The recent acquisition of the archives of Austin record collector/photographer/indie music newspaper publisher Doug Hanners, means the deep dives are beginning at The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University into one of the most important and fascinating aspects of the …
Category: Texas Music
Susannah Broyles discusses “The Ramón Hernández Tejano Music Collection.”
The Wittliff has recently acquired the extensive Tejano music archive of Ramón Hernández, a San Antonio publicist, journalist, and photographer. The collection includes music memorabilia consisting of various artist’s costumes, records, original marketing posters, handwritten sheets of music, personal photographs, …
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The making of Wyatt McSpadden’s traffic-stopping photo of Abra Moore
It’s a face that’s launched a thousand conversations at The Wittliff Collections. Wyatt McSpadden’s iconic photograph of singer-songwriter Abra Moore has been a conversation piece since it was first published in Texas Monthly in January 1996. The framed print — …
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Funeral for a friend: Rita Vidaurri
Golden Age ranchera singer Rita Vidaurri, who died January 16 in San Antonio at age 94, was a friend of The Wittliff Collections. Thanks to the Ramon Hernandez Collection, and a 2017 exhibition “Legends of Tejano: Highlights from the Ramon …
Teen Canteen letters shed light on ’60s youth culture
Sam Kinsey’s fabled Teen Canteen, a teen dance club which operated from 1961 to 1977 at various locales in San Antonio, wasn’t only an important rock venue of the era – the Sir Douglas Quintet, Mike Nesmith (pre-Monkees), Mike Post, …
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The Boys Who Wrote the Songs
The Rogers & Hammerhead Show aired from 1996-1997 on the Austin Music Network on cable access TV. Freddy Powers and Bill McDavid created the show to shine a spotlight on songwriters who developed country music in Texas—and whose songs …
The mystery of Texas songwriter Rich Minus
Making sense of the hard luck and career of forgotten “Laredo Rose” songwriter Rich Minus isn’t easy. There are lots of gaps in the story of the enigmatic San Antonio native who for a time ran with hard-scrabble singer-songwriters Townes …
The Wittliff acquires Tejano Music collection of Ramón Hernández
San Marcos, TX – As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University have acquired one of the largest known collections of Tejano Music materials and memorabilia in existence from renowned musicologist and collector Ramón Hernández. …
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“It’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll” now digitized
Forty-one issues of the indie music newspaper It’s Only Rock ’N’ Roll have been digitally preserved by The Wittlliff Collections at Texas State University. You can view the inventory here. Published in San Antonio by music journalist Ron Young, the …
The unvarnished outlaw country collection of Sam Kindrick
It’s been nearly 50 years since the birth of the outlaw country music scene in Texas. At the beginning of the 1970s, it was known as progressive country, redneck rock and cosmic cowboy music. Its earliest proponents were Michael Martin Murphey, …
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