Alger “Texas” Alexander - Longstreet Cemetery - Walker County, TX - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Per the Montgomery County historical marker by his headstone:

"Algernon Alexander is internationally recognized as a father of Texas Blues. Born into adject poverty on September 12, 1900 in Jewett, Leon County, Texas, Alergnon was raised in Richards, Texas, by his grandmother, Sally Beavers. While working in the cotton fields and for the railroad, Alexander learned the "Blues," a new expressive style of emotional and spiritual music sung by African Americans. Alexander made over 69 recordings for Okeh and Vocalion records as "Texas" Alexander from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, including the first kown recording of the famous folks song "House of the Rising Sun". Alexander played with the top Blues artists of the era, including the Mississippo Sheiks and Lonnie Johnson. He mentioned dozens of others, inclduing his nephew Lightnin' Hopkins, his cousin Frankie Lee Sims and Lowell Fulson. Algernon "Texas" Alexander died in pvery in Richards, Texas, on April 14, 1954."

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The marker, however, does not tell the complete story. Below is an article from the "Houston Chronicle" back in 2016 when the marked was first unveiled:

"Alexander was born in Leon County in 1900 and raised in Richards. He learned how to sing the blues from other blacks while working in the fields and began to perform at picnics and other events. He could not play the guitar but carried one with him to loan to others.

With the increasing popularity of the blues in the Roaring '20s, Alexander made his first recording sessions in New York for the Okeh Records label. In all, he recorded more than 60 songs from 1927 to 1934.

When Alexander sang the blues, he bellowed. He often skipped a beat, and his timing was tough for a band to follow. But it didn't stop some of the era's top musicians from playing with him.

"He was an amazing guy who hollered field-type blues," said music scholar Chris Strachwitz, whose Arhoolie record label is devoted to American roots music. "He had a good, strong voice."

Coy Prather, an Austin-based music writer, said Alexander's career was held back by his inability to play an instrument, "but his songwriting was a step above."

Among Alexander's songs was "The Risin' Sun," which some music historians believe later evolved into the folk-rock ballad "The House of the Rising Sun," a chart-topping hit for the British group the Animals.

Alexander also wrote "Frost Texas Tornado Blues," which told of the tornado that tore through the town in 1930, killing 41 people. He recorded the song with the Mississippi Sheiks in 1934.

After the recording, he returned to Texas to play neighborhood dives and juke joints. And then, he disappeared.

Some say he spent five years until 1945 in prison for murdering his wife. But Prather said he couldn't find any record of Alexander being arrested or serving jail time in the Texas counties where he lived.

Instead, Prather said he believes Alexander was arrested and sentenced to county-run work farms without any paper trail. At the time, it was illegal to perform "race music," blues songs about bad women and sexual acts, in front of a white crowd.

But those were Alexander's best-known songs.

"It's so sad," Prather said. "Here is a man who influenced Texas blues as much as anyone, and he is being forgotten because of a crime he probably didn't commit."

Alexander resurfaced in Houston in the late 1940s, singing with Hopkins for tips on street corners and railroad platforms.

In time, Hopkins moved on with his iconoclastic blues career, and Alexander went home to Richards, where he died of syphilis in 1954."

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Lastly, Wikipedia has yet another condensed biography of the music legend in question.

Description: See "Detailed Description" Date of birth: 09/12/1900 Date of death: 04/16/1954 Area of notoriety: Entertainment Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: cemetery is open 24x7 Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   08/01/2020 Raven visited it