The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 98, July 1994 - April, 1995 Page: 585

                                
Notes and Documents
A Bibliography of Texas Music
CASEY MONAHAN*
T   EXAS'S GROUND-BREAKING CONTRIBUTIONS IN SPACE EXPLORATION,
oil, and ranching have been well documented. Their commercializa-
tion profoundly influenced the American (and global) economies and
cultures. Historical analyses concerning how and why these industries
flourished in Texas, who directed their rise, and how their development
changed our day-to-day lives are readily available. Lacking, for the most
part, are similar analyses of Texas music, arguably the state's most im-
portant and influential indigenous art form.
Consider: Without Lubbock natives Buddy Holly and the Crickets,
there could have been no Beatles. Fort Worth native Ornette Coleman
pushed the cutting edge of jazz beyond bebop. The migrations to San
Francisco of Janis Joplin (Port Arthur/Austin), the 13th Floor Elevators
(Austin), Steve Miller (Dallas), and the Sir Douglas Quintet (San Anto-
nio) changed the face of 196os rock and roll. And George Jones has
been justly celebrated as the most influential singer in country and west-
ern music. Virtually every uniquely American form of music-blues, rag-
time, jazz, country and western (including its honky tonk and Western
swing styles), rock and roll, and Tejano-either began or first flourished
in the Lone Star State. Some of the most important pioneers and most
influential figures in all these forms of music have been Texans: blues
(Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker), ragtime
(ScottJoplin), jazz (Teddy Wilson, Ornette Coleman), country and west-
ern (Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb, George Jones), rock and roll
* Casey Monahan is the director of the Texas Music Office, an economic development pro-
gram in the Office of the Governor. He graduated in May 1983 from the University of Texas at
Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in history. Contributing to this bibliography were Deb Freeman,
Kurt Feilke, Beth Wood, and Ann Everitt of the Texas Music Office; John Wheat, Paul Rascoe,
and David Hunter of the General Libraries of the University of Texas at Austin; and Mike Clark
of the Texas State Library. A shorter version of this bibliography will appear in the forthcoming
Texas Music Industry Directory, fifth edition.