| A helping hand for a helping hand. Tary Owens has made innumerable contributions to Texas
music and the Austin scene as a record
producer,
folklorist, musician, and substance
abuse
counselor. On Wednesday, December 1,
an all-star
lineup of leading Austin and Texas
musicians
will play a benefit at Antone's nightclub
for Owens and his wife, singer Maryann
Price,
whose career includes stints with Dan
Hicks
& His Hot Licks, The Kinks and
Asleep
at the Wheel, as well as her own recordings.
This event will help Owens, who suffers
from
Hepatitis C, Diabetes and Parkinson's
Disease,
with medical and living expenses. In a lifetime devoted to Texas music and folklore, Owens boasts a wealth of musical accomplishments and associations. A close friend of Janis Joplin from their teen years and high school classmate of Johnny Winter, Owens was a key player in the birth of the modern Austin music scene. He honed his guitar skills under the tutelage of such Texas blues greats as Mance Lipscomb and Bill Neely, backed up Kenneth Threadgill -- known as the father of Austin country music -- and played every week in the "Hootenanny Hoots" house band for the legendary Wednesday night picking parties at Threadgill's in the 1960s. He was also the catalyst for the formation of the famed 13th Floor Elevators when he introduced singer Roky Erickson to psychedelic visionary Tommy Hall. Studying folklore at the University of Texas, Owens was mentored by the late Dr. Americo Paredes, and won a prestigious Lomax Grant in 1964. His field recordings of blues, hillbilly music, old-time fiddlers, work songs, toasts and prison songs from across Texas are an invaluable part of the state's musical heritage, and are included in the permanent collection at UT's Center for American History. After his graduation in 1967, Owens and singer Angela Strehli started the band The Southern Flyers, who moved to San Francisco and became part of the burgeoning musical revolution there. He returned to Austin in 1971, where he led the blues and country group The Paradise Special. After overcoming his substance abuse problems in 1983, he worked as a drug and alcohol abuse counselor for the Austin Recovery Center, the Texas Department of Mental Health & Mental Retardation and the Travis County Sheriff's Department, doing pioneering work with addicted AIDS patients. He also lectured and trained counselors at the Betty Ford Clinic and taught substance abuse counseling at Austin Community College. Since 1987, Owens has produced numerous notable albums by legendary Texas blues artists like Long John Hunter, the Grey Ghost, T.D. Bell & Erbie Bowser, Snuff Johnson, and Frank Robinson & Guitar Curtis Colter. He conceived and co-produced the Lone Star Shoot-Out album for Alligator Records that reunited Hunter with fellow Texas guitar legends Lonnie Brooks and Phillip Walker, and recently topped Living Blues magazine's album chart. He also produced such historical compilation albums as Ruff Stuff: The Roots of Texas Blues Guitar (featuring Mance Lipscomb, Bill Neely and others) and Texas Piano Professors (with Lavada "Dr. Hepcat" Durst, Erbie Bowser and the Grey Ghost). As well, he mentored and produced recordings by Austin guitar prodigy Jake Andrews. The December 1st benefit for Owens gives the Austin community and fans and friends of Texas music the chance to recognize and assist a key figure in the promotion and preservation of Texas music and its proud heritage. |