Customer Reviews

Texas Tornado: The Times and Music of Doug Sahm (Brad and Michele Moore Roots Music Series)

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Great biography of the Texas icon Doug Sahm. His whole career and life are here. He began in Texas, became part of the California music scene and went back to his Texas roots. His life is examined warts and all with a lot of imput from his son Shawn. BTW- check out Shawn's music. He has a solo career, the Tex-Mex Experience and he re-grouped the Texas Tornados with Flaco and Augie..DOUG RULES..

Very good overview of the life of one of America's most under appreciated rock 'n' rollers.

I'm glad his story is available, and hope this book prompts more people to give his music a listen.

A very good read. If you are like me and can't get enough of Sir Doug, you'll like this book. It covers his life from the very early days to his untimely death but is quite sparse in detail about the latter stages of his career; from the Atlantic years onward. It is well written and very easy to read and includes some lovely, and rare, photos. While the definitive biography on Doug has yet to be written, this will do until then.

Man, but it's great to see that Doug Sahm has finally gotten his due in biography form. Sahm has long been underappreciated as an influential artist, but hopefully this book will turn a few folks on to his legacy.

Doug Sahm was a childhood musical prodigy born into a working-class family. Raised in San Antonio, he was schooled in a wide variety of musical styles: conjunto, country, cajun, dance hall, blues, doo-wop, soul, and rock. He was saavy enough to capitalize on the British Invasion in the mid-60's by forming the faux-British rock group the Sir Douglas Quintet, vaulting himself to the brink of international stardom. But it was hard for him maintain that focus and keep the Quintet relevant with the ever-changing musical styles, and his star began to fade. He became a musical chameleon, putting out a series of uneven albums and settling for becoming the Musical Mayor of Austin, Texas during it's cosmic-cowboy heyday in the mid-70's. He later became a star in Scandanavia and Canada, and returned stateside for another jab at commercial success in the 90's with the Tex-Mex "supergroup" the Texas Tornados. He died too young, leaving behind a largely obscure catalog of music and a ton of legendary stories.

A lot of his back catalog is still in print, but judging by the paucity of reviews here on Amazon, his musical legacy is still largely undiscovered and unappreciated outside of Texas. That's too bad, because Sahm was truly a guy who knew his way around an astonishing number of styles and genres. The man could flat out PLAY, and his ability to channel and combine different influences was phenomenal.

You gotta get this book if you have any interest in Texas music. It's a short read, but it's well researched and written and it has a ton of good photos. Sahm was a complex guy, an often prickly personality with a generous streak a mile wide. He wore his freak badge proudly, and seemed to be someone who was comfortable in his own skin. Truly a remarkable musician and man.

Highly recommended as a musical biography as well as a work of Texana.

No one had written a book on Doug Sahm that I know of, despite all the good copy he has provided Rolling Stone and Texas Monthly over the years, not to mention, I presume, thousands of issues of Austin, Texas freebies and rags. From the Sir Douglas Quintet to the Texas Tornados is a ride as long as a trip through Texas and the story is well told here by Jan Reid.


Doug Sahm was one of those rare musicians who never had a day job, a fact which is pointed out in the book. He was also in the business 50 years...there is a photograph of a very young Doug sitting on the knees of Hank Williams, he was a performer even then ("Little" Doug Sahm) In a particularly striking passage, the author writes Sahm had inhaled the whiskey breath of Hank. No wonder Bob Dylan was his friend for so long, and the bio is littered with a few wonderful little anecdotes and quotes from Dylan.

Additionally, the Impressive, powerful man known as Augie Meyers played with Dylan, and he is on nearly every page, having played in so many groups with Doug one could loose track. A giant of a man with a pony tail down to his ass, Augie pretty much invented the Vox and Farfisa sound in pop music, and used it to great Tex-Mex advantage in all the incarnations Sahm assumed in his long, long, long career. He has also contributed keyboards to some of Dylan's late work.

The author previously wrote "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" which I also enjoyed. A good read about a wonderful character with one of the great rock and roll voices, and highly recommended. Appropriately published by the University of Texas Press.
Jim Linderman Dull Tool Dim Bulb (and Essays on Bob Dylan by Jim Linderman)

This is another fine book by Jan Reid with a lot of help from Doug's son, Shawn. It is a quick read; it keeps moving, providing enough details without getting bogged down like some biographies can. Doug was an amazing, versatile and prolific artist, playing and writing music his entire life - fifty years without ever holding a day job! Born, raised and spending much of his life in Texas, he was very influenced by the Tex-Mex sound, but he was equally at home playing country, blues, pop, rock and even jazz. Doug spent part of the sixties in California where he met, played and toured with many of the leading artists of the day, including CCR and the Grateful Dead. Later in his career, he toured in Europe, where he was even an even bigger hit than he was in America. This was an enjoyable book, and one that I am sure I will read again at some point in the future. Doug - you left us too soon, but you also left us with an amazing body of work which will be enjoyed for generations to come. If you are a music buff, I think you will enjoy this book!

If you are a fan of Doug Sahm....you must read this book. Great insight, great pictures, just a great book on a Texas music legend.

Enjoyed the book, filled in a lot of info I did not know. I remember seeing little kids at Soap Creek and to find out they were Charlie Sexton, Shawn Sahm and others I listen to today was heart warming. Doug lived in Groovers Paradise.

The lyric is "I've been working in the Kremlin (not prison) with a two headed dog."