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This map highlighting the hometowns of blues musicians in the Brazos Valley is in the home of Jim and Cindy Holmes.
In between my roles as Waco city councilman and investment banker, I’ve been fortunate to do a little adventure traveling, including running with the bulls in Pamplona, jet-skiing the Mississippi River from Minneapolis to New Orleans, climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, wing-walking on a World War II airplane in Seattle, and riding camels around the Great Pyramids.
But one of the most memorable vacations I’ve experienced was a recent weekend road trip right here in Central Texas.
As an old blues/rock guitar player myself, I have a keen interest in the history of the blues, specifically as it relates to Waco’s role in the development of the “Texas Country Blues.” A little research unveils that there are quite a few influential musicians who were born and raised in the area around the Brazos River in a stretch from Waco to Navasota, so Cindy and son Kennedy and I decided to dedicate a road trip to checking out the sites of 13 influential Texas blues musicians who helped establish the “Brazos Valley Blues.”
While the Waco blues music scene may not currently seem like a hotbed of activity, the city played an important part in the origin of the “Texas Country Blues” music genre. The city’s history of cotton gins and railroads made it a crossroads of commerce and migrant farm workers in the 1920s and 1930s.
Jim Holmes stands on the little that remains from the famous Walker's Auditorium, which hosted many music legends during its heyday in the 1940s to 1960s. Photo by Cindy Holmes.
Musicians and buskers played for money on street corners as they followed the harvest activity up and down the Brazos River Valley. In the 1940s through to the 1960s, Waco was home to the famous Walker’s Auditorium, as well as other lesser-known juke joints on Clifton Street and downtown Waco.
Those spots hosted the likes of blues legends Robert Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Ike and Tina Turner, Otis Redding, James Brown, Ray Charles, Fats Domino, Ella Fitzgerald, and many more.
In that time period in Waco and further downstream in the Brazos River Valley, a few skilled musicians were combining influences of gospel, country, honky-tonk, pop, and Southern blues to create a new sound, establishing Waco as somewhat of a “Gateway to the Brazos Valley Blues.”
So let’s hit the Brazos Valley Blues Trail!
Waco is the birthplace of Mercy Dee Walton (1915-1962), the blues pianist and songwriter. Walton was raised in a farming family, and his parents worked in the corn and cotton fields around Waco.
Walton took up piano at a young age, and as a teenager he played piano and sang for “ten cent house parties” and “country suppers” on weekends. In his early 20s, Walton moved to California, working as a migrant farmhand while continuing to perform in nightclubs and bars. He eventually recorded his compositions for several California record labels from 1949 to 1961.
He wrote and performed the song “One Room Country Shack” which became a top 10 R&B hit in 1953, and is now a blues standard. One of the last known residences of Walton in Waco (from the 1930 Census) is “921 South 2nd Street”, but homes in this neighborhood were torn down over the years to make way for a sprawling Baylor University campus. As poetic symmetry would have it, that area is now home to Baylor’s Glennis McCrary Music Building.
First stop outside of Waco was on South Third Street in Downsvlle, birthplace of Tomcat Courtney (1929-2022).
In the 1930s and 1940s, Courtney’s father operated a juke joint in his barn near Downsville that hosted country blues artists, including blues legends Robert Johnson and Lightnin’ Hopkins as they passed through Waco.
Courtney left Downsville in the mid-1940s to sing and dance in a traveling stage show, and he eventually made his way to Southern California as a guitar man, where he helped establish the blues scene in the ’60s and ’70s. He was still playing blues every Thursday night at the Proud Mary blues lounge at the age of 91, and I was lucky enough to meet him and catch his amazing performance there last year.
Mr. Courtney passed away earlier this year. He wrote and recorded music with Blue Witch Records in Phoenix; his song “Downsville Blues” covers his feelings on coming back home to Waco and observing all the changes. Growing up in Downsville, Courtney attended the historic Mt. Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church on South Third Street, and Courtney’s father (also Thomas) perished in the 1953 Waco tornado; his name is listed on the Tornado Memorial at Waco’s Heritage Square.
