Sir Douglas Quintet was a rock

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 band

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

 active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Despite their British sounding name, they came out of San Antonio

San Antonio, Texas

San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. Their career was established when they began working with Texas record-producer Huey P. Meaux, after which the band relocated to the West Coast. Overall, the Quintet were exponents of good-times music.

Best-Known Musical Tracks

The Quintet is perhaps best known for the 1965 hit single

Hit single

A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

 written

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 by Doug Sahm

Doug Sahm

Douglas Wayne Sahm , was an American musician from Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was a child prodigy in country music, but became a significant figure in blues rock and other genres. Today Sahm is considered one of the most important figures in what is identified as Tejano music...

, the 12-bar blues "She's About a Mover" named the number one 'Texas' song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 by Texas Monthly

Texas Monthly

Texas Monthly is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Austin, Texas. Texas Monthly is published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. and was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy, Texas Monthly chronicles life in contemporary Texas, writing on politics, the environment, industry, and education...

. With a Vox Continental

Vox Continental

The Vox Continental is a transistor-based combo organ that was introduced in 1962. Known for its thin, bright, breathy sound, the "Connie," as it was affectionately known, was designed to be used by touring musicians...

 organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 riff

RIFF

The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....

 provided by Augie Meyers

Augie Meyers

August "Augie" Meyers is an American musician. He is best known as keyboard-player with the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados.-History:...

 and soulful

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 vocals

Human voice

The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...

 from lead singer

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

 and guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

 Doug Sahm

Doug Sahm

Douglas Wayne Sahm , was an American musician from Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was a child prodigy in country music, but became a significant figure in blues rock and other genres. Today Sahm is considered one of the most important figures in what is identified as Tejano music...

, the track features a Tex-Mex

Tejano music

Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...

 sound.

In addition to "She's About a Mover," (1965) the band is known for its songs "Mendocino," (1968) "Can You Dig My Vibrations?" (1968) and "Dynamite Woman" (1969). "Mendocino" was released in December 1968, and reached #27 in the U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 by early 1969, spending 15 weeks in the chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

.
It was more successful in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 selling over three million copies there. The track was featured in the generally highly regarded film High Fidelity

High Fidelity (film)

High Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...

, starring John Cusack

John Cusack

John Paul Cusack is an American film actor and screenwriter. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including The Journey of Natty Gann, Say Anything..., Grosse Point Blank, The Thin Red Line, Stand by Me, Con Air, Being John Malkovich, High Fidelity, Serendipity, Runaway Jury, The Ice Harvest,...

 and Jack Black

Jack Black

Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...

. The Quintet once shared the same European bill as the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. http://vermontreview.tripod.com/CD%20Reviews/sahm.htm

Group's Origins

Douglas Sahm - a veteran of the professional-music scene, who first sang on the radio at the age of five - formed the Quintet (first called simply: Sir Douglas) in 1964 with longtime friend Augie Meyers and the other original members, Jack Barber, Frank Morin and Johnny Perez. Their initial success on the airwaves and sales charts was achieved when they made records in conjunction with Houston music producer Huey Meaux.

The Texas-local R&B music vein the musicians were familiar with initially went through a period of influence by the British pop bands of the early and mid 1960s.

Style

The Quintet played varied styles with an instrumental line-up that was typical of blues bands: one guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, and drummer, and a member who could play either trumpet or saxophone. Despite the blues-band line-up and a musical influence from the blues, the Quintet's live sets didn't over-emphasize misery or tension in the lyrical content or musical feeling of the songs. Downhearted songs and actual blues were represented as a part of the spectrum, because they reflected a facet of life. But most of the songs in the repertoire were upbeat or "liberated" in feeling.

Also, with most songs there was no "star instrumentalist" aspect, and players just contributed to the larger whole of the song performance.

The Sir Douglas Quintet is considered a pioneering influence in the history of rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

 for incorporating Tex-Mex and Cajun

Cajun

Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...

 styles into rock music

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

. However, early influences on the band's emerging Texas style were of course broader than this, and included ethnic and pop music

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 from the 1950s and 1960s, such as doo-wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

, electric blues

Electric blues

Electric blues is a type of blues music distinguished by the amplification of the guitar, bass guitar, drums, and often the harmonica. Pioneered in the 1930s, it emerged as a genre in Chicago in the 1940s. It was taken up in many areas of America leading to the development of regional subgenres...

, soul music

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

, and British Invasion

British Invasion

The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...

. The Quintet brought the older styles into a contemporary context, for instance by adapting the doo-wop

Doo-wop

The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

 feel, beat, and chord progressions. Perhaps even more off-beat for a late 1960s rock band than some inclusion of doo-wop type songs was that the band also played in styles like Western swing

Western swing

Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...

 and polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

 (a Country & Western

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 form and rhythmic style, from the Texas Hill Country

Texas Hill Country

The Texas Hill Country is a vernacular term applied to a region of Central Texas featuring tall rugged hills consisting of thin layers of soil atop limestone or granite. It also includes the Llano Uplift and the second largest granite monadnock in the United States, Enchanted Rock, which is located...

, rather than a straight European style).

In the mid 1960s, the band relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 and absorbed features of the San Francisco Sound

San Francisco Sound

The San Francisco Sound refers to rock music performed live and recorded by San Francisco-based rock groups of the mid 1960s to early 1970s. It was associated with the counterculture community in San Francisco during these years.- Stylistic Dimensions :...

, including the loud and lush electric bass

Electric Bass

Electric bass can mean:*Electric upright bass, the electric version of a double bass*Electric bass guitar*Bass synthesizer*Big Mouth Billy Bass, a battery-powered singing fish...

 tone and freer percussion and guitar stylings. Band members also explored musical elements specific to modern jazz at that time. For studio

Recording studio

A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 recordings

Sound recording and reproduction

Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

, they sometimes added an extra session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 or two, often to flesh out the brass dimension of a track's sound. Good examples of what they achieved when they absorbed the new jazz and psychedelic elements into their music can be found on the album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 Sir Douglas Quintet + 2.

In live performances, blues, often with swing or shuffle beats, was usually a substantial component of the set. Besides doing their own original material, the Quintet revived several classics such as Jimmie Rodgers

Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)

James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...

' "In the Jailhouse Now

In the Jailhouse Now

"In The Jailhouse Now" is an American novelty blues song originally found in vaudeville performances from the early 20th century, usually credited to Jimmie Rodgers...

" and Freddy Fender

Freddy Fender

Freddy Fender , born Baldemar Garza Huerta in San Benito, Texas, United States, was a Mexican-American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados...

's "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

"Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" is an American country and pop song recorded by Freddy Fender. It is considered by many to belong to the swamp pop idiom of south Louisiana and southeast Texas that had such a major musical impact on Fender.-Song history:...

" to be found on the albums Son of San Antonio and Texas Fever, respectively.

In 2005 they were among the new class of musicians chosen for the nominating ballot to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

.

Members

In addition to Sahm and Meyers, original Sir Douglas Quintet members included Jack Barber on bass, Frank Morin on saxophone, trumpet and keyboards and Johnny Perez, Ernie Durawa or T.J. Ritterbach on drums. In 1969 Harvey Kagan joined the Quintet on bass, forming their most familiar line up - Kagan, Morin, Perez, Sahm, and Meyers. Bassist Jim Stallings also contributed to several albums during this period of shifting personnel which included, among others, guitarist Tom Nay of Sarasota

Sarasota, Florida

Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 (who played with the group for about a year), and John York

John York (musician)

John Foley York is an American bassist and guitarist, born in White Plains, New York on August 3, 1946. He is best known for his work with The Byrds, who he joined in September 1968 as a replacement for the band's original bass player Chris Hillman. He remained with the group until September...

, who later replaced Chris Hillman

Chris Hillman

Christopher Hillman was one of the original members of The Byrds which in 1965 included Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke....

 in The Byrds

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

. Sahm and Meyers were later also members of the Texas Tornados (with Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez) in the early 1990s.

In 1972 the group split up when Sahm contracted to produce a solo

Solo (music)

In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...

 album. Meyers, Perez, Morin, and Stallings briefly regrouped as The Quintet, with Farlow taking Sahm's place. In 1973 several Sir Douglas Quintet outtakes were released in their final album from the group's classic era, Rough Edges.

Sahm and Meyers continued to work together throughout the late 1970s and rejoined with Perez in 1980 for a reunion tour and album.

Founder Doug Sahm

Doug Sahm

Douglas Wayne Sahm , was an American musician from Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was a child prodigy in country music, but became a significant figure in blues rock and other genres. Today Sahm is considered one of the most important figures in what is identified as Tejano music...

 died of a heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

 in his sleep in a motel room in Taos, New Mexico on November 18, 1999, at the age of 58. Augie Meyers

Augie Meyers

August "Augie" Meyers is an American musician. He is best known as keyboard-player with the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados.-History:...

 continues to tour, and record on his own independent record labels, based out of Bulverde, Texas

Bulverde, Texas

Bulverde is a city in Comal County, Texas, United States. The population was 3,761 at the 2000 census. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Bulverde is located at , about 23 miles north of downtown San Antonio....

. Harvey Kagan nowadays performs with a San Antonio area wedding/event band, The Oh So Good! Band, best known for discovering American Idol contestant Haley Scarnato

Haley Scarnato

Haley Suzanne Scarnato is an American singer who was the 8th-place finalist on the sixth season of American Idol. Scarnato announced in an interview in November 2009, her album Strongheart was scrapped after she left her management, but is working on a new album and "Strongheart" was her old...

. Frank Morin remains active in music, with teaching, production and film soundtracks work.

Albums

• 1966 - The Best of the Sir Douglas Quintet (Tribe) [not a compilation
  Compilation album
  A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
  
  , despite its title]
• 1968 - Sir Douglas Quintet + 2 = Honkey Blues (Smash)
• 1969 - Mendocino
  Mendocino (album)
  -Personnel:* Doug Sahm – Vocals, guitar, pedal steel guitar, fiddle* Frank Morin – Vocals, horns* Harvey Kagan – Bass guitar* Augie Meyers – Organ, piano, keyboards* John Perez – Drums-References:*[ Allmusic – Mendocino ]...
  
  (Smash)
• 1970 - 1+1+1=4 (Philips)
• 1970 - Together After Five (Smash)
• 1971 - The Return of Doug Saldaña (Philips)
• 1972 - Future Tense (as simply The Quintet)
• 1973 - Rough Edges (Mercury)
• 1977 - Live Love (Texas)
• 1980 - Motive
• 1981 - Quintessence (Varrick)
• 1983 - Border Wave (Chrysalis)
• 1983 - Live Texas Tornado (Takoma)
• 1983 - Midnight Sun (Sonet)
• 1984 - Rio Medina (Sonet)
• 1985 - Luv Ya' Europa
• 1994 - Day Dreaming at Midnight (Elektra/Nonesuch)
• 2006 - Live from Austin, Texas (New West)

Compilation albums

• 1980 - The Best of the Sir Douglas Quintet (Takoma)
• 1988 - Sir Doug's Recording Trip: The Mercury Years (Edsel)
• 1988 - Spotlight (Sonet)
• 1990 - The Best of Doug Sahm & the Sir Douglas Quintet 1968-1975 (PolyGram)
• 2000 - The Best of the Sir Douglas Quintet (Sundazed/Beat Rocket)
• 2004 - Prime of Sir Douglas Quintet: The Best of the Tribe Recordings (Westside)
• 2005 - The Complete Mercury Masters (Hip-O Select)
• 2008 - Scandinavian Years (Universal Music, Norway)

External links

• The Doug Sahm Pages - History and complete discography