Texas Johnny Brown
Texas Johnny Brown, born John Riley Brown (February 22, 1928 – July 1, 2013) was an American blues guitarist, songwriter and singer, best known for his composition "Two Steps from the Blues". In a lengthy career, he worked with Joe Hinton, Amos Milburn, Ruth Brown, Bobby Bland, Lavelle White, Buddy Ace and Junior Parker. He was born in Mississippi, but his long association with Houston, Texas, gave him his stage name. Before his death, Allmusic noted that Brown "remains one of the more immovable veterans dotting the inexplicably low-key Houston blues landscape". His jazzy guitar style of playing the blues has been attributed to the influence of Charlie Christian early in Brown's career. Biography He was born John Riley Brown, in Ackerman, Choctaw County, Mississippi. As a child he played guitar alongside his father, who was blinded while working for the railroad, on the streets of his hometown and further afield, before the family relocated to Houston in 1946. Brown's prof ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Smithsonian Folklife Festival
The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, launched in 1967, is an international exhibition of living cultural heritage presented annually in the summer in Washington, D.C. in the United States. It is held on the National Mall for two weeks around the Fourth of July (the U.S. Independence Day) holiday. The Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage produces the Festival. The Festival is free to the public, encouraging cultural exchange. Attracting more than one million visitors yearly, the two-week-long celebration is the largest annual cultural event in the United States capital. Usually divided into programs featuring a nation, region, state or theme, the Festival has featured tradition bearers from more than 90 nations, every region of the United States, scores of ethnic communities, more than 100 American Indian groups, and some 70 different occupations. The Festival generally includes daily and evening programs of music, song, dance, celebratory performance, crafts and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With the 1995 buyout of its longtime rival the ''Houston Post'', the ''Chronicle'' became Houston's newspaper of record. The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper owned and operated by the Hearst (media), Hearst Corporation, a Privately held company, privately held multinational corporation, multinational corporate media conglomerate with $10 billion in revenues. The paper employs nearly 2,000 people, including approximately 300 journalism, journalists, editorial, editors, and photography, photographers. The ''Chronicle'' has bureaus in Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas, Austin. The paper reports that its web site averages 125 million page views per month. The publication serves as the "newspaper of record" of the Housto ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Long Beach Blues Festival
The Long Beach Blues Festival, in Long Beach, California, United States, was established fully in 1980, and was one of the largest blues festivals and was the second oldest on the West Coast (first being the San Francisco Blues Festival). It was held on Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend. For many years it was held on the athletic field on the California State University, Long Beach campus. The 2009 festival, the 30th annual, was held at Rainbow Lagoon in downtown Long Beach. The Festival went on hiatus in 2010, and has not been held since. The festival was organized and used as a fundraiser by KKJZ, a publicly supported radio station on the CSULB campus broadcasting blues and jazz in Southern California. History The Festival was set up in 1980 by jazz radio station KLON (later renamed to KKJZ) in Long Beach, California under the direction of Bernie Pearl, who was the host of a blues program "Nothing But The Blues" on KLON at the time. The first Festival was a one-day ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Compilation Album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album or box set. If the recordings are from several artists, there may be a theme, topic, time period, or genre which links the tracks, or they may have been intended for release as a single work—such as a tribute album. When the tracks are by the same recording artist, the album may be referred to as a retrospective album or an anthology. Content and scope Songs included on a compilation album may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intend ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Of Texas Press
The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is the university press of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly and trade books in several areas, including Latin American studies, Caribbean, Caribbean studies, U.S. Latino studies, Latinx studies, Texana, Native American studies, Black studies, Middle Eastern studies, Jewish studies, gender studies, Film studies, film & media studies, music, art, architecture, archaeology, classics, anthropology, food studies and natural history. The Press also publishes journals relating to their major subject areas. The Press produces approximately one hundred new books and thirteen journals each year. In 2025, the University of Texas Press celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary. During its time in operation, the Press has published more than 4,000 titles. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. History The University of Texas Press was formally founded in 1950, though the Uni ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roy Gaines
Roy James Gaines (August 12, 1937 – August 11, 2021) was an American Texas blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He wrote and recorded the song "A Hell of a Night", which was first issued on his 1982 album ''Gainelining''. He was the younger brother of the blues musician Grady Gaines. Biography Gaines was born in Waskom, Texas on August 12, 1937, and relocated with his family to Houston when he was six years old. Originally a piano devotee, Gaines moved to playing the guitar in his adolescence. In his teens he was acquainted with another budding guitarist, Johnny Copeland. By the age of 14 he had performed onstage backing his hero, T-Bone Walker, and played in Houston nightclubs. He later moved to Los Angeles, California. In 1955, Gaines played as a backing musician on recordings by Bobby Bland, Junior Parker and Big Mama Thornton. He later backed Roy Milton and then Chuck Willis, and he worked again with Walker. He released two low-key albums in 195 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Goree Carter
