http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/4234938.stm RIP "Gate" Damn, what a year this is turning out to be. chili PS, If you don't know who Gatemouth was, do yourself a favor and find out all about him. I know he's tearing it up in heaven with V***ar Clements.
Saw him open at the United Center in Chicago (for Clapton, maybe?) about 8 years ago. Pretty good show. RIP
There's a lesson for us all, go and support these old musicians. When they're gone, they're GONE. Same goes for the old time racers and builders. cp
My granddad was a musician and owned a music store for years and knew gatemouth.One time in the late 70's he played a show here.He stayed with my grand parents and my granddad said all he done was smoke dope and play music all weekend he said was a hell of a guy though.
Damned sad to hear that. That is why I went to see Willey Nelson when he was in town awhile back. I figured I may never get another chance. The heavenly band is getting better and better. Sure hope they need an "old white blues singer and piano player" when I get there. R.I.P. Mr. Brown
Yeah, I bet there'll be an opening for you when you get to the heavenly band. The drinks will be free, the tip jar will overflow, we'll all be in tune and the folks who talk during the music can go to hell.
I've been a fan for many, many years. This is particularly sad. Gate lived in Orange, Texas and was in ill health from cancer. Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home and friends say that was the last straw. He died of a broken heart. He had a musician brother who went by the name of "Widemouth". Texas has given us more great guitar players than seems possible. Must be something in the water.
I've seen him so many times I can't even count... he was great! I hope I have as much energy as he did when I'm that old!
========= This is bad, when all these guys are gone it's all over, thank God we've got recordings. The depression, pre & post war and pre-1960 were the times they grew out of, you can't sing it if you didn't live it. Another one we just lost was R.L.Burnside. He just died the other day, Sept. 01 2005. He was an awesome deep Miss. blues guitarist & singer. Do yourself a favor and get a couple of Burnside & Gatemouth CD's, there nothing cooler than sitting in your depression era ride with Miss. delta blues & deep south blues playing, it brings the soul of your old tin to life, and maybe even your own. RIP R.L. & Gate.
Roost said: Do yourself a favor and get a couple of Burnside & Gatemouth CD's, there nothing cooler than sitting in your depression era ride with Miss. delta blues & deep south blues playing, it brings the soul of your old tin to life, and maybe even your own. And he ain't lyin'. Just add a little '40's era country like Flatt & Scruggs and the Louvin Brothers for driving fast on back roads. Some old R&B for smooching the ladies and there ya go Perfect music for the TradRod(tm). I like what you wrote there, Roost. RIP R.L.
======= Thanks Chili. , we'd have fun swappin CD's I'm sure. As far as early mountain music is the awesome Dr. Ralph Stanley for me, in my opinion there's no one who personifies the earliest bluegr***/country as raw as Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, he's been at it for over 55 years now. On Ralph Stanley's " Live At McCabes Guitar Shop " , his son, who's a great singer musician also & the co-lead singer, tells how when he got his license he used to get his car and hit the "hills & holler's" and listen to that high lonesome sound (of his dad) , and it just tore me all to pieces....". Listenin' to these guys can make you forget all this fast-paced rat race **** we have to deal with day to day & take you back to the slow & innocent times, even if you didn't live it. Bill Monroe's a close second.
I was wondering if anyone would bring up R.L...Stickylifter saying about the "see 'em next time" thing reminds me of the fact that when my 40 Plymouth was done my friend and my wife and I were hoping to drive it down to Miss. to see him at his club. I've got plenty of work to go, and many of the great, and long lost...and now recently lost bluesmen will be there when i'm wrenching, and there when I'm riding. We really owe it to these guys that are left, the last originals, to show them some support. There is no reason a man should change the face of blues, and music in general and die cold and alone, broke and unaided like Blind Willie Johnson, and so many others. It's sad to hear about Gatemouth, and the way he died...ironically, it's just the kinda thing he might have had to put to song. Got bless the bluesmen. funny thing, I think this is my first post with my new sig.
From what I know Gate didn't really consider himself a bluesman. He played in bigbands before breaking out with his own swing and jump bands. Very energetic stuff with horns. However he was certainly a versatle and stylish musician. Knock wood, can anyone tell me if Albert Collins is still alive?