We followed our way down Highway 6 to Marlin, where we sat at the corner of Commerce and Wood Street, a location from which gospel legend Blind Willie Johnson (1898-1945) is known to have played regularly as a street preacher/musician.
Johnson attended church in Marlin, and he eventually became a singing evangelist preacher whose gravelly voice and slide guitar belted out a style of gospel music that helped set the foundation for the Texas Country Blues.
Johnson wrote and recorded for Columbia Records from 1927 to 1930, with sessions in Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta. His memorable song “Dark was the Night; Cold was the Ground” was selected by NASA as one of the immortal pieces of global music included in “The Golden Record” placed on board the Voyager 1 spacecraft that was sent into deep space in 1977.
Johnson is revered by modern guitarists, and his music has been covered by numerous artists, including Eric Clapton, Jack White, Bob Dylan and Led Zeppelin. Johnson was born in nearby Pendleton, so we took a side trip to that small village to pay homage there.
We drove southwest onto Highway 190 to pass through Rogers, birthplace of singer Joe Tex (1933-1982).
Tex (born Joseph Arrington) started his career by winning several amateur competitions at Harlem’s world-famous Apollo Theatre. He recorded for several different labels in the 50s/60s/70s; with four No. 1 hits on the national R&B charts, including “Hold What You’ve Got,” “Skinny Legs and All,” “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More,” and perhaps his most famous: “I Gotcha.”
Tex was an animated and creative singer and performer. His rivalry with singer James Brown (The King of Soul) was legendary, as Brown is said to have copied Tex’s stage style; and Brown also married Tex’s ex-wife.
Tex was one of the first artists to adopt a rapping style in some of his songs; way before his time. His concert schedule took him all over North America, including Waco’s Walker Auditorium. Later in life, Tex became a minister and retired to a ranch in Navasota.
Farther down Highway 190 is Rockdale, birthplace of guitarist Pee Wee Crayton (1914-1985).
The beautifully restored International & Great Northern Train Depot in Rockdale dates back to 1906, so we made our “Crayton Connection” there.
Like Courtney and Walton, Crayton emigrated from Texas to California as a young man, and became an integral part of the blues scene there. His instrumental “Blues After Hours” was a No. 1 hit on the national R&B charts in 1948, and he recorded for several labels in the 50s/60s/70s/80s.
Crayton’s composition of “Do Unto Others” was sampled/copied by John Lennon in the Beatles mega-hit “Revolution.” Crayton was inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame in 2017.
We then jumped over to Highway 36, heading southeast to reach Brenham, and we kept our blues theme going while treating ourselves to some Blue Bell ice cream and visiting the hometown of blues guitarist Thomas Shaw (1908-1977).
Shaw’s early career included collaborations with the legendary bluesmaster Blind Lemon Jefferson. Shaw relocated to California in his late ’20s and ran a blues club there; he later became an ordained minister based in San Diego. At age 64, he revived his blues career and recorded two albums in California. His most noted song is “Hey, Mr. Nixon.”
Heading back to the Brazos River on Highway 105, we spent the night in Navasota, the birthplace, longtime home and resting place of “The Texas Songster” Mance Lipscomb (1895-1976).
Navasota declares itself “The Blues Capital of Texas,” and its life-sized statue of a guitar-playing Lipscomb in a downtown park is impressive. Next door to the park is “Blues Alley,” with its huge blocklong mural of area blues musicians.
We also visited Lipscomb’s grave at Oakland Cemetery, just outside of town.
Lipscomb came from a musical family, and played a wide variety of music for supper parties in the Navasota area. He made his living as a tenant farmer, and he never wandered far from his Navasota roots. But his finger-picking style was masterful, and when he was “discovered” by recording studios at age 65 in the early 1960s, he became a national sensation, playing folk festivals all over the U.S.
He recorded several albums in the 1960s, and his originals “Sugar Babe,” “Evil Blues” and “Tom Moore’s Farm” are classics. Lipscomb was inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame in 2010.
