Pappy Daily: Record executive who signed George Jones, Roger Miller, the Big Bopper, Jimmy Dean and Hank Locklin; also instrumental in the early careers of George Strait and Willie Nelson. His Glad Music publishing company still controls the rights to "The Party's Over," "White Lightnin'," "She Thinks I Still Care," "Night Life" and "Chantilly Lace." Sons Bud and Don Daily opened Cactus Music and Video in 1975.
Forest Park Westheimer
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Kevin "Dino" Conner: H-Town singer of "Knockin' Da Boots" fame.
Michael Stephen Knust: Lead guitarist in psychedelic rock band Fever Tree, who scored a national hit with "San Francisco Girls" in 1968.
Forest Park East, 21620 Gulf Fwy., Webster
Katie Webster: Blues/boogie-woogie pianist and Alligator recording artist; passed away in 1999.
Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 10410 Veterans Memorial Dr.
Amos Milburn: Rollicking piano-pounder, played R&B/jump blues and pioneered rock and roll. Had a string of hits, often with lyrics about drinking liquor, such as "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" and "Vicious, Vicious Vodka." Plot: Section A, Grave 1271.
Rosewood Funeral Home and Cemetery, Rankin and Old Humble Rd., near Humble
Floyd Tillman: Country Music Hall of Famer and superstar of the late '40s. Pioneer of the electric guitar, and author of the first cheatin' song to hit big (1949's "Slipping Around"). Also scored big with "Drivin' Nails in My Coffin" and "I Love You So Much It Hurts." A huge influence on Willie Nelson, and likely the most important country music figure to have spent his life here.
Earthman Resthaven Cemetery, 13102 North Fwy.
Weldon "Juke Boy" Bonner: Blues poet who married a rapper's sensibility to a Jimmie Reed-style, harmonica-guitar, one-man-band beat. Sang explicitly about ghetto conditions in songs like "Stay Off Lyons Avenue," "Life Is a Nightmare" and "Struggle Here in Houston"; tunes like these are similar lyrically to those of the Geto Boys 15 years after Bonner's heyday. Died of cirrhosis in 1978.
Paradise North Cemetery, 9235 W. Montgomery
Don Robey: Duke/Peacock Records owner-operator who brought the music of Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Parker, Roy Head and many others to the world.
Suburban Houston and beyond
Longstreet Cemetery, Richards (Grimes County, at the intersection of FM 1486 and FM 149, about 30 miles north of Magnolia)
Alger "Texas" Alexander: A bellowing blues singer and running buddy/cousin of Lightnin' Hopkins, who also traveled the Depression-era southlands with Lowell Fulson and recorded with Lonnie Johnson, King Oliver and the Mississippi Sheiks. In 1928, he recorded "Rising Sun," the first version of the song later made famous by the Animals as "House of the Rising Sun." Folklorist Mack McCormick once said of Alexander that his "rough blues shouts" and "field hollers" represented "the "purest form of the blues tradition." Died in 1954, reportedly of syphilis.
Oakland Cemetery, North 6th St., Navasota
Mance Lipscomb: Farmer, amazingly accomplished guitarist, and "songster," whose varied repertoire included blues and also folk ballads, rags, reels, sacred songs and children's music. Went undiscovered until the folk revival of the 1960s, when he was in his mid-sixties, but then became a popular act on the hippie-rock circuit and star of Les Blank's documentary A Well-Spent Life.
Joe Tex: Soul singer, lightly tinged by country and steeped in gospel, best known for "Show Me," "Hold What You've Got," "Skinny Legs and All" and "I Gotcha." Also had a disco hit with novelty record "Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)." Changed name to Joseph Hazziez, reflecting conversion to Muslim faith.
Hollywood Cemetery, Simmons Dr. at West Curtis Ave., Orange
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: The musical embodiment of east Texas and southwest Louisiana died here, in his boyhood hometown, shortly after Hurricane Katrina.
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 4955 Pine St., Beaumont
J.P. Richardson, a.k.a. "The Big Bopper": "Chantilly Lace" singer who died in plane crash with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. Plot: First burial plot-Lily Pool Garden, Block C, Lot 31, Space 3.
john.lomax@houstonpress.com
