Music of Texas (Spring 2023)

“Krásná Amerika”

“I sure wish polka music like [Joe Patek Orchestra] was still around,” Mary Ann Pullin commented in a blog post. That blog post commemorates the legacy of the Joe Patek Orchestra and the influence they had on musicians across Texas. The blog can be read here. Krásná Amerika translates to …

Caddo Lullaby

Caddo History Pre 1500s Originally settling around 700-800 along the Arkansas River, and stretched all the way out to the Red, Sabine, Angelina, and Neches rivers. This territory took up present-day Northeast Texas, parts of Arkansas and Louisiana. Throughout their miles of territory, there were over 25 different close-knit groups, …

I Love the West

Summary In the 1947 film Bells of San Angelo, Lee Madison (played by singer and actress Dale Evans) sings the original song “I Love The West”. Between 1940-1950, Evans was the leading lady for Hollywood’s most iconic musical westerns which glorify a false narrative of cowboy culture. The cowboys that …

“Gregorio Cortéz” by Pedro Rocha and Lupe Martínez

Who is Gregorio Cortéz? Gregorio Cortéz was born on June 22, 1875, near Matamoros, Tamaulipas. After his family moved to Texas in 1887, he began working as a vaquero (cowboy). In 1901, he fatally shot Sheriff Morris in self-defense when Morris incorrectly accused Cortéz and his brother Romaldo of stealing …

Shiner Song (“Farewell to Prague”)- Adolph Hofner and The Pearl Wranglers

Adolf Hofner’s music career would begin in 1936, but surprisingly “Shiner Song” was recorded later in his career with his Czech-Western band named “The Pearl Wanglers”. Shiner Song has a long history as its foundation rests on an old Czech ethic tune “Farewell to Prague”. Its lyrics changed to bring …

“If You’re Gonna Play in Texas” by Alabama

About the artists Gentry, Owen, and Cook are cousins all born in Fort Payne, Alabama. The cousins formed a band called Wildcountry. From 1973 to 1977, Wildcountry worked shows across the South, spreading their blend of southern rock and country-pop to the masses. In 1977, Wildcountry renamed itself to Alabama. …

“My Soul is a Witness for the Lord” Arizona Dranes

Arizona Dranes was a blind African and Mexican American gospel music artist who is said to have been born sometime between 1889 or 1894 in Greensvile, Texas. Dranes attended the Institute for Deaf, Dumb and Blind Colored Youths located in Austin Texas which it is said that she received her …

“Tom Moore’s Farm” by Mance Lipscomb

Blues music and all of the music that has derived from it is inseparable from its history. Sharecroppers and Southern laborers are the forefathers of the blues, a music with its roots trailing back to the work songs of enslaved African Americans on Southern plantations during the 1800s. Mance Lipscomb …