Gatemouth Brown

Gatemouth Brown & The Beat Boys - Midnight Hour/Philly Dog (1966)
Born in Vinton, Louisiana, Brown was raised in Orange, Texas. His professional musical career began in 1945, playing drums in San Antonio, Texas. Tagged with the "Gatemouth" handle by a high school instructor who accused Brown of having a "voice like a gate," Brown has used it to his advantage throughout his illustrious career.

He took note, and his fame took off, during his impromptu fill-in in a 1947 concert by T-Bone Walker in Don Robey's Bronze Peacock Houston nightclub. When Walker became ill, Brown took up his guitar and played "Gatemouth Boogie," to the delight of the audience.
In the 1960s he moved to Nashville, Tennessee to participate in a syndicated R&B television show the Beat!!! , and while he was there recorded several country singles. He struck up a friendship with Roy Clark and made several appearances on the television show Hee Haw. By the late 1960s he had decided to leave the music industry and he moved to New Mexico and became a deputy sheriff.