"The singer songwriter to become known as Michael Martin Murphey" was a deejay in Dallas in 1968 on the Dallas' first FM underground rock station KNUS-FM under the moniker "Murph". The only other deejay on that station that I can remember by name was one called "Strider" (y'know like from Tolkien). The station was my 14-year old mind's first exposure to The Red Crayola, The Velvet Underground, The Jeff Beck Group, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Ill Wind, The Small Faces, Condello, and much much more. They would play at least one song from practically every LP being currently released at that time. I would save up my lunch money allowance & head to Preston Record Center & purchase an LP every week. I picked one out largely based on the cover & what I'd heard on KNUS. I hear & read people still in Dallas going on & on about the old days & KZEW-FM. But I never hear them talk about the real pioneers in rock radio there: KNUS & KFAD...
The original Saxon Pub was my venue debut as an Austin musician when, as an 18 year old kid, I would sit in with '74 Kerrville New Folk winners Jimmy Ray and Christy Lou, who performed as Lou-Ray. Sometimes Cotton Collins would also sit in, playing twin fiddles with Christie Lou, and joining us outside for a little reefer between sets. "Take away the ladder, 'cuz I ain't comin' down!" he would holler. (Christy Lou died in a tragic motorcycle accident on 2222. Fifty years later I still play music sometimes with Jimmy Ray as "The Border Blasters.") I'm not sure why I was there mid-afternoon one day, but as I was parking, a Cadillac convertible pulled up behind me. It was Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry coming to set up for the night's show.
Wow…what memories you conjure up Michael…thanks so much for this article. I vividly recall being at Potpourri and then going to the TV lounge in the Union to listen to Walter Cronkite deliver the daily Vietnam death toll. It was sobering. Relief came at the Potpourri especially when TVZ was playing. The “outdoor patio” between the Union and the AC served as a music venue at times and Kenneth Threadgill loved playing and yodelling in that very spot.
"The singer songwriter to become known as Michael Martin Murphey" was a deejay in Dallas in 1968 on the Dallas' first FM underground rock station KNUS-FM under the moniker "Murph". The only other deejay on that station that I can remember by name was one called "Strider" (y'know like from Tolkien). The station was my 14-year old mind's first exposure to The Red Crayola, The Velvet Underground, The Jeff Beck Group, Quicksilver Messenger Service, The Ill Wind, The Small Faces, Condello, and much much more. They would play at least one song from practically every LP being currently released at that time. I would save up my lunch money allowance & head to Preston Record Center & purchase an LP every week. I picked one out largely based on the cover & what I'd heard on KNUS. I hear & read people still in Dallas going on & on about the old days & KZEW-FM. But I never hear them talk about the real pioneers in rock radio there: KNUS & KFAD...
The original Saxon Pub was my venue debut as an Austin musician when, as an 18 year old kid, I would sit in with '74 Kerrville New Folk winners Jimmy Ray and Christy Lou, who performed as Lou-Ray. Sometimes Cotton Collins would also sit in, playing twin fiddles with Christie Lou, and joining us outside for a little reefer between sets. "Take away the ladder, 'cuz I ain't comin' down!" he would holler. (Christy Lou died in a tragic motorcycle accident on 2222. Fifty years later I still play music sometimes with Jimmy Ray as "The Border Blasters.") I'm not sure why I was there mid-afternoon one day, but as I was parking, a Cadillac convertible pulled up behind me. It was Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry coming to set up for the night's show.
Wow…what memories you conjure up Michael…thanks so much for this article. I vividly recall being at Potpourri and then going to the TV lounge in the Union to listen to Walter Cronkite deliver the daily Vietnam death toll. It was sobering. Relief came at the Potpourri especially when TVZ was playing. The “outdoor patio” between the Union and the AC served as a music venue at times and Kenneth Threadgill loved playing and yodelling in that very spot.
Wasn't something called "Saxon Pub" in Barton Creek Square for several years? How does that fit in? Or is my memory tricking me?
The other Saxon was on Burnet Rd. Maybe you're thinking of Chelsea Street Pub.
correct
Thanks for the history lesson. I'm grateful to have heard some of those bands back then, and grateful that some of them are still here.