This Week in Texas Music History

This Week in Texas Music History: Domingo Peña

December 17, 2012 1:05 pm by: Haley Howle

Courtesy of www.agapitozuniga.com

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a television host who entertained and educated his audience. Domingo Peña was born on December 16, 1917, in Kingsville, Texas. During the Great Depression, his family moved to Corpus Christi, where Peña began working in radio and television. From 1964 to 1981, his Domingo Peña Show was one of the most popular television programs in South Texas. Peña’s show featured performances from a variety of Tejano musicians, including Isidro Lopez and Esteban Jordan. In addition to musical entertainment, the Domingo Peña Show also served as a high-profile forum in which Peña and his guests discussed issues of concern to the Hispanic community. Along with the many musicians who appeared on his program, Domingo Peña hosted representatives from such groups as LULAC and the American G.I. Forum to discuss Hispanic civil rights in Texas....
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This Week in Texas Music History

This Week in Texas Music History: University of North Texas College of Music

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn about a university that offered the nation’s first degree in jazz studies. On December 17, 1939, the College of Music at the University of North Texas in Denton received its accreditation. Music had been in the university’s curriculum since 1890, but this national recognition helped the College of Music grow into one of the most prestigious music programs in the country. By the 1940s, UNT offered several music degrees and had a number of student bands performing in concerts and on radio. In 1947, UNT became the first university in the country to offer a degree in jazz. The school’s jazz program is home to the famed » read more

This Week in Texas Music History

This Week in Texas Music History: Miri...

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn about a music teacher who helped establish the oldest continuously performing symphony orchestra in the state. Miriam Gordon Landrum died on January 2, 1967. Born in Waco on November 25, 1893, she studied piano in Paris, France. During the 1920s,...
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Music, This Week in Texas Music History

This Week In Texas Music History: John...

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll remember a talented musician who traded in the nightclubs for the classroom. Tenor saxophonist John Hardee was born December 20, 1918, in » read more

Music, This Week in Texas Music History

This Week In Texas Music History: J.R....

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn about a man who helped build a gospel music empire. Jesse Randall Baxter was born in Lebanon, Alabama, on December 8, 1887. He took an early interest ingospel music and began writing hymns while still a teenager....
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This Week in Texas Music History

Alex Moore

This Week In Texas Music History, we'll pay tribute to an artist who could really sink his teeth into his work. Alex Moore, born in Dallas on November 22, 1899, was a pioneer of the piano style known as barrelhouse or boogie woogie....
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This Week in Texas Music History

This Week In Texas Music History: Euda...

Euday Bowman was born in Fort Worth on November 9, 1987. Although not as famous as fellow Texan Scott Joplin, Bowman also played an important roll in the development of ragtime and early jazz. Bowman was an accomplished player...
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This Week in Texas Music History

Roger Miller

Roger Miller died on October 25, 1992, but he left behind an unparalleled legacy as an award-winning songwriter. Miller was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on January 2, 1936. By the early 1960s, he was living in Nashville, where he backed such popular singers as Ray Price and Minnie Pearl. Miller also...
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This Week in Texas Music History

This Week In Texas Music History: Milt...

Milt Larkin was born in Navasota, Texas, on October 10, 1910. He taught himself to play trumpet and began performing throughout East Texas during the 1930s with a variety of local bands. By the 1940s, he was working alongside some of the most prominent jazz and big band swing artists in the...
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This Week in Texas Music History

This Week in Texas Music History: Cedr...

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll celebrate one of the state’s most versatile and prolific jazz musicians....
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Music, This Week in Texas Music History

This Week In Texas Music History: Iola...

Iola Bowden Chambers died on December 14, 1978. Born in Holder, Texas, on October 18, 1904, Chambers graduated from Daniel Baker College in Brownwood and went on to study piano at the » read more

This Week in Texas Music History

Randy Garibay

This Week In Texas Music History, we'll celebrate one of the pioneers of chicano blues....
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This Week in Texas Music History

Keg Johnson

This Week In Texas Music History we'll remember a musician who built cars and painted houses when he wasn't playing with some of the biggest names in jazz. Trombonist Keg Johnson was born November 19, 1908 in Dallas. Johnson's father, a choir director, encouraged his son to play...
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This Week in Texas Music History

Mary Austin Holley

Mary Austin Holley, was born Mary Austin on October 30, 1784, in New Haven, CT. She learned to play piano, guitar, and harp and helped organize local musical events. In 1805, she married Horace Holley, a minister. Mary Austin Holley was a cousin of famed Texas entrepreneur Stephen F. Austin. In...
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This Week in Texas Music History

Little Joe Hernandez

This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll look at a singer who grew up as a sharecropper but went on to become the first Tejano artist ever to win a Grammy. Little Joe Hernández was born in Temple, Texas, on October 17, 1940. His grandfather had been a colonel in...
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