Given the handle “Gatemouth” as a high school student because of his voice sounding like an old rusty gate, fit like a glove, in the realm of blues vocals. Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown used his rusty voice to his advantage in many genres of music, including: blues, jazz, Cajun and even R&B. As far as most blues musicians go, Gatemouth was my favorite for his talent with each of the many instruments he could play. He first started on the sticks in San Antonio, however he could play harmonica, fiddle, viola and guitar. I know that my posts up to this date were centered on Texas born and raised musicians.
This week is a little different in that Clarence was born in Vinton, Louisiana, however moved to Orange, Texas as a boy and began his musical career in San Antonio in 1945, so I figure he counts. His popularity grew opening for T Bone Walker and many others. In 1949 Don Robey founded Peacock Records out of San Antonio, first recording Brown (later recording the scorcher “Hound Dog” by Big Mama Thornton). If not the first, one of the first few, to use a capo on his guitar also set Brown apart from the rest of the guitar musicians of his day.
The track I have chosen today is one I feel emphasizes Gatemouth’s ability to jump genres. This gutsy piece shows his violin chops and would be what I consider a hybrid of instrumentals, with its traditional blues backbone, and overlaying violin layer. This track creates a folk/blues/country sound, which I feel encompasses an early Texas trademark. “Just Before Dawn” would turn out to be Brown’s last recording under the Peacock umbrella in 1959.
