Doug Sahm was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist of legendary range and reputation. The first American musician to capitalize on the 1960s British invasion, Sahm vaulted to international fame leading a faux-British band called the Sir Douglas Quintet, whose hits included "She's About a Mover," "The Rains Came," and "Mendocino." He made the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in 1968 and 1971 and performed with the Grateful Dead, Dr. John, Willie Nelson, Boz Scaggs, and Bob Dylan. Texas Tornado is the first biography of this national music legend. Jan Reid traces the whole arc of Sahm's incredibly versatile musical career, as well as the manic energy that drove his sometimes turbulent personal life and loves. Reid follows Sahm from his youth in San Antonio as a prodigy steel guitar player through his breakout success with the Sir Douglas Quintet and his move to California, where, with an inventive take on blues, rock, country, and jazz, he became a star in San Francisco and invented the "cosmic cowboy" vogue. Reid also chronicles Sahm's later return to Texas and to chart success with the Grammy Award-winning Texas Tornados, a rowdy "conjunto rock and roll band" that he modeled on the Beatles and which included Sir Douglas alum Augie Meyers and Tejano icons Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez. With his exceptional talent and a career that bridged five decades, Doug Sahm was a rock and roll innovator whose influence can only be matched among his fellow Texas musicians by Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Janis Joplin, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Texas Tornado vividly captures the energy and intensity of this musician whose life burned out too soon, but whose music continues to rock.
Jan Reid (1945-2020) wrote for Texas Monthly, Esquire, GQ, Slate, Men's Journal, Garden & Gun, the New York Times, and many other publications. His books include The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock, The Bullet Meant for Me, Rio Grande, Let the People In: The Life and Times of Ann Richards, and two award-winning novels, Deerinwater and Comanche Sundown. He lived in Austin, Texas. Shawn Sahm, who collaborated with Reid on the research and shaping of Texas Tornado, is a professional musician and record producer who spent many years writing and performing with his father, Doug Sahm.
Prologue: A Real American Joe Chapter 1: A Cajun Two-Step Tex-Mex Polka Chapter 2: Song and Dance Men Chapter 3: Summers of Love Chapter 4: The Real Old Texas Me Chapter 5: Crossroads Chapter 6: Austin after Dark Chapter 7: The Coast-to-Coast All-Star Bands Chapter 8: Are We a Group? Chapter 9: Soap Creek Chapter 10: Groovers Paradise Chapter 11: Country Boogie Chapter 12: Sometimes I Cry Chapter 13: Wanderlust Chapter 14: Borderlands Epilogue: Guitar Slim Selected Discography Index
The first biography of the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados founder Doug Sahm, a rock and roll innovator whose Grammy Award-winning career spanned five decades from the late 1940s to 1999
"Doug was like me, maybe the only figure from that period of time that I connected with. His was a big soul. He had a hit record, 'She's About a Mover,' and I had a hit record ['Like a Rolling Stone'] at the same time. So we became buddies back then" Bob Dylan
