To call Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown a bluesman was to do so at your own peril. The cantankerous Gatemouth was tired of being pigeonholed and with good reason. "American music, Texas style" - That’s Gatemouth’s succinct description of his all encompassing musical philosophy (also the title of his 1999 album). He may have started out playing jumping big band blues in the tradition of T-Bone Walker but through the years he's tackled just about every roots genre including R&B, country, swing, bebop, cajun and more. A virtuoso on guitar, violin, harmonica, mandolin, viola, and even drums, Gatemouth did it his way for more than fifty years. "A long time ago, people advised me not to mix blues, country, jazz and cajun music. ...It took me a long time to convince the world it could be done. Even now they want to label me a "blues musician" but I refuse to be a blues musician. I'm a musician." Born in Louisiana but raised in Orange, Texas, he had been living in Louisiana for many years when hurricane Katrina demolished his home. His life came full circle when he escaped to his hometown of Orange, Texas, where he died September 10th, 2005.

 Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was born in Vinton, Louisiana, and raised not far from the Gulf Coast in Orange, Texas. "I was born this side of the river and raised on the Texas side. That's why I wrote that song [Born In Louisiana]. ...My daddy, Tom Brown, was a great man in my eyes. He worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and he played music at house parties on Saturday nights. He played fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion, everything--played nothing but country and cajun music. ...I was just a little kid, watching. I got a big guitar, stretched my fingers. I didn't know what I was doing, but I learned because my daddy said, 'You gonna do it, do it right.' I did it close to right." He worked on the family farm and with his half brother, James "Widemouth" Brown, accompanied his father at house parties. He learnt to play harmonica, mandolin and drums and it was on this instrument that he started out in a local band at the age of sixteen. The band was Howard Spencer and his Gay Swingsters and later he went on the road with William M. Bimbo and His Brownskin Models. Of this period he recalled "I was about 16 or 17. I went all the way to Norfolk, Virginia."

 In 1946 Gatemouth was drafted into the army as an engineer and stationed in San Antonio. After his discharge he joined Hort Hudge's 23-piece orchestra at the Keyhole Club in San Antonio. After hearing of the success of T-Bone Walker at Don Robey's Bronze Peacock, Gatemouth began playing electric guitar. He first encountered T-Bone Walker in Houston in the mid-1940's. He recalled the experience vividly: "I hitchhiked to Houston to see him and went into this club called the Bronze Peacock. He was the hottest stuff on guitar in Texas, but he was sick with a stomach ulcer and he laid his guitar down on the stage and walked off to his dressing room. I got up and went up to the stage. No one knew I was a guitar player, but I just picked up T-Bone's guitar and started to play, inventing a little boogie--'My name is Gatemouth Brown. I just got in town. If you don't like my style, I won't hang around.' Well, they loved it, but T-Bone didn't. He come back on stage and snatched away his guitar and told me that I was in big trouble if I ever fooled with his guitar again."

 In 1947, Gate's impromptu fill-in for an T-Bone Walker convinced Houston entrepreneur Don Robey to assume control of Brown's career. Robey bought Gatemouth a new Gibson L5 guitar and some new tuxedos from a custom tailor on Dowling Street. Later he flew Gatemouth out to Los Angles to sign a recording contract with Aladdin Records. In November 1947 four sides were cut including "Gatemouth Boogie" and "Guitar In My Hands." Robey was unhappy with the results and decided not to renew the contract after the first year. Convinced that Gatemouth could hit big, Robey started Peacock Records, named after his club, the Bronze Peacock. His early records for the label featured driving backbeats, blazing horns and Gate’s trademark knife-edged guitar. That’s the sound fueling such early classics as "Midnight Hour," "Depression Blues", "Dirty Work at the Crossroads", "Boogie Rambler", "Gate Walks to Board," "Boogie Uproar" and "Okie Dokie Stomp" one of the all-time great blues guitar showpieces. "That’s a masterpiece," Gate said. "That’s what all guitar players go to bed dreaming about." His guitar work was influential to a legion of Houston string-benders like Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Cal Green, and many others. Gate stayed with Peacock through 1960. While Peacock and its sister label Duke prospered through the '50s and '60s the R&B charts didn't reflect Brown's importance, hitting only once nationwide with 1949's two-sided smash "My Time Is Expensive"/"Mary Is Fine." Gatemouth's recordings from this period are a major component of the rich Texas postwar blues legacy. He broke new ground often -- even in the '50s, he insisted on sawing his fiddle at live performances, although Robey wasn't interested in capturing Gate's violin talent until "Just Before Dawn" (his final Peacock platter in 1959).

 The '60s weren't all that kind to Gatemouth. His cover of Little Jimmy Dickens' country novelty "May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" for tiny Hermitage Records made a little noise in 1965 (and presaged things to come stylistically). He recorded some other material in Houston and Nashville, some of which was picked up by Chess who only issued a couple of items. The decade was chiefly memorable for Brown's 1966 stint as house bandleader for The!!!!Beat, a groundbreaking syndicated R&B television program out of Dallas hosted by WLAC DJ Bill "Hoss" Allen. Gatemouth led the house band for most of the 26 episodes of that seminal blues/R&B/rock TV program.

 In the ‘70s, he was living in Nashville, alternating blues tours with guest appearances on Hee Haw and a musical friendship with Roy Clark. The duo cut a fine 1979 duet album for MCA, "Makin' Music." In 1977, he was back in Texas for the first of what would be five appearances on public television’s most acclaimed live-music series, Austin City Limits. Heavy touring in the 1970s established new audiences in Europe, East Africa, and the Soviet Union, where Gate toured as a musical ambassador for the U.S. State Department. Gatemouth recorded for the French Black And Blue label in the early 1970's including notable albums such as "The Blues Ain't Nothing", "Cold Storage" and "Heatwave" with pianist Lloyd Glenn. He also recorded for the French Barclay label with an emphasis on country and roots music exemplified on albums like "Down South...In The Bayou Country", "The Bogalusa Boogie Man" and the more blues oriented "The Drifter Ride Again" featuring the Memphis Horns. The best cuts from three of those Black And Blue albums were later released in the U.S. by Alligator Records as "Pressure Cooker", which subsequently received a Grammy nomination for Best Blues Recording in 1986.

 Moving to New Orleans in the late '70s, Gatemouth signed with Jim Bateman's Real Records production company. His first-ever American album, "Blackjack", was released in 1978 on the Music Is Medicine label. Gatemouth enhanced his reputation stateside in the 1980's by revisiting his big-band days on an award-winning series of albums for Rounder Records. His 1982 comeback, "Alright Again!", updated his Peacock sound -- slashing guitar atop a hard-swinging big band. It won the blues Grammy that year, and he has since been nominated for five more. A second Rounder Records release, "One More Mile", and a reissue of "The Original Peacock Recordings" followed in 1983. That same year he won another Blues Music Award when he was voted "Entertainer of the Year." Gatemouth had two releases in 1986, Rounder's "Real Life" and Alligator's aforementioned "Pressure Cooker." Gatemouth officially joined the Alligator roster in 1989 with "Standing my Ground", another Grammy nominee, featuring Gatemouth backed by his red hot touring band. It was followed by the equally swinging 1991 release, "No Looking Back." After Rounder, he cut a string of strong and eclectic albums for Verve and Blue Thumb including "American Music, Texas Style", "Gate Swings" and "Back to Bogalusa." His final recording, "Timeless", was released on Hightone in 2004. Among those who have joined him on record in recent years are Eric Clapton, Ry Cooder, Amos Garrett, Jim Keltner, Maria Muldaur and Leon Russell. In addition to being a Grammy recipient, Gatemouth has been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame and is an eight-time winner of the W.C. Handy Award. He’s also received the prestigious Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation.

 Gatemouth had been battling lung cancer and heart disease and was in ill health for the past year but still performed live, trailing an oxygen tank with him as he played. In 2005 he played the New orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for one final time to a rapturous reception. Hall Of Fame songwriter and recording artist John D. Loudermilk once said of Gatemouth: "For the first time music comes together from both sides of the tracks to produce the most American Artist yet."

Essential Listening

His First Recordings:1947-1951 (EPM): 24 great numbers Gatemouth cut for Don Robey's Peacock label. Includes all time classics like "Guitar in My Hand", "My Time Is Expensive", "Boogie Rambler", "Just Got Lucky" and many others.

The Original Peacock Recordings (Rounder): More prime Peacock sides spanning from 1952 through 1959. Terrific sides like "Midnight Hour", "Sad Hour", "Dirty Work at the Crossroads", "Okie Dokie Stomp" and others.

San Antonio Ballbuster (Charly): Fine sides cut in Nashville in 1965, subsequently picked up by Chess who failed to release most of these. Strong material including the humorous country novelty number "May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose", fine fiddle playing on "Gate's Salty Blues" plus more straight ahead blues on "Cross My Heart" and stellar Sonny Boy Williamson covers in "Don't Start Me Talking" and "Ninety Nine."

Okie Dokie Stomp (Bullseye): A budget, 12-song collection taken from Gatemouth's three '80s era Rounder albums with an added bonus of a 10-minute version of "The Drifter," recorded live in Switzerland in 1982. Gatemouth cut some strong material for Rounder with some of the best included here like "Frosty", "I Feel Alright Again", "Information Blues" and "Dollar Got the Blues."

Pressuer Cooker (Alligator): A swinging set in recorded France in 1973 (reissued on Alligator 1985) with all-star backing by keyboardists Milt Buckner and Jay McShann, saxists Arnett Cobb and Hal Singer among others. Prime material like "Ain't That Just like a Woman", "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and "She Winked Her Eye."

Standing My Ground (Alligator): Excellent and eclectic 1989 outing that finds Gatemouth tackling blues, jazz, country and zydeco. Gatemouth plays guitar, violin, drums, and piano on fine originals like "Born in Louisiana", "I Hate These Doggone Blues" and "Louisiana Zydeco."

Back To Bogalusa (Blue Thumb): Stellar later date as Gatemouth digs deep into his Louisiana influences. Added to the mix are a fine horn section plus guest stars Sonny Landreth on slide guitar and Zachary Richard on accordion. There's plenty of first rate material like "Going Back to Louisiana", "Breaux Bridge Rag", "Bogalusa Boogie Man" and ""Louisian'."

-Fontenot, Robert. A Conversation With Gatemouth Brown, Offbeat, (1999). 66.

-Bonner, Brett and Nelson, David. Gatemouth Brown: Music That's Right For The World, Living Blues no. 107 (1993), 10-19.

-Shurman, Dick, Liner Notes Original Peacock Recordings. Rounder, 1990.

-Govenar, Alan, Meeting The Blues. Taylor Publishing Company, 1988.