Keep Your Soul
A Tribute to Doug Sahm
Vanguard Records
Doug Sahm is a Tex-Mex legend and most people haven’t even realized it. Until now. Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm has some of today’s best Tex-Mex rockers covering Sahm’s greatest hits with stellar results.
Little Willie G. takes the opening song, “She’s About a Mover” (popularized by Ray Charles) and kicks it up a notch with Ry Cooder’s guitar wailing in the background. Legends Los Lobos add a little traditional R & B to the following track, “And It Didn’t Even Bring Me Down.”
The album also shows Sahm’s versatility with Dave Alvin showcasing his country side with “Dynamite Woman,” while his ’70s psychedelic rock is on display on “You’re Doin’ It Too Hard” covered here by Charlie Sexton & the Mystic Knights of the Sea.
The best track is the straight-up Mexican “Ta Bueno Compadre (It’s OK, Friend).” Fellow Texas Tornado bandmate Flaco Jimenez joins forces with The West Side Horns for a cover that sounds like it came directly from your local Mexican eatery. Other well-known artists contribute worthy tracks such as Alejandro Escovedo (“Too Little Too Late”), Delbert McClinton (“Texas Me”) and The Gourds (“Nuevo Laredo”).
Doug Sahm’s music is hard to categorize because it incorporates so many genres that, like Texas, it’s just a melting pot of music. Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm is proof of that as these artists would probably never be found on tour together, yet they have all come together to celebrate the life and music of one of Texas’s most influential songwriters. This collaboration is well worth the listen.
Vanguard Records: http://www.vanguardrecords.com
