FTC: Sir Douglas Quintet

From the closet this week is the San Antonio based Sir Douglas Quintet, whose albums, The Best of the Sir Douglas Quintet(1966) and Mendocino (1968) were pretty much the soundtrack to my childhood.  The latter of which is still one of my favorite albums of all time. Riding on the coattails of the British invasion of the early sixties, Doug Sahm, (who passed away about 10 years ago) decided on a British sounding name, despite his obvious Texan drawl and with fellow members predominantly from Mexico.  Regardless of their lack of British ties, they still recorded an international hit 1965’s “She’s About A Mover”, and went on to influence a young Bob Dylan and later the mutual influence of the Grateful Dead, when Sahm moved his band out to San Francisco in 1966. On “At The Crossroads”, Doug Sahm’s raspy lyric, “You just can’t live in Texas if you don’t have a lot of soul” to this day still speaks to a whole generation of Texans.  A part Willie and a part Grateful Dead, SDQ deserves to be brought out and enjoyed by a more modern listening audience.

[audio: https://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Sir_Douglas_Quintet_-_Mendocino_-_01_-_Mendocino.mp3]