Goree Chester Carter or Christer Carter (January 1, 1931 – December 27, 1990), was an American singer, guitarist, drummer, and songwriter. He was also credited with the stage names Little T-Bone, Rocky Thompson and Gory Carter, and recorded music in blues genres such as electric blues, jump blues and Texas blues, as well as rock and roll. He is best known for his 1949 single, " Rock Awhile," which has been cited by several sources as the first rock and roll record, Robert Palmer, "Church of the Sonic Guitar", pp. 13-38 in Anthony DeCurtis, ''Present Tense'', Duke University Press, 1992, p. 19. . featuring an over-driven electric guitar style similar to that of Chuck Berry years later. Carter recorded "Rock Awhile" at the age of 18, and its rediscovery has posthumously brought him recognition as a forefather of rock and roll. As a young man, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and was a veteran of the Korean War. Biography Early life and career Goree Carter was born in Hous ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jam Session
A jam session is a relatively informal musical event, process, or activity where musicians, typically instrumentalists, play improvised solos and vamp over tunes, drones, songs, and chord progressions. To "jam" is to improvise music without extensive preparation or predefined arrangements. Original jam sessions, also called "free flow sessions," are often used by musicians to develop new material (music) and find suitable arrangements. Both styles can be used simply as a social gathering and communal practice session. Jam sessions may be based upon existing songs or forms, may be loosely based on an agreed chord progression or chart suggested by one participant, or may be wholly improvisational. Jam sessions can range from very loose gatherings of amateurs to evenings where a jam session coordinator or host acts as a " gatekeeper" so that appropriate-level performers take the stage to sophisticated improvised recording sessions by professionals which are intended to be bro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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University Press Of Mississippi
The University Press of Mississippi (UPM), founded in 1970, is a university press that is sponsored by the eight state universities in Mississippi (i.e., Alcorn State University, Delta State University, Jackson State University, Mississippi State University, Mississippi University for Women, Mississippi Valley State University, University of Mississippi, and the University of Southern Mississippi), making it one of the few university presses in the United States to have more than one affiliate university. A member of the Association of University Presses since 1976, the University Press of Mississippi issues around 85 new books each year, and as of 2022, it has published over 2000 titles. The press is best known for its works pertaining to African American history, children's literature, pop culture media (e.g., film, television, and comic books), and regional studies. Publications Major book series published by the University Press of Mississippi include: * ''American Made ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Peacock Records
Peacock Records was an American record label, founded in 1949 by Don Robey in Houston, Texas, United States. History Robey established the record label in 1949 after two years of being blues singer Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's manager, and Brown not finding commercial success with Aladdin Records. Named after Robey's Houston nightclub, the Bronze Peacock, the record label's roster expanded to include such notable rhythm and blues artists as Marie Adams, James Booker, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Little Richard, Memphis Slim, and former gospel singer Jackie Verdell. In 1953, Big Mama Thornton's " Hound Dog" (later covered by Elvis Presley) was a hit for Peacock. The label also dabbled in jazz, releasing albums by vocalist Betty Carter and saxophonist Sonny Criss. In 1952, Robey gained control of the Duke Records label of Memphis, Tennessee, and formed Duke-Peacock Records. Peacock also had a very successful gospel music division, which released music from such notable gospel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Duke Records
Duke Records was an American record label, started in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1952 by David James Mattis (WDIA program director and DJ) and Bill Fitzgerald, owners of Tri-State Recording Company. Their first release was Roscoe Gordon singing "Hey Fat Girl", issued on Duke R-1, later amended to R-101. History After forming a partnership with Mattis in the summer of 1952, Don Robey (founder of Houston's Peacock Records) took control of Duke. Both labels then headquartered at his Bronze Peacock club at 2809 Erastus Street in Houston, focusing on R&B and gospel music. Robey started a subsidiary, Back Beat Records, in 1957 and this later specialised in soul music, along with Sure Shot Records, whilst Peacock specialised in gospel recordings. Duke's leading artist was Bobby "Blue" Bland who stayed with the label for many years until its demise, mostly recording successfully with arranger/bandleader Joe Scott. Johnny Ace was a major R&B artist in the early years of the label before h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sideman
A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo or a group. Sidemen and sidewomen are often well-versed in multiple styles of music, and can be hired at any level of the music industry, from playing in a cover band to backing up established artists on major tours. While many artists can work as sidemen or session musicians, others will only fill one role. The generally accepted difference is that a sideman performs live while a session musician is hired to perform in a recording studio. Career progression Aspiring musicians often start out as sidemen, playing rhythm guitar, comping on keyboards, playing drums in the rhythm section, or singing backing vocals for a well-known bandleader or singer. Once sidemen have become experienced with live performance and recording with establish ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |