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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm
Vanguard Records
(Release Date: 3/24/09)

Now is the time to toast the life of Sir Douglas. Ten years after his untimely death, the incomparable Doug Sahm is finally getting a long overdue wave of recognition from the music community he loved so dearly.

 

First, there was the cover of the Austin Chronicle: a classic, full-page, Armadillo-era, shot splashed across the cover of the 2009 music issue. Then, a live tribute featuring his son Shawn, fellow Texas Tornado and life long running buddy Augie Meyer, and Musician of the Year Alejandro Escovedo, among others, paid homage to the San Antonio native during the Austin Music Awards that kicked off SXSW 2009. And now, the musical salute Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm is in record stores—and will surely launch his fans into groover’s paradise

To properly pay tribute to a man whose five-decade career saw him not just dabble in, but master and meld, country, conjunto, R&B, soul, and rock, the folks behind the tribute enlist a roster of artists whose bona fides are unquestionable. In the lead-off slot, Little Willie G takes a bodacious turn on “She’s About a Mover,” Sahm’s signature tune from the Sir Douglas era. Los Lobos (“And It Didn’t Even Bring Me Down”) and Escovedo (“Too Little Too Late”) follow with tunes and that wouldn’t have been out of place at a San Antonio sock hop circa 1967. Dave Alvin and Delbert McClinton cover “Dynamite Woman” and “Texas Me” respectively, showcasing Sahm’s stellar country sensibilities. Perhaps the record’s brightest nugget, “Why, Why, Why” comes courtesy of Jimmie Vaughan, a soulful turn that testifies to Sahm’s stunning versatility: he was as comfortable with the language of the blues as he was with anything in Spanish.

And there could be no tribute to Doug Sahm without the melodic, accordion-driven, Spanglish (the music, as opposed to the language) sounds he mastered and took to new heights with the Tex-Mex supergroup Texas Tornados. Representing this prominent facet of Sahm’s magnificent career include fellow Tornado Flaco Jimenez on the cut “Ta Bueno Compadre (It’s OK Friend)” featuring the West Side Horns, and Joe “King” Carrasco & Texas Tornados burning through “Adios Mexico.”

Lastly and appropriately, Sir Doug’s talented son Shawn caps off everything with “Mendocino,” arguably his father’s biggest hit. Stylistic similarities between father and son are undeniable. As is the fact that Keep Your Soul is a rowdy, joyful celebration filled with the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll’s heyday. Sir Doug would have wanted it no other way.