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The strength of his live shows had led to recordings, in 1947, for Aladdin Records,
with backing from the Maxwell Davis Band, but Robey was not impressed with what

he considered to be the lack of promotion of his records, so in 1949 he founded his
own label - Peacock Records, and ‘Gate’ was his first signing. In a short time Peacock
Records became a major independent R&B label, which included Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland
and Junior Parker amongst its roster of artistes.

When interviewed by Guitar Player magazine about his musical style he said - “Why
do I have to be one of those old cryin’ and moanin’ guitar players always talking about
bad women? So I just stopped. That’s
when I started having horns and piano in

my band, and started playing
arrangements more like Count Basie and
Duke Ellington, rather than some old

hardcore Mississippi Delta stuff”!

He recorded for Peacock between 1949
and 1960, initially using the Jack McVea

Band to back him. He mostly played
guitar, but started incorporating his
fiddle playing into his recordings in the
late 1950s. Many of his Peacock

recordings are today considered classics,
including ‘Midnight Hour’, ‘Gate’s Salty
Blues’, ‘Dirty Work At The Crossroads’

and ‘Just Before Dawn’, amongst many
others.

The method of recording was pretty much par for the course in the 1950s, as

explained by Gate - “we had maybe one microphone for the big band. That’s when a
man walked out and soloed. We had one microphone for me to sing. They would put
a microphone in front of my amp…… if everybody played and tried not to overplay,
then everybody could be heard”.

For much of the 1950s he regularly cut four-song sessions, which featured ‘splashy’
horn charts written by tenor sax player Bill Harvey, trumpeter Joe Scott and
trombonist Pluma Davis. In spite of the big band setting his upfront guitar playing

still shone through the mix without cluttering the sound.

By the mid-1950s rock and roll was beginning to take hold, but this did not phase
Gate at all, with his ability to move easily between the genres, so he had no problems
in mixing up the formula to appeal to a new audience.

In 1956 he introduced his country and western influenced harmonica playing, on
‘Gate’s Salty Blues’, another classic that has been covered on a number of occasions
- not least by another eclectic Texas musician, Doug Sahm.