The Gore Brothers & Cool Water, Lubbock

Another old post from a few years back...

Who'd think that bluegrass would find a home in- of all places- West Texas?



GORE BROTHERS AND COOL WATER - "Hope In the Country" and "Knocking On Heaven's Door" (self-titled, Gore Brothers Records)

It has and carries a devoted following as can be seen in the many bluegrass festivals scattered all over the region at all times of the year. Up at South Plains College in Levelland they actually host a summer camp AND even offer college credit in the field of pickin' n' a'grinnin'. Odessan Billy Myrick played out in front of the Mayfield Brothers in Lubbock in the 50s. The boys got big and were were well on their way to gettin' bigger at the Louisiana Hayride before father Bill Monroe came along drafted himself a feller from the combo. Big Spring boy Tex Logan made a good run of bluegrass fiddling on the east coast when he was plus'ing and dividing numbers. (More on West Texas bluegrass and Texas bluegrass in general can be read HERE in an article by Rod Moag in the Journal of Texas Music History... great photo of Abilene's Black Mountain Boys stumping with the elder Bush on a campaign stop in the 1960s)

And yet there's not actually that much out here to actually hear. I'm not aware of any acts in the area breathing new life and lyrics into the style. Local groups bide their time running through the same set of standard breakdowns, waltzes, and hymns. Very little original music comes from the scene. I don't suppose that's any different from most other areas outside of Baltimore/D.C. and them old Kentucky hills.

The Gore Brothers and Cool Water worked out of Lubbock in the 1970s and 80s. At the time of this 1978 recording the band included Ron Gore on mandolin, his brother Gary on bass, Bruce McBee on banjo, and Glenda Knipher on guitar. According to "The History of Early Bluegrass in Texas" (linked above), the group was not a bluegrass combo in the strictest sense... as much as they were bluegrass they were also pop and easy country (Gary Gore can be seen "hiding" an electric bass behind Knipher in the photo above). On their self-titled release Cool Water does run through a couple of standards, but sounds like a folk-influenced newgrass group as you get "Hot Burritto (sic) Breakdown" rubbing shoulders with "Sitting on Top of the World". Side 2 opens with Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", a tired dog to be sure, but I really enjoy Ron Gore's mandolin leads here.

Gary Gore turns in the strongest cut on the album, an original titled "Hope In the Country"... counting the blessings of a simple life out away from that hectic Hub City life. Funny how that idea of an easy life in the country is always around. The more things change...

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Caprock photo above 'borrowed' from HERE and run through an iPhone app.