Today is the birthday of Lydia Mendoza. She would be 110 today. Lydia Mendoza was born in Houston, Texas on May 31, 1916, into a family that performed on the streets of the Texas-Mexico border towns. Her mother played guitar. Her sisters sang. Lydia taught herself 12-string guitar and sang with a voice that was […]
Today is the birthday of Waylon Jennings. He would be 89 today. Waylon Arnold Jennings was born in Littlefield, Texas on June 15, 1937 — a small cotton-farming town on the South Plains. He was playing on Lubbock radio by fourteen. Buddy Holly hired him as bassist for the Winter Dance Party tour in 1959. […]
Today is the birthday of Kris Kristofferson. He would be 90 today. Kristoffer Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas on June 22, 1936 — deep South Texas, on the Mexican border. His father was a major general in the Air Force. Kristofferson became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, then an Army Ranger and helicopter pilot, […]
Today is the birthday of Bobby Day. He is 98. You know the song. It starts with a two-note guitar figure and a sharp little percussion break. Then a voice climbs straight into the sky. "Rockin' Robin" came out of Fort Worth, Texas — and Bobby Day built it. Born Robert James Byrd on July […]
Today is the birthday of Victor Willis. He would have turned 75. Victor Willis — born in Dallas, Texas, on July 1, 1951 — died on June 30, 2026, one day before his 75th birthday. Still, he spent those 74 years doing something most people never manage. He wrote songs that became part of the […]
Nanci Griffith was born in Seguin, Texas, on July 6, 1943. She called her music folkabilly and sang Texas stories that haunt you for days.
Today is the birthday of Roky Erickson. He would be 79 today. Roger Kynard Erickson was born in Dallas, Texas on July 15, 1947 and grew up in Austin, where he sang in garage bands as a teenager with a voice that didn't sound like anything Texas had produced before — high, keening, rawly emotional. […]
Today is the birthday of Cindy Walker. She would be 108 today. Cindy Walker was born in Mart, Texas on July 20, 1918 — a McLennan County farming town between Waco and the Brazos River. Her grandfather was a fiddler. She was writing songs by twelve. At twenty-three, she drove to Hollywood with her parents, […]
Today is the birthday of Don Henley. He is 79 today. Donald Hugh Henley was born in Gilmer, Texas on July 22, 1947. Gilmer is in Upshur County, in the Piney Woods of deep East Texas. He grew up playing music in Linden — Freddie King country — before heading to North Texas State University. […]
Today is the birthday of Eddie Durham. He would be 120 today. Eddie Durham heard electricity in a guitar string before almost anyone else did. He grew up in San Marcos, Texas, in a family bursting with musicians. Eddie Durham's San Marcos, Texas childhood turned into a workshop of homemade instruments and constant practice. He […]
Today is the birthday of Laura Canales. She would be 72 today. Laura Canales of Kingsville, Texas, ruled Tejano music before most fans had heard of Selena. From 1983 to 1986, she swept the Tejano Music Awards for Female Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year. No one broke that streak for years. Then a teenager […]
Today is the birthday of Dimebag Darrell. He would be 60 today. Darrell Lance Abbott was born in Arlington, Texas on August 20, 1966. He and his brother Vinnie Paul grew up in a musical household — their father Jerry Abbott was a country music producer. Darrell picked up guitar early and immediately went somewhere […]
