Sahm Exposes His Roots at Palomino

After more than three decades of bounding back and forth across musical borders, Doug Sahm is a master at meshing his musical roots.

So when he jumped from the stone groove of Southern blues to the stoned-hippie grooviness of his 1969 hit “Mendocino” to the earthy Mexican conjunto music of his native San Antonio during his two-hour set Thursday night at the Palomino Club, it seemed completely natural.

Topping a bill of Texas rhythm and blues acts put together by Austin’s famed Antone’s club and record label, Sahm showed that he not only knows these styles but feels them as well as anyone who works in the genres. And that includes the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Los Lobos (whose Cesar Rosas joined Sahm for one conjunto number).

A little “T-Bone Shuffle”? Sahm just cranks up his horn section and boogies on down. Some nuevo wavo norteno ? Set the organ in the “cheesy Farfisa” mode and revive the ‘60s pop Sir Douglas Quintet moniker. A stroll in the streets of the barrio? Bring on button accordionist Flaco Jimenez (and sweet-voiced actor/singer Harry Dean Stanton) and break out the Coronas.

Yet for all that accomplishment and spirit, the evening held but one lone epiphany: “She’s About a Mover,” the old Quintet’s 1965 Top 20 hit. Of course, back then it was just another frat-party fave. But today, in the light of all we have learned about rock’s roots, the song revealed itself as an unlikely but delightful blend of Tex-Mex, R&B;, rock and Mersey beat. (Remember, the old group’s name was even intended to pass it off as British!)

That hardly makes the song a Hall of Fame candidate, but even in its throwaway novelty, it served to showcase Sahm’s musical vision. In that light, it seemed unfortunate that Sahm segregated his tastes for the rest of the evening--no matter how good he and his versatile band were with the blues (featured on Sahm’s upcoming “Jukebox Music” LP) or norteno .

The same flaw existed with the evening’s two other acts, who tended more toward the mechanical side of the R&B; genre rather than transcending that to what we would call soul. Still, second-billed singer Angela Strehli is a remarkable talent--possessing a husky, powerful voice, but also having the restraint and taste to use it with subtlety and feeling.

Instead of just belting it out like so many others, Strehli delivers the lines with an arid sense of understatement that lends some bite to these blues. But only the imaginative guitar work of Dean Freeman (who looks more like British television educator James Burke than a Texas bluesman) kept the arrangements of mostly familiar blues songs from being routine.

Opening act Mel Brown, a veteran Texas blues guitarist, and his band, the Silent Partners, also showed a lot of solid talent but little vision. Still, there was plenty going on throughout the show to keep the crowd (including more than a few truckloads worth of homesick Texans) movin’ and groovin’ well into the a.m.

The same bill will be appearing at the Music Machine on Jan. 27.

LIVE ACTION: Hothouse Flowers’ show, originally scheduled for Feb. 17 at the Coach House, has been changed to Feb. 16. Tickets for the original date will be honored. The Flowers will also be at the Ventura Theatre on Feb. 18. . . . Tickets are on sale now for Colin James at Bogart’s on Feb. 6 and the Roxy on Feb. 7, and for David Grisman at the Wadsworth Theater on Feb. 10. . . . Also coming to the Roxy: Thelonious Monster on Jan. 22 and the Dead Milkmen on Feb. 13. The Dead Milkmen will also be at Bogart’s on Feb. 11. . . . The B.H. Surfers will be at UCLA’s Ackerman Ballroom on Feb. 3. . . . The Circle Jerks play the Country Club on Jan. 22.