Down along the Texas gulf coast and the Louisiana/Texas state line you will find the cities of Beaumont, Post Arthur and Orange, locally called the golden triangle. This area of southeast Texas has produced some of the best Blues, Cajun, country and zydeco music of the 20th century, such as Clarence Garlow, Long John Hunter, Tom Hunter, Janis Joplin, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Johnny Winter, Edgar Winter, Ezra Charles, Joe Jonas — the list goes on. Among these greats is Barbara Lynn. In the early sixties, Barbara wrote and recorded, “You’re Losin’ a Good Thing,” which in the 70’s was also recorded by another Texan, Freddy Finder. Some of you may have seen her on American Bandstand like I did in the sixties.
It was 40 years ago that Janis Joplin passed away. Like a lot of people living the 60’s Janis was my favorite female singer. She is truly one of the greatest American singers of all time. Born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1943, if she were alive today she would be just a couple years younger than myself — hard to imagine, since our image remains the rebellious San Fransisco hippie girl from southeast Texas.
My favorite album is “Cheap Thrills” with Big Brother and the Holding Company, which featured a cover design by counterculture cartoonist Robert Crumb that experienced a little of my impression last December when I did a posting on James Gurley, “The Father of the Psychedelic Guitar.” Gurley provided the great guitar sound in the Holding Company.
The album (Cheap Thrills) contained my favorite Joplin song, “Piece of My Heart.”
If many of the great artists who passed away young in my lifetime were still with us today, imagine the quality of music that would still be a part of our world, 40 year out.
I’m not a musician, but I’ve always had an uncanny ear for good sound, and the guitar sound of James Gurley
has stay with me ever since I first heard Big Brother & The Holding Company. His bio will tell you he never has a guitar lesson. His sound was an assimilation of so many sounds reflecting all the things coming together in the sixties. For a lot of us, James “was the real 1960’s”.
Just a few days ago, December 20th, James Gurley passed away in Palm Spring, California. Now he’s up there with so many great six-stringers.
