Robert Shaw (August 9, 1908 – May 18, 1985) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

pianist, best known for his 1963 album, ''The Ma Grinder''.

Early life

Shaw was born in

Stafford, Texas Stafford is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend County, with a small part in Harris County, Texas, Harris County. As of the 2020 census, Stafford's population was ...

, the son of farm owners Jesse and Hettie Shaw, who owned a cattle ranch there. The family also owned a

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in New York City by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth le ...

grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

, and his sisters had lessons in playing, but Shaw's father was against allowing his son to learn the instrument. Shaw worked with his father on the family's ranch, and played the piano whenever his family was out; the first song he learned was "Aggravatin' Papa Don't You Try to Two-Time Me." In adolescence, Shaw travelled to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

to listen to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

musicians, and at nearby roadhouses. He then found a piano teacher and paid for lessons with his earnings.

Career

He learned a barrelhouse style of playing from musicians in the

Fourth Ward, Houston Fourth Ward is one of the historic six wards of Houston, six wards of Houston, Texas, United States. The Fourth Ward is located inside the 610 Loop directly west of and adjacent to Downtown Houston. The Fourth Ward is the site of Freedmen's Tow ...

. In the 1920s Shaw was part of the " Santa Fe Group", named after touring musicians utilising the Santa Fe freight trains. Although he played in Chicago, Shaw mainly restricted himself to Texas, performing as a soloist in the clubs and roadhouses of

Sugarland Sugarland is an American country music duo founded in Atlanta, Georgia. The duo consists of singer-songwriters Jennifer Nettles (lead vocals) and Kristian Bush (vocals, guitar, mandolin). They were founded in 2002, when Kristen Hall (vocals, gu ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, Kingsville, Houston and

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. In 1930, at the height of the

Kilgore Kilgore may refer to: Places * Kilgore, Texas, the largest US city named Kilgore * Kilgore, Idaho * Kilgore, Nebraska * Kilgore, Ohio * Kilgore College Fictional characters * Kilgore Trout, a recurring character in the novels of Kurt Vonnegut ...

oil boom, Shaw played there. Two years later he traveled to

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

, Kansas, to perform. In 1933 he hosted a radio show in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. He relocated to Texas, first to

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

and then to

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

. Here he settled down and took up residence in Austin's Blackland neighborhood, owning a grocery store known as the Stop and Swat. In 1963, Shaw recorded an album, ''Texas Barrelhouse Piano'', which was produced by

Robert "Mack" McCormick Robert Burton "Mack" McCormick (August 3, 1930 – November 18, 2015) was an American musicologist and folklorist. Biography McCormick was born in 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was brought up by his mother, in Alabama, Colorado, West ...

and released by McCormick's Almanac Book and Recording Company.

Arhoolie Records Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label that was run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was ...

later reissued the LP under the title ''The Ma Grinder''. The album contained old favourites such as "The Ma Grinder", "The Cows" and "Whores Is Funky", some of them too risque to have been issued previously. In 1967, seven years before his retirement from the grocery trade, Shaw recommenced concert playing. With the revival of his career, he played at the

Kerrville Folk Festival The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival with camping, held for nearly three weeks each year, in late spring/early summer, at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The festival draws around 30,000 people. It aims to present establish ...

, overseas in

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, Frankfurt, and at the

Berlin Jazz Festival JazzFest Berlin (also known as the Berlin Jazz Festival) is a jazz festival in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" (''Berlin Jazz Days''), it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. Venues included B ...

; as well as the

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's American Folk Life Festival, the World's Fair Expo in Canada, and the

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...

. He played with the

Preservation Hall Jazz Band The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a New Orleans jazz band founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe in the early 1960s. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. In 2005, the Hall's doors were closed for a ...

at the 1973

Austin Aqua Festival The Austin Aqua Festival (usually called Aqua Fest) was a ten-day festival held the first week of August on the shores of Town Lake (now Lady Bird Lake) in Austin, Texas from 1962 until 1998. 1962–1969 The Austin Aqua Festival was created in 196 ...

, and continued to perform in the United States and in Europe intermittently in the 1970s, turning up unexpectedly in California in 1981 to help Strachwitz celebrate Arhoolie's 20th anniversary.

Personal life

Shaw married Martha Landrum in December 1939. They had no children. However, Shaw had previously been married, and had a daughter, Verna Mae, and a son, William. For many years Shaw ran his grocery in Austin in partnership with Martha, and in 1962 he was named the black businessman of the year in Austin. Shaw died of a heart attack in Austin, on May 16, 1985, and was interred at the Capital Memorial Gardens. Two weeks after his death, the Texas State Senate passed a resolution in honor of his contribution to the state's musical heritage.

Discography

*''The Ma Grinder'' (1963),

Arhoolie Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label that was run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was ...

**"Ma Grinder" (Shaw), 4:13 **"Hattie Green", 4:41 **"Fives", 4:10 **"Black Gal", 8:46 **"Put Me in the Alley" (Shaw, Smith), 4:31 **"Groceries on My Shelf (Piggly Wiggly)", 4:00 **"The Clinton", 3:39 **"People, People", 5:57 **"The Cows" (Shaw, Shaw), 4:01 **"Whores Is Funky", 3:19 **"Here I Come with My Dirty, Dirty Duckings On", 3:58 *''Texas Barrelhouse Piano'' (1980), Arhoolie

Legacy

The

music journalist Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

Bill Dahl described "The Cows", a composition written and recorded by Shaw, as "a piece of incredible complexity that would wilt anything less than a legitimate ivories master." Tony Russell, in his book ''The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray'', cited ''The Ma Grinder'' as "offering a uniquely clear view of a style and repertoire that almost escaped preservation."

Bibliography

*Alan B. Govenar, ''Meeting the Blues'' (Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 1988), *Robert Springer, "Being Yourself Is More Than Tryin' to Be Somebody Else," ''Blues Unlimited'', March–April 1978. Vertical Files, Austin History Center. Vertical Files, Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

References

External links

Biography at Tshaonline.org – Texas State Historical Association

An Interview with Robert Shaw at sundayblues.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Robert 1908 births 1985 deaths African-American pianists American blues pianists American male pianists American blues singers Boogie-woogie pianists Singers from Texas Songwriters from Texas Texas blues musicians Musicians from Austin, Texas People from Stafford, Texas 20th-century American pianists Arhoolie Records artists African-American male songwriters 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American songwriters