<back - CLARENCE 'GATEMOUTH' BROWN - April 18, 1924 to Sept 10, 2005  Clarence Brown was born in 1924 in Vinton, Louisiana and raised in Orange, Texas. He learned guitar and fiddle from his father, a strong multi-instrumentalist who taught his son to play Texas fiddle music, traditional French tunes and even polkas. Gate began his professional career at the age of 21 as a drummer in San Antonio. In 1947, he was in the audience at the Golden Peacock nightclub in Houston, when famed guitarist T-Bone Walker took sick and dropped his guitar onto the stage in the middle of a number. Gatemouth leaped to the stage, picked up Walker's axe and laid into one of his tunes, Gatemouth Boogie. That showman stunt also got the attention of the owner, Don Robey. Robey founded Peacock Records as an outlet for Gate's music.

Dozens of Gatemouth Brown's records, including his Okie Dokie Stomp, Boogie Rambler, became big hits at the dawn of Rock n' Roll. Peacock Records grew to become a major independent R&B record label, with an artist roster that included stars like Bobby 'Blue' Bland,  Jr Parker and Joe Hinton. In the '60s, Gate moved to Nashville to take part in a syndicated R&B television show called The Beat. Gatemouth Brown moved to New Orleans in the late '70s and signed a contract with Jim Bateman's Real Records of Bogalusa, Louisiana. In 1979, he teamed up with country music star Roy Clark for an MCA album, MAKIN' MUSIC, which led to the syndicated television program Hee Haw and Austin City Limits. In 1981, Real Records took a Gate's master tape to Rounder Records who released the recording as ALRIGHT AGAIN!. That album won the Grammy for Best Blues Recording of 1982. Gate also won his first WC Handy Award in '82 for Instrumentalist of the Year. A second Rounder Records release, ONE MORE MILE, and a re-issue of THE ORIGINAL PEACOCK RECORDINGS followed in 1983. That same year he won another WC Handy Award when he was voted Entertainer of the Year. Gate had 2 releases in 1986, Rounder's 'REAL LIFE' and Alligator's Grammy-nominated 'PRESSURE COOKER'. He came away from the 1986 Handy's with his third award, for Instrumentalist of the Year. His knack for blending all the American music forms of Jazz, Blues and Country, he received the R&B Foundation's Pioneer Award (1997) and inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1999.
MP3- LOUISIANA ZYDECO |