There will be many sad story of loss in the musical community from the fallout of Katrina, I’m sure. The death of Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown is one that struck me.
Saturday afternoon I had just be sorting out my remaining vinyl records to go on eBay, and the couple of Gatemouth records there haunted me. I really wanted to give them a spin, but I don’t have a record player anymore. Then I read of his passing on Sunday.
Gatemouth represented the best of American music. In this day of rigid genre classifications, he hopped gracefully between Blues, Cajun, Jazz, Country — whatever. I saw him live several times in the early 90s, some of the more all-a-round fun shows I’ve seen. I guess his signature pipe caught up with him, since he was suffering from lung cancer. Though he evacuated and dodge the storm/flood, I guess the loss was too much for him.
It’s also a reminder that the toll from Katrina is still mounting.
