Tributes: Doug Sahm and Chris Gaffney

Tribute albums can be flimsy excuses to string together recordings by a hodgepodge of musicians. But in the right hands, they can be genuinely illuminating efforts, especially in the case of honorees who deserve broader recognition. Fortunately, two new collections paying posthumous props to Tex-Mex singer, songwriter and bandleader Doug Sahm and his spiritual brother, Southern California roots musician Chris Gaffney, fall squarely into the second camp.

The connection between the albums runs deeper than shared appearances by Los Lobos, Dave Alvin and Alejandro Escovedo, or even the presence of Sahm on the Gaffney album by way of his Texas Tornados' recording of Gaffney's haunting "The Gardens."

Read the full story here.

-- Randy Lewis

Various Artists
"Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm"
Vanguard
* * *

Various Artists
"Man of Somebody's Dreams: A Tribute to Chris Gaffney"
Yep Roc
* * *  1/2

(Photo: Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Dough Sahm. Credit: Vanguard Records)

Comments

[Dick Deluxe]

Randy-than ks for the pub for these very worthy projects. Having known, loved, worked with and continuing to play music of both men it was particularly poignant for me. Happily Doug's son's and extended family are keeping his musical spirit alive and of course here in SoCal Gaffney is desperately missed and the torch is carried by the Alvin's, Dave G, Danny Ott and many others still working the dives Chris haunted for years.