This Week in Texas Music History

Alex Moore

November 21, 2011 8:00 am by: Haley Howle

alexmoore

 

This Week In Texas Music History, we’ll pay tribute to an artist who could really sink his teeth into his work.

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Alex Moore, born in Dallas on November 22, 1899, was a pioneer of the piano style known as barrelhouse or boogie woogie. Born into poverty Moore had to drop out of school in the 6th grade to help support his family. He joined the US Army during World War I and by the 1920s he’d become a very popular boogie woogie piano player. He earned the nickname whistlin Alex Moore becuase of the way he whistled through his teeth while playing.

Alex Moore’s career underwent a renaissance in the 1960s when he was invited to play at festivals throughout the United States and Europe. In 1987, he became the first African American from Texas to be awarded a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Next time on This Week In Texas Music History, we’ll celebrate one of the pioneers of Chicano blues.

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