Heading northeast out of Navasota, Highway 90 turns into FM 149 and we soon came upon the small village of Richards, where blues singer Texas Alexander (1900-1954) lived out his last years.
Alexander is buried in nearby Longstreet Cemetery, and there is a memorial plaque honoring him next to his gravestone. Alexander was born in the nearby farming community of Jewett, and was a street performer in many Brazos Valley towns and villages.
He worked extensively with Lightnin Hopkins and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and recorded for the Okeh and Vocalion labels from 1927 to 1931 in New York, San Antonio and Fort Worth. Alexander’s most popular songs were “Texas Special” and “Seen Better Days.”
His deep baritone voice and unique singing syncopation had fellow musicians doing their best to follow “Alexander Time.”
We continue our trip north up Highway 75 to reach the small village of Leona, the birthplace and hometown of blues guitarist Albert Collins (1932-1993).
Leona’s population is only 182, but it is also the home of the world-famous Leona General Store steakhouse, built in 1921.
Collins grew up in Leona, and learned to play guitar from his cousin Lightnin Hopkins. He moved to Houston when he was 10 years old, and eventually became a mainstay in the Houston Blues Club scene.
He recorded several albums for labels in Texas and California, and was nominated for Grammy awards three times, winning once in 1986 for “Showdown.” His most popular songs were the cold-themed instrumentals “Freeze,” “Frosty” and “Snowcone.”
Collins was commonly known as “The Ice Man.” Collins was a featured musician in festivals all over the world in the 1970s through 1990s, playing with premier guitarists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Collins was inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame in 1986.
A few miles up Highway 75 from Leona is Centerville, birthplace of Lightning Hopkins (1912-1982), blues singer, songwriter and guitarist.
When he was just 8 years old, Hopkins played guitar with the legendary Blind Lemon Jefferson at a church picnic. Hopkins worked as a farmhand, and was a regular at family gatherings and dances in the region and in nearby Crockett; where he played on the legendary Camp Street.
In a park across from the Camp Street Café there is a statue of Hopkins playing his guitar, a must-see for blues fans. Hopkins bounced back and forth from Houston to Los Angeles playing nightclubs, and eventually started recording his music in the late 1940s.
He developed a unique style of guitar finger-picking, and matched it with a heartfelt and good-natured delivery of the blues condition that is unmatched. He established a loyal following in the 1950s, and his career exploded in the 1960s, when he recorded two to three LP’s per year for several labels.
He recorded approximately 900 separate tracks, but even more popular were his live performances and “between the songs” visits with the audience. Hopkins was a regular performer at music festivals, and toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe.
His most popular recordings are “Baby, Please Don’t Go” and “Shotgun Express.” Hopkins received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 71 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists off all time. Hopkins was inducted into the National Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
Following Interstate 45 up to Fairfield, then heading west on FM 27, we make our approach to Wortham to visit the grave of the “Father of the Texas Blues:” Blind Lemon Jefferson (1893-1929).
On the way to Wortham, we stopped at the Shiloh Baptist Church that Jefferson attended, a country church just outside Kirkman. Jefferson was born into a farming family, and at an early age started playing guitar at picnics and parties and on street corners in area towns.
His musical style became a blend of gospel, country, folk and honky-tonk; and he incorporated his life experiences into his compositions.
Jefferson was a technically proficient guitarist, and he had a unique high-pitched singing voice. He traveled to Dallas in the 1910s on the Interurban railroad out of Waco, and became a prominent figure in the early blues movement there, influencing the styles of blues legends like Lead Belly and T-Bone Walker.
Jefferson was a rare combination of singer/composer/guitarist, and he performed with a creative flair. His success at nightclubs in Dallas led to a recording contract with Paramount in Chicago in 1925, and he immediately churned out national hits such as “Booster Blues” and “Dry Southern Blues.”
He continued to record hits for Paramount and Okeh records such as “Matchbox Blues,” “Black Snake Moan” and the classic “See That My Grave is Kept Clean.”
Jefferson died mysteriously and unexpectedly on a cold winter Chicago night in 1929, but his music and style are still recognized as the foundation of Texas Country Blues.
His work influenced hundreds of musicians in blues, country, rock and pop genres, and has been covered by artists such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead and B.B. King.
Jefferson is buried in “Blind Lemon Jefferson Memorial Cemetery” on the east side of Wortham. There is a sitting area there, with a memorial plaque and gravestone inscribed with the phrase: “Lord, it’s one kind favour I’ll ask of you; see that my grave is kept clean” from Jefferson’s oft-covered song.
Behind the gravestone is a little broom, in order for visitors to participate in the process. Jefferson was inducted in the inaugural class of the National Blues Hall of Fame in 1980.
We complete our weekend Blues Trail trip by heading west on Highway 171 to stop in downtown Hillsboro to honor blues pianist and singer Maggie Jones (1894-unknown).
Jones was born in Hillsboro, the daughter of sharecroppers. She took her musical skills to New York in the early 1920s to perform in nightclubs there, and was billed as “The Texas Nightingale.”
In 1923, she recorded two songs for Black Swan Records, and as such became the first Texas singer (male or female) to record a song for a national label.
She continued to record in New York, primarily with Columbia and Paramount. Her songs included “Single-Woman’s Blues,” “Goodtime Flat Blues” and “Northbound Blues.” In Jones’ recordings, she was accompanied by the best musicians of the day, including legends Louis Armstrong (trumpet0, Fletcher Henderson (composer/arranger) and Charlie Green (trombone).
Jones moved back to Dallas in the early 1930s, and performed a revue of her music throughout the Metroplex for years. We honored Jones in Hillsboro by stopping at Bond’s Alley downtown, home to an entertainment district that was active during Jones’ time in the city.
As the sun sets and we head down I-35 to Waco, we listen to the music of Classic Ballou, Waco’s resident bluesman.
Ballou is a native of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and his guitar skills cover numerous musical styles including rock ’n’ roll, zydeco, rhythm & blues and pop. In the 1950s, he led house bands at Dallas’ Ascot Club and Little Rock’s Flamingo Club, and eventually settled in Waco, leading the band at Walker’s Auditorium where he played with headliners such as B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner, and Otis Redding.
Ballou moved to Waco permanently in 1963, and he played events regularly not only in Texas and Louisiana, but in blues and jazz festivals across the U.S. and Europe.
Classie Ballou and Jim Holmes.
I was proud to be a member of the Waco City Council that honored Ballou in June 2019 with “Classie Ballou Day.” Classie passed away this past July after a lengthy illness. He was a Waco treasure; his welcoming smile and his gleeful shout “Hey Baby!!” will be missed.
Walker’s Auditorium that Ballou hosted was torn down decades ago, but we visited the venue location at 1001 Clifton St., you can still make out parts of the auditorium’s old foundation. One can almost hear Ray Charles singing “Hit the Road Jack” and James Brown belting out “I Feel Good,” and B.B. King lamenting that “The Thrill is Gone,” and Tina Turner shouting one more chorus of “Proud Mary Rollin’-Rollin’-Rollin’ on the River.”
We made it back to Waco at nightfall, making it a nice two-day getaway visiting the stomping grounds of these 13 great blues artist pioneers, all from the Brazos Valley.
The Waco area is/was also home to other country/gospel/blues/rock nationally recognized musical greats such as Ruthie Foster, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Ted Nugent, Cindy Walker, Johnny Gimble, Pat Green, Wade Bowen, Hank Thompson, Roy Hargrove, Hi-Five, David Crowder, and others.
Most of them were influenced by the work of these Texas Blues pioneers. The city has a great musical legacy to celebrate, and is truly the “Gateway to the Brazos Valley Blues.”
Jim Holmes has been District 5 city councilman in Waco since 2016.
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This map highlighting the hometowns of blues musicians in the Brazos Valley is in the home of Jim and Cindy Holmes.
Jim Holmes stands on the little that remains from the famous Walker's Auditorium, which hosted many music legends during its heyday in the 1940s to 1960s. Photo by Cindy Holmes.
Classie Ballou and Jim Holmes.
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