From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Nov 6, 2002  6:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Doug Sahm
 
DOUG SAHM (By Shaun Mather)

Born Douglas Wayne Sahm, 6 November 1941, San Antonio, Texas
Died 18 November 1999, Taos, New Mexico

Musical nomad Doug Sahm was a child prodigy who excelled on
steel-guitar, mandolin, and fiddle and made his radio debut at the age of
five. He became a featured player on the Louisiana Hayride by the grand
old age of eight. Known as Little Doug Sahm, he would often sit in at live
performances of such greats as Webb Pierce, Hank Thompson and Faron
Young. In December, 1952, only weeks before his death, Hank Williams
took Doug on stage in Austin.
It wasn't all country music though. Sahm also grew up hearing the blues of
T-Bone Walker, Junior Parker, Bobby 'Blue' Bland and Hank Ballard. He
released a number of singles on various local record labels, beginning at
age eleven with "A Real American Joe" backed with "Rollin' Rollin'" for Sarg
Records. He fronted several bands during his high school years, including
the Pharaohs, the Dell-Kings, and the Markays, meeting soul-mate Augie
Meyers along the way.
Producer Huey P. Meaux encouraged Meyers and Sahm to form a band
together and named them the Sir Douglas Quintet. In 1965 they scored
an international hit with the infectious "She's About A Mover" (# 13) on the
Tribe label. The following year Sahm got arrested for marijuana possession
at the Corpus Christi airport and left Texas for San Francisco, where he
remained for about five years. During this time he recording several LP's,
including Mendocino, for the Mercury subsidiary Smash and its affiliate
Philips, before returning to Texas.
In 1973, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records produced Doug Sahm And Band, a
"supergroup" album featuring Bob Dylan, Dr. John, David Bromberg, and Flaco
Jimenez. Sahm and Meyers continued to record for different American labels
throughout the 1970's and early 1980's, but without the popularity of the
early years.
In 1983, Sahm and Meyers signed with the Swedish label Sonet and toured
Europe extensively. "Meet Me In Stockholm" became one of the biggest
selling records ever in Scandinavia. Following a road accident in 1985 he
returned to America. Three years later he formed the Texas Tornados with
Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez and Freddy Fender. The Texas Tornados went
on to produce eight albums. He also had a brief reunion of the Sir Douglas
Quintet and in 1999 formed his own label, Tornado Records. He suffered a
fatal heart attack whilst on vacation in Taos, New Mexico.

Unofficial homepage: http://members.aol.com/SirDoug/index.html
Recommended listening:
San Antonio Rock : The Harlem Recordings, 1957-1961 (Norton)
She's About A Mover : The Best Of Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas
Quintet (Edsel)
The Best Of Doug Sahm, 1968-1975 (Rhino)