20 Years of the Blues

Fri., July 7, 1995

Here at the Chronicle we write about music. We analyze, criticize, praise, and sometimes bury bands, musicians, and clubs while examining the ins and outs of the scene. But rarely do we talk about what makes a club special or why one venue survives year after year when others go under. For Antone's, the answer is sort of like a gemstone: it reflects traditional, it deflects trendiness, and when the lights go on, it sparkles like nothing else. After 20 years of bringing blues to Austin, the club is celebrating in royal fashion.

If those walls could speak... well, the voices would certainly be loud. Nine days of music and fun will kick off the celebration, beginning with the younger, rockin' end of blues Friday July 7, and blowing it out on Saturday July 15 with a classic lineup of Chicago players and Antone's favorites. In between, look for old regulars and young lions and a few surprises.

But if any one band on this year's bill personifies the spirit of 20 years of Antone's blues, it's the reunion of Paul Ray & the Cobras. Picking up from the ashes of Texas Storm in the early Seventies, the first Cobras were a solid four-piece set-up that quickly morphed into a smokin' six-piece ensemble. Paul Ray, Denny Freeman, Alex Napier, Joe Sublett, Rodney Craig, and Stevie Ray Vaughan soon snaked their way to the top as one of Austin's premier acts, busting Austin's Cosmic Cowboy image. But in the late Seventies, vocal troubles forced Ray to give up singing and Vaughan split the band to form Double Trouble (nee Triple Threat Revue). The band continued, and more than a dozen players and singers would enter and exit the ranks of the band before the Cobras shed its skin for the final time in the mid-Eighties.

Celebrations aren't worth a damn, though, if they don't draw on the old magic. Here's who is playing when; you can pull any night out of the hat and amaze yourself. - Margaret Moser

Friday July 7:

Chris Whitley, Ugly Americans, Bill Carter
& the Blame, Breedlove.

Saturday July 8:

Lavelle White, Barbara Lynn, Angela Strehli,
Lou Ann Barton, Teddy Morgan
& the Sevilles

Sunday July 9:

Guy Forsyth
& the Real Deal, Candye Kane,
Sue Foley Band, Jake "Guitar" Andrews, Johnny & the Moellers

Monday July 10:

Lazy Lester, Denny Freeman Band,
Ian Moore, The Moellers

Tuesday July 11:

Paul Ray & the Cobras, Storyville

Wednesday July 12:

Pinetop Perkins, Willie Smith, Calvin Jones, Kim Wilson, Rusty Zinn & Gene Taylor, Teddy Morgan & the Sevilles

Thursday July 13:

Junior Wells & Band, Sue Foley Band

Friday July 14:

Pinetop Perkins, Calvin Jones & Willie Smith, Angela Strehli, Kim Wilson & Band, Doyle Bramhall Band

Saturday July 15:

Duke Robillard, Angela Strehli, Calvin Jones, Earl King, Pinetop Perkins, James Polk, Sue Foley, Lou Ann Barton , Denny Freeman, Lavelle White, Rusty Zinn, George Rains, Mark Kazanoff, Sarah Brown, The Moellers, and more...