Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown
| Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown | |
|---|---|
Brown at the Long Beach Blues Festival, 1996
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Clarence Brown Jr. |
| Also known as | Gatemouth, Gate |
| Born |
April 18, 1924 Vinton, Louisiana, United States |
| Died | September 10, 2005 (aged 81) Orange, Texas, United States |
| Genres | Blues, swing, country, Cajun, R&B, rock, folk music, electric blues, Texas blues |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, violin, viola, mandolin, drums, harmonica, piano |
| Years active | 1947–2005 |
| Labels | Aladdin Records, Peacock Records, Cindrella Records, Black and Blue Records, Barclay Records, Music Is Medicine, Rounder Records, Alligator Records, Verve Records, Occidental Records |
| Associated acts | Gate's Express (Harold Floyd, David Peters, Joe Krown, Eric Demmer & Lloyd Herrman on drums) Los Super Seven, Bill Samuel, Roy Clark, Airto, Tony Garnier, Garland Craft, Jim Keltner, Joe Sunseri & the Memphis Horns |
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (April 18, 1924 – September 10, 2005) was an American musician from Louisiana and Texas. He is best known for his work as a blues musician, but embraced other styles of music, having "spent his career fighting purism by synthesizing old blues, country, jazz, Cajun music and R&B styles". His work also encompasses rock and roll, rock music, folk music, electric blues, and Texas blues.
He was an acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, who played an array of musical instruments, including the guitar, fiddle, mandolin, viola, harmonica and drums. He won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1983 for his album, Alright Again!. He is regarded as one of the most influential exponents of blues fiddle and has had enormous influence in American fiddle circles.
Brown's two biggest musical influences were Louis Jordan and T-Bone Walker.
Brown was born in Vinton, Louisiana, and raised in Orange, Texas. His professional music career began in 1945, playing drums in San Antonio, Texas. He was given the nickname "Gatemouth" by a high school teacher who said he had a "voice like a gate". His career was boosted when he attended a concert by T-Bone Walker in Don Robey's Bronze Peacock Houston nightclub in 1947; Walker became ill, and Brown took up his guitar and quickly wrote and played "Gatemouth Boogie", to the delight of the audience.
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