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 …
Continue reading "Highlights from The Texas Music Collection"
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 …
Continue reading "‘Gypsy Songman’ now an eBook"
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, …
Continue reading "Al Dressen’s Western Swing Legacy lives on at The Wittliff"
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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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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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 …
Continue reading "Backstory to an iconic photo of “brotherly love”"
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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In 1994, sculptor Cindy Debold met the Grey Ghost. Her first impression of the legendary blues pianist born Roosevelt Williams was that he was rather frail and shy. He was 90 at the time. The Grey Ghost arrived at Debold’s Austin studio with music historian and record producer Tary Owens to sit for a plaster …
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Polka Dot Slim. Pork Chops. Babe Stovall. Re-Pete. They are the nicknames of African American street performers who worked the New Orleans’ French Quarter in the early and mid-1960s. One of them is likely Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles.” The true identity has remained mysterious. Was it really about an old man Walker met in …
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Tales of a pilfered puppy in Nashville, campfire songs in Ohio, sangria wine in Coconut Grove. Jerry Jeff Walker was remembered with affection and honored in song at an outdoor memorial tribute concert for 1,000 fans and friends in Luckenbach on Saturday. The sold-out event vividly brought to life and fleshed out stories which dwell …
Continue reading "Jerry Jeff Walker memorial was like a deep dive into his archives"