Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown (1924 to 2005) was a Texas bluesman who played guitar and fiddle with equal fire. His career ran 58 years, from a 1947 night in Houston when he filled in for T-Bone Walker to his final album in 2004. He won a Grammy in 1983 for Alright Again!, took eight Blues Music Awards, and entered the Blues Hall of Fame in 1999.
Why Brown matters
Most blues players never touch a fiddle. Brown did, and he played it in a Texas style he learned from his father, then bent it toward the blues and jazz. His fiddle work put a swing band feel and a Cajun edge on blues records. Fiddlers who want to play blues have few models. Brown is the main one. When a bluegrass fiddler bends a note and lets it growl, that is closer to Gatemouth than to Kenny Baker.
Life and career
Brown was born on April 18, 1924, in Vinton, Louisiana, and grew up across the state line in Orange, Texas. His father taught him guitar and fiddle. The Alligator Records biography says the lessons covered Texas fiddle music, French tunes, and polkas. He started his professional life at age 21 as a drummer in San Antonio.
The turning point came in Houston. In 1947 T-Bone Walker fell ill during a show at Don Robey’s Bronze Peacock club, and Brown stepped onto the stage with Walker’s guitar. The crowd showered him with money. Robey signed him as a performer and as a management client, and he became the first artist on Robey’s new Peacock label. The singles that followed, including Mary Is Fine in 1949 and the instrumental Okie Dokie Stomp in 1954, made him a name in Texas blues.
He spent the 1960s and 1970s working across country, blues, and jazz. He recorded for European labels like Black and Blue and Barclay. In 1978 he released Blackjack. Then came Alright Again! on Rounder in 1981. It won the first Grammy given in the traditional blues category, at the 1983 ceremony. He followed it with One More Mile in 1983 and Pressure Cooker in 1986, both Grammy nominated.
In 1989 he moved to Alligator Records for Standing My Ground, then No Looking Back in 1992. Both drew Grammy nominations. Later albums came out on Verve. His final record, Timeless, appeared in 2004. Brown died on September 10, 2005, in Orange, Texas, at age 81.
Playing style
On fiddle Brown played with a rough, bluesy attack. His bow dug in hard. He played blues riffs with bent notes and slides, and he swung. His fiddle solos sound like his guitar solos moved to a different instrument: short, punchy phrases with a lot of space between them.
He kept the Texas fiddle vocabulary his father gave him. Waltzes, polkas, and Cajun two-steps show up in his sets beside the blues. That mix, blues on top of a country fiddle base, is what fiddlers hear when they listen to him.
He also played viola, mandolin, harmonica, piano, and drums. The Blues Foundation credits him with eight instruments in all.
Influences and legacy
His father was his first teacher. Louis Jordan, T-Bone Walker, and Count Basie shaped his sense of swing and showmanship. Wikipedia calls him one of the most influential blues fiddlers and notes his influence in American fiddle circles.
His fiddle peers in the Louisiana and Texas world include the Cajun fiddler Rufus Thibodeaux and the western swing fiddler Johnny Gimble. On the blues side, Papa John Creach was the other fiddler who took the blues to a rock audience. Vassar Clements worked the same blues and swing seam from the bluegrass side.
Signature tunes and songs
Okie Dokie Stomp Mary Is Fine Pale Dry Boogie.
Essential recordings
Blackjack (1978) Alright Again! (Rounder, 1981) One More Mile (1983) Standing My Ground (Alligator, 1989) No Looking Back (Alligator, 1992)
Awards and honors
Grammy Award, traditional blues, for Alright Again! (1983) Grammy nominations for One More Mile, Pressure Cooker, Standing My Ground, and No Looking Back Blues Music Awards, Instrumentalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year, eight wins in all (from 1982) Blues Hall of Fame (1999)
Watch and listen
Brown on fiddle. Watch the bow dig in on the blues riffs.
A full master class concert. He moves between guitar and fiddle across the set.
What to learn from Brown
Learn a 12-bar blues shuffle in E on the fiddle. E is a guitar key, and Brown’s fiddle lines live there. The technique to steal is his bent note. Slide up to the flat third, then push it a quarter tone sharp with your finger while the bow keeps moving. Do not land on the true major third. That in-between pitch is the blues, and it is what makes a Gatemouth fiddle line sound like a Gatemouth guitar line.
Sources
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Wikipedia Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, Blues Hall of Fame, Blues Foundation Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Alligator Records Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album, Wikipedia
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more on blues and swing in fiddle music. Papa John Creach was the other great blues fiddler of his era. Rufus Thibodeaux carried the Cajun side of the Gulf Coast sound. Johnny Gimble played the Texas swing that Brown grew up beside.