Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown - Biography
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown embodied the maverick spirit of the Texas blues scene. He played the blues, but he balked at being categorized as a bluesman since he also played jazz, bluegrass, zydeco, Cajun, pop, country, R&B, and rock and roll. He was known for his amazing guitar chops, but he also played fiddle, drums, harmonica, mandolin, piano, and viola. He started his recording career in 1947, and made hundreds of singles and albums in his life. He was a major influence on Albert Collins, Guitar Slim, J. J. Cale, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and Frank Zappa. He won a Best Traditional Blues Album Grammy in 1982 for Alright Again! (1981 — Rounder), a Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Award in 1997, and was Inducted into Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1999.
Brown was born in Vinton, Louisiana in 1924, but grew up in Orange, Texas. His father taught him to play Cajun and bluegrass music on the fiddle. A high school music teacher named him “Gatemouth,” saying he had a “voice like a gate” (the same teacher nicknamed his brother James "Widemouth"). Brown learned to play drums while he was in the Army in the 1940s and when he got out, he played professionally with the Gay Swingsters and William Benbow's Brownskin Models. In his free time, he practiced guitar with a single-minded dedication. In 1947, Brown hitchhiked to Houston to make it big. He started hanging out at the Bronze Peacock, a club owned by infamous promoter Don Robey. According to legend, Brown was attending a T-Bone Walker show one evening when Walker took sick and had to leave the stage. Brown jumped up, grabbed Walker’s guitar, and played "Gatemouth Boogie," an improvised instrumental that brought the house down. When he passed his hat for tips, he took in $600. Robey was so impressed that he started a label, Peacock Records, to record Brown’s music. Robey helped Brown put together a 23-piece band that combined blues, swing, and jazz. They hit the road and logged almost 300 one-nighters a year.
Brown recorded several of his seminal hits for Peacock, including "Depression Blues," "Hurry Back Good News," "Okie Dokie Stomp," and "Just Before Dawn," which features his hot fiddling. He eventually stopped making records for Robey after they had a dispute over royalty payments. Brown’s early Peacock sides are collected on San Antonio Ballbuster (1974 Red Lightnin'), Atomic Energy (1999 Blues Boy), and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: The Original Peacock Recordings (1990 Rounder). Guitar in My Hand (1999 Catfish UK) collects his earliest Peacock records and a few obscure sides he waxed for Aladdin in the late 1940s.
Brown moved to Nashville in 1960. He made several country singles and appeared on the television show Hee Haw, but was mostly inactive in the music scene. He did however lead the house band on an early all-black rock and roll TV show from Nashville called The!!!Beat. He ended the decade working as a deputy sheriff in San Juan County, New Mexico.
In 1971, Brown got back into the fray, determined to break himself out of the blues genre. He put together a band that played swing, jazz, blues, folk, and rock, and took off for Europe where he was greeted as a hero. He toured Europe 12 times and became an official ambassador for American music, participating in European, Russian, and African tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department. He resumed his recording career with a series of stellar albums cut for European labels, including 1972’s The Blues Ain't Nothin' (Black and Blue France); 1973’s Cold Strange (Black and Blue France), Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown Sings Louis Jordan (1973 Black and Blue France), and Drifter Rides Again (1973 Barclay France); 1974’s Gate's on the Heat (Barclay France) and Down South in Bayou County (1974 Barclay France); and 1975’s Bogalusa Boogie Man (Barclay France), which included Latin, funky New Orleans, swing, and blues numbers.
Brown then resumed his American recording career with 1976’s Blackjack (Music Is Medicine), a classic album that features his blazing guitar and fiddle on a collection of swing, blues, rock, R&B, and jazz tunes. In 1979, he released Makin' Music (ABC), a collaboration with his Hee Haw buddy Roy Clark. Brown and his band backed up New Orleans piano legend Professor Longhair on his seminal album Rock n’ Roll Gumbo (1974 Barclay France). With his band, Brown was again playing over 300 dates a year and leaving behind a trail of slack jawed fans.
In 1980, Brown was 56-years-old and really hitting his stride, making some of his best albums. Titles include the Grammy-winning 1981 album Alright Again! (Rounder), the blues, jazz, and Cajun fusion of 1982’s One More Mile (Rounder), the smoking live set from 1986 called Real Life (Rounder), and 1989’s Standing My Ground (Alligator) — a collection of blues, jazz, zydeco, and R&B that features tunes with Brown on piano.
He continued his relentless touring and in 1992, he made No Looking Back (Alligator), a jazzy big band outing featuring a duet with singer/songwriter Michelle Shocked on “I Will Be Your Friend.” He went on to release 1994’s The Man (Gitanes), a jump blues/big band set with special guest accordionist Jo-El Sonnier; 1996’s Long Way Home (Gitanes), an all star jam with Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Maria Muldaur, and country songwriter John D. Loudermilk who sings his hit “Tobacco Road;” 1997’s Gate Swings (Gitanes), on which he lives up to his nickname “the Count Basie of the blues” with full big band arrangements; the hard, post-bop of 1999’s American Music, Texas Style (Blue Thumb); 2001’s Back to Bogalusa (Gitanes), a celebration of the music of Louisiana from New Orleans to the swamps; and 2004’s Timeless (Hightone), a mostly instrumental set that lets Brown show off his chops on classics like “Unchained Melody,” Cannonball Adderley’s “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy,” and Ellington’s “Satin Doll.”
In 2005, Brown was diagnosed with cancer, but kept playing shows during his treatment. His last set was at the 2005 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. He died shortly thereafter at the age of 81. You can get a brief overview of his career on the collections The Best of Clarence Gatemouth Brown, A Blues Legend (1995 Verve), Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: Texas Swing (1987 Rounder), Gatemouth Brown: 1947-1951 (2002 Classics), and Gatemouth Brown: 1952-1954 (2005 Classics).
