Formerly Brothers – The Return of the Formerly Brothers …album review

A while back, I really started to get into Doug Sahm because the guy was quality, period. Everything I’ve heard from him I’ve liked. Thanks to halffastcyclingclub for more information about Doug. He was born in 1941 and had singles out when he was 14 in 1955. He was a child prodigy and a proud Texan. 

The Formerly Brothers brought together three players who already had long histories: Amos Garrett, Doug Sahm, and Gene Taylor. I’m grateful they did, and the reason I first listened was because of Doug Sahm, but he is far from the only one on this album. When three artists of this caliber get together, sometimes it can feel forced, but this one doesn’t. The album was released in 1987. 

They got their name from the press always introducing them individually as “formerly of” different bands. They started this album after appearing at the 1986 Edmonton Folk Festival. The project came together as a collaboration between these artists who had crossed paths for years. 

Doug Sahm founded, with Augie Meyers, The Sir Douglas Quintet. He would go on to have a solo career and also play with The Texas Tornados, among many others. The American-Canadian Amos Garrett became known for session work, including his time with Paul Butterfield and his guitar on Maria Muldaur’s Midnight at the Oasis. Gene Taylor worked with many artists, including Canned Heat and, later, The Blasters, but he was always in demand for his piano playing.

By all accounts, they got along well, and the music shows this. It sounds like very talented musicians having fun at a party, but the music stays precise, yet not rigid. What makes the record work is that it doesn’t try to give us any new style of music. It sticks with styles like blues structures, R&B grooves, barroom riffs, and pure country. Sometimes bundled all together for our listening pleasure. 

The music slips easily into different styles like changing socks. The first song that got my attention on this album is the song Teardrops On Your Letter for its soulful sound and that tremelo guitar to open it. Sahm knocks that vocal out of the park.  They cover Dylan with Just Like A Woman and it is a version I will go back to.

Louis Riel is another song that caught me right away. Again, it was the soulful voice of Sahm.  The opener Smack Dab In The Middle is somewhere in the middle of R&B and Country. Big Mamou is pure old school country. Probably my favorite on the album is Queen of the Okanagan. 

The record blends blues, R&B, country, and Texas roots music while blurring the lines between them. Sahm’s voice carries a lot of it while Garrett’s guitar fills the spaces with that clean tone and bending style. Gene Taylor’s piano is a big part of this album as well. 

There’s a loose feel across the album, but it’s not sloppy. It’s the kind of looseness that comes from experience. If you’ve spent time with Sahm’s solo records or the Texas Tornados, this sits right alongside that world, just scaled down a bit.

The album won the Juno Award for Best Roots & Traditional Album at the Juno Awards of 1989. Also, here is a 15-minute interview with Doug Sahm. He tells a lot about his history in this one. 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

27 thoughts on “Formerly Brothers – The Return of the Formerly Brothers …album review”

  1. Fantastic stuff Max. Some great American/Canadian collaboration here. The producer Holger Petersen founded the Edmonton festival and has