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Gatemouth Brown - eclectic multi-instrumentalist

John Holmes

Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown was a man whose music encompassed jazz, blues,
Cajun, bluegrass, calypso, and zydeco. Although he is probably better known as a
guitar player, he was equally adept on piano, harmonica, violin, mandolin, viola and

drums, had a rich singing voice,
and termed his own music as
“American and World Music -

Texas Style”.

His ability to move quite easily
between the genres enabled him

to continue a recording career
when others disappeared from
the scene for years, or even
permanently. That said, ‘Gate’ (as

he was often called) never
achieved the fame of some of his
contemporaries.

Tall and thin, with his trademark

Stetson hat, he looked like a
cowboy, apart from the ‘Sherlock

Holmes’ pipe that he liked to
smoke (as well as the more than
occasional joint!).

Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown was

born in Vinson, Louisiana, in
1924, although the family moved
whilst he was still a baby, to
Orange, Texas, seeking work for

his railroad worker father.
Indeed, his father, a “weekend
musician”, played both fiddle and

guitar, and taught his son Texas
fiddle music, polkas, and traditional French tunes. “I started out on guitar at the age
of 5 and then tried the fiddle at 10” Brown said. “In the beginning it was country,

Cajun and bluegrass, ‘cause that’s what my father played. He played all the stringed
instruments, plus an accordion, and being the eldest son I wanted to be as close to
him as I could”.

His younger brothers, James ‘Widemouth’ and Bobby Brown, were both musicians,

and he also learned from them before joining a local band, The Gay Swingsters.