From YOUTH PLANET: The Sixties in a Music Century....Texas!

Here is an excerpt from my coming two companion books:

Among the sources of great music, Texas gets special mention. So many versions of guitar innovations rose up since the 1930s in the big state in the center of the country. From Blind Lemon Jefferson to Roy Orbison, Janis Joplin, Billie Preston, the Eagles, and the Vaughn brothers, the list is endless.  Texas gave us Bob Wills’ western swing, rockabilly for Elvis, and Buddy Holly’s rock ’n’ roll from the Panhandle. 

Then in the early 1970s, Texas continued to evolve its own distinctive blending of rock, country music, and urban blues.  Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson mastered a hybrid style known variously as redneck rock or progressive country.  ZZ Top had psychedelic overtones in their driving buzzsaw blues sound.  And their visual mixing of long beards with slick clothes pulled from both the north and south. “Cause every girl crazy ’bout a ‘Sharp Dressed Man.’”