Hey.... Well, this may be a bit long winded but never the less... my story on "Mr Gatemouth" A number of years ago I was in the "Big Easy". twas our anniv. but thats not why we were there. Anywaz..we went by the House of Blues during the day, ask'd about supper resv. Ya.. 6 weeks wait for Sat. nite.. Oh well.. On the nite of our anniv. a doctor offered to watch the kids an we can go out for supper. Sounded good.. but doctor had emergency, never show'd up till 10 PM. So.. off we went, couldn't get in anyplace as was Sat nite.. I'm get'n hunger pains by this time and pissed as well! So I tells wifie we'll go down by the House of Blues and grab a couple of hot dogs from the vender thats always there, then we're gonna hit the 1st bar that we see! Course the vender wasn't there, I'm ******** by this time! We went by the House of Blues, bunch of folks outside, what the hell I'll see if we can get some grub.. Bouncer laughs at me.. so I just went off on him... smack/trash talk about what a rotten nite it's been, anniv. and all.. As I turned to leave he grabs me, ask if we'll wait for 15 min and he'll get us in! Cool....We got in! OK.. We're chow'n down, didn't turn out so bad I'm think'n.. Hmm.. maybe.. I asked our waiter about get'n in the music hall for the last show.. All sold out he saz.. I laughed, told him how the nite went, but was glad we got to eat... He saz.."go see the gal by the counter, I'll go talk to her then you come over" Well.. two tickets.. freebie even... whow!!.. I gets the waiter to the table, thank him.. Oh ya.. whoz play'n? He looks over his shoulder, motions for this older guy to come over, Yap it was Gatemouth hizself. We yap'd for about 10 min.. he got me a sign'd poster and all !!! Waz a GREAT show!! My wife is not a blues fan but she enjoyed the show a lot. Gatemouth was awesome!!! After that we did hit the 1st bar.. got totally wasted.. sun was pop'n up by this time.. Was a nite I wont forget.. PS Glad to see other know of Mr Brown Pontiac Slim
Sorry to hear. Mike, it WAS Clapton that we saw him open for. And Benzine440, the Iceman and his telecaster have been gone a few years now.
Hey Benzene, Albert Collins has been gone for a few years. I cried for losing him. He was my hands down favorite electric guitarist, blues or otherwise. One of the most humble and giving humans I ever met. If you get to see Coco Montoya, do it. He was Alberts protege and he does a tribute him. All the hammer ons and signature lift offs and even the facial expressions. Great ****! See the great originators while they are alive!! Like Solomon Burke says: "Give me my flowers while I'm livin', ain't no use to me when I'm gone." Now I'm going to put Frostbite on the player and remember Albert Collins. Sigh cp
I am surprised but NOT surprised that so many folks on the board knew of gatemouth. I wonder how many young people he influnced with his playing style.He played several times in my town while touring. He always put on a very good show. No replacements for these pioneers of music...
chicago radio station wxrt on monday nights between 9:00-10:00cst has a program called bluesbreakers. i'm listening to it now. i'm sure tom marker will be playing some clarence tonight. he just got through playing rl burnside. you can listen too, it's streaming on their website.
It brought me down to hear of Gate's p***ing, then you tell me R.L. is gone, too? Guess R.L. was right-"It's bad, ya know." I'm glad I've seen the old guys that I have, but there are so many more to see. Pinetop Perkins, Henry Townsend, Robert Jr. Lockwood, Guitar Shorty, BB King, Etta James, Buddy Guy, Roosevelt Sykes...Just a few of the old-timers I've seen and even idolized. Support live music of any genre. The folks that have been doing it forever know how to entertain. If you have any musical heroes don't miss an oppurtunity to see them live.
Yeah..the greats are dropping like flies never checked out Gate but have heard of him and i listen to R.L and was saddened to hear of his p***ing .I remember how hard it hit me when John Lee ****** went back in 01.He taught me alot with playing delta blues. and the first Blues player i got into back when i first started playing guitar.if you play,DO check out the old blues artists even tho you may not play the blues ,those old artists can teach you alot.
"The Master of the Telecaster" I thought that was the case after I wrote that. I sometimes have to remind myself that certain people have actually ceased living. They are still alive in my mind. It must be the reverberation of their life energy that I'm tuned to. I would go to see him when he would come here to The City. Man he was fun. It's pretty tough to stay in your seat when he would be drinking just as much as anyone, twisting around, playing behind his back, over his head, duckwalking, all over the place, taking it out the front door, lying on his back and all the time serving it up! I've got a Collins LP of material recorded in Houston 1962-63 ***led "The cool sound of ALBERT COLLINS The Master of the Telecaster". Frostbite is the third cut on Side 1.
Sad,sad news... never like to hear about **** like this, but thanks for p***ing on the word...Gatemouth..we all hope your'e in a good place man...
I really wanted to take a pilgrimage from UK to the Delta y'know, pay some kinda homage, see all the places and juke joints i'd heard about, Highway 61, Clarksdale, damn even the crossroads at midnight, now the levee done broke and it's all washed out again, kinda like a full circle back to where Charley Patton started, to top that off was bad enough when i heard that R L Burnside had gone to shoot pool with the gorilla in the sky and now Gatemouth!!! jeez, guess it's about that time when we gonna lose some of these good ones, if you blues guys stateside get a chance see any of them play, take a trip for me, we get very few true blues players here where i live, the last and the best so far being Kelly Joe Phelps. There's two type of steel in my yard "Ford & National" Peace 8BB
rip gate i dug him .A lot of people didnt like him for his forthright personality ,didnt like to be called a "BLUESMAN" because it pigeon-holed him but whats wrong with that. Okie dokie stomp depression blues lawd god i jus luv to hear that back beat pop and that b*** plonkin down.rip gate. mike
The Jalopy Journal
