Steady Corridor is internet hosting a tribute to the late San Antonio musician and songwriter Augie Meyers this Sunday, with a lineup of Texas musical luminaries who knew him personally and have been influenced by his unmistakable sound.
The occasion “Remembering Augie Meyers” will characteristic Jimmie Vaughan, Joey Nichols, Joe King Carrasco, the Krayolas and different artists who knew Augie personally. Tickets are nonetheless on sale by way of the Steady Corridor web site.
Meyers died at age 85 from pneumonia at his San Antonio residence on March 7. He left behind a legacy that — very similar to the person — is bigger than life.
“Augie was considered one of a sort,” blues musician Joey Nichols stated in an Instagram put up asserting his participation within the tribute live performance. “His sound, his spirit, and that unmistakable method he performed modified Texas music perpetually. He had a present you could possibly acknowledge in a single observe, and he carried it with a soul and humor that made him unforgettable.”
To place it merely, San Antonio has a definite sound, and Augie Meyers helped outline it.
“He’s one of many best musicians Texas ever produced,” Hector Saldaña, frontman of the Krayolas, advised the Present in a telephone interview. “Augie’s sound is what makes that San Antonio factor so related to the surface world.”
On the tribute, the Krayolas will play Augie’s tune “Little Fox,” a observe the band recorded with Meyers in 2008 that bought heavy rotation on SiriusXM. The music was initially supposed for Sir Douglas Quintet, Meyers’ first undertaking with Doug Sahm, however ended up on the slicing room ground as a result of Sahm’s management over the songwriting course of.
The syncopated occasion anthem is a throwback to the Sir Douglas Quintet’s “Mendocino” period, with a melody within the verses that harkens to Sam Cooke’s “Cupid.” It was considered one of three songs the Krayolas recorded on the Blue Cat with Meyers that day, and considered one of dozens over time.
Sir Douglas Quintet began as an undercover operation of Texans doing British Invasion music. The San Antonio boys sported Beatles mop tops and fits and tried to not converse on music selection reveals and let their drawl slip, per the recommendation of producer Huey Meaux.
Augie even glided by “Lord August.”
The boys saved up the charade so long as they may, till that Texas accent peeked by way of and the jig was up. However actually, the Tex-Mex taste was already there, due to Meyers’ bouncy rhythms on the Vox Continental.
In a method, Meyers was imitating accordion-driven ranchera music, which itself was influenced by the German polka that flooded into the Texas Hill Nation with an inflow of German immigrants. However Meyers took that bounce and gave it a swing together with his organ taking part in, pioneering one thing akin to the San Antonio model of Zydeco or Cajun music.
After gaining regional fame, the band broke by way of internationally in 1965 with “She’s A couple of Mover,” adopted by “Dynamite Girl,” “Mendocino” and different tracks.
Sir Douglas Quintet additionally caught the eye of Bob Dylan, who name-dropped them as his favourite band.
“There’s a cause Bob Dylan requested Augie to be part of stuff, proper?” Saldaña stated. “He needs that factor that Augie can carry. Nicely, what’s he bringing? He’s bringing San Antonio.”
As soon as established, the band relocated to the West Coast and fell into the psychedelic San Francisco scene. However the act at all times stayed in contact with its Texas roots, a sentiment captured in its love letter to the Lone Star State, “Texas Me.”
Within the Nineties, Meyers and Sahm joined forces once more to kind the Tex-Mex supergroup often called the Texas Tornados, additionally including Freddy Fender and Flaco Jiménez.
That is when Augie gave us what Sahm famously launched because the “San Antonio nationwide anthem” — the perennial jukebox favourite “(Hey Child) Que Paso.”
The supergroup of South Texas heavyweights additionally introduced Fender out of obscurity as a Corpus Christi automobile mechanic together with his self-penned blues ballad “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.”
The group spanned Tejano, conjunto, nation, blues and extra — however it was all within the wheelhouse of Augie Meyers.
“You understand, there’s that Chicano Tex-Mex factor to him. There’s that German polka factor to him. There’s the blues aspect,” Saldaña stated.
Meyers was the final residing survivor of the Texas Tornados earlier than his demise. However for individuals who knew him, his reminiscence lingers on.
“Wanting over and seeing Augie on that Vox, I’ll always remember that,” Saldaña stated. “It’s unbelievable.”
$28 and up, 6 p.m. Sunday, Could 31, Steady Corridor, 307 Pearl Parkway, StableHall.com.
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