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Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown (1924-2005)

Voice Like a Gate

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was born on April 18, 1924 in Vinton, Louisiana and raised in Orange, Texas. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown started as a drummer, but launched his career as a guitarist in 1947, when he picked up ailing headliner T-Bone Walker’s guitar at Houston’s Peacock Club and proceeded to tear the place apart, earning $600 in tips, quite a haul in 1947 dollars. As luck would have it, the Peacock was owned by Don Robey, a gangster/entrepreneur who signed young Gatemouth to his new Peacock label and put him on the road fronting a big band. Though Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown started as a T-Bone Walker disciple, times were changing and Gate soon cut his own path. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's early records for Robey’s Peacock label featured driving backbeats, blazing horns and Gate’s trademark knife-edged guitar. That’s the sound fueling such classics as Midnight Hour, Depression Blues, and Hurry Back Good News. Best of all was Okie Dokie Stomp, one of the all-time great blues guitar showpieces. Had Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown ended his career in 1955, his place in blues history would have been assured. But Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown had a lot more ground to cover, changing his sound to suit the changing times, while never straying far from his Texas/Louisiana roots. An old-school entertainer, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown did whatever it took to keep audiences happy, from blues to bebop, Tex-Mex waltzes to polkas – a rhythmic rainbow of American music. Refusing to stick to one genre, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown enjoyed a mid-‘60s novelty hit with the country song May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose. In the 1970s, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was living in Nashville, alternating blues tours with guest appearances on Hee Haw and a musical friendship with Roy Clark. In 1977, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was back in Texas for the first of what would be five appearances on public television’s most acclaimed live-music series, Austin City Limits. In the 1980s, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown revisited his big-band days on an award-winning series of albums for Rounder Records. His 1982 comeback, Alright Again!, updated his Peacock sound - slashing guitar atop a hard-swinging big band. It won the blues Grammy that year, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown has since been nominated for five more. The honors have kept right on coming in the latest phase of that epic career. Since his comeback, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown has won eight W.C. Handy Blues Awards and been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown is also a recipient of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation’s prestigious Pioneer Award and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences® Heroes Award. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown died on September 10, 2005 in Orange, Texas.

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Home → Overview → Blues Artists → Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown