Category: Texas Music

Photo of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown

Duke-Peacock Records: A Pillar of Black Entertainment

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Before the musical influence of Motown, there was Duke-Peacock, a Black-owned record label located in Houston, Texas, that recorded some of the biggest names in blues, funk, and gospel music. Part of the Doug Hanners collection, these publicity photographs feature incredible artists, including Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Junior …

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Photo of Abigail Moon in the archives

From The Archives: Texas Music Oral History Project

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By Wittliff intern Abigail Moon. As a student at Texas State University, I was pleased to join the Wittliff Collections team as a Digitization Assistant in Fall of 2023. My internship consisted of working with the unique archival materials found in the Texas Music Oral History project. This collection consists of interviews with a diverse …

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Texas music gallery

Highlights from The Texas Music Collection

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Editor’s note: Student employees are a big part of The Wittliff’s success. In celebration of National Student Employee Week we want to highlight the hard work of our student employees. This is the first in a series of blog posts about how students contribute behind-the-scenes in the archives. Abigail Moon is a Wittliff digitization student …

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Photo of Jerry Jeff Walker

‘Gypsy Songman’ now an eBook

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By Hector Saldaña   He was a gypsy songman passin’ by. His whole life was a song.   Amid the excitement of the major new exhibit at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos celebrating Jerry Jeff Walker’s landmark 1973 album “¡Viva Terlingua!” and the buzz around the all-star concerts at Luckenbach …

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Photo of All Dressen

Al Dressen’s Western Swing Legacy lives on at The Wittliff

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We were saddened to hear of the passing of Al Dressen on July 22, 2023. We remember Al not only for being an accomplished musician, but also for his establishment of the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame Archive at The Wittliff in 1994.  Al’s commitment to Western Swing and the celebration of the music, …

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An evening with Robert Earl Keen

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By David Coleman, Director of The Wittliff Collections When Bill and Sally Wittliff created the Southwestern Writers Collection back in 1986, Bill asked, “How better to feel the very Heartbeat of Texas?” The Wittliff’s recent special event featuring Robert Earl Keen was a testament to their vision. Keen proved he is as Texas as bluebonnets. …

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Never-before-seen photo of Selena on display

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The young Tejano singer onstage — clad in skintight black head-to-toe, hair dyed black in a short shiny pompadour and wearing big loop earrings — looks like she’s skipping or maybe doing a modern tango. She’s in flight, and the camera went click. In that moment, photographer Al Rendon caught the teenage Selena Quintanilla in …

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Backstory to an iconic photo of “brotherly love”

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The iconic photograph of the legendary Vaughan Brothers – Jimmie and Stevie Ray – sitting on a couch, smiling, arms over each other’s shoulders and flanked by electric guitars was taken by Scott Van Osdol and Jeff Rowe in spring 1984. Perhaps no other photograph captures the public’s romanticized image of the blues guitarists in …

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Stevie Ray Vaughan comes to The Wittliff

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The recent acquisition of a substantive Steve Ray Vaughan archive is the latest gem preserved at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University, home of more than 500 historic literary, photographic, film and music collections. The new SRV collection offers intimate insights into the life and career of the legendary guitarist in three distinct arenas: …

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