of the '70s".[citation needed] Skyline's grand woodwork, welcoming business culture, and "western fort" dirt courtyard set the stage for drummer Perez to mentor and inspire generations of young artists – until his death on September 11, 2012, at the age of 69, in a California hospital, from complications ofcirrhosis.[citation needed]
Harvey Kagan performed with a San Antonio area wedding/event band,The Oh So Good! Band, best known for discoveringAmerican Idol contestantHaley Scarnato. Kagan died on July 5, 2019, aged 73.[20]
Frank Morin remained active in music, with teaching, production, and film soundtrack work. He died on December 4, 2020, in Monett, Missouri.[21]
Augie Meyers continues to tour, and record on his own independent record labels, based inBulverde, Texas. Jim Stallings lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he plays bass, guitar, and keyboards at local Pro-Jam sessions. He is also in the process of writing his autobiography with heavy emphasis on his time with the Sir Douglas Quintet and the effect that experience had on his life.
| Year | Title | US [22] | UK [22] | AU [23] | CA [24] | DE [25] | Label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | "She's About a Mover" | 13 | 15 | 21 | 8 | - | Tribe |
| 1965 | "The Tracker" | 105 | - | 95 | - | - | |
| 1965 | "In Time" | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1966 | "The Rains Came" | 31 | - | - | 19 | - | |
| 1966 | "Quarter to Three" | 129 | - | - | - | - | |
| 1966 | "Beginning of the End" | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1966 | "She Digs My Love" | 132 | - | - | - | - | |
| 1968 | "Are Inlaws Really Outlaws?" | - | - | - | - | - | Smash |
| 1968 | "Mendocino" | 27 | - | 15 | 14 | 2 | |
| 1969 | "It Didn't Even Bring Me Down" | 108 | - | - | - | - | |
| 1968 | "Dynamite Woman" | 83 | - | 41 | 75 | 7 | |
| 1969 | "At the Crossroads" | 104 | - | - | - | - | |
| 1970 | "Nuevo Laredo" | - | - | 74 | - | 24 | |
| 1971 | "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" | - | - | - | - | - | Philips |
| 1975 | "Roll with the Punches" | - | - | - | - | - | Casablanca |
| 1981 | "Sheila Tequila" + 3 Others EP | - | - | - | - | - | Chrysalis |
| 1983 | "Meet Me in Stockholm" | - | - | - | - | - | Sonet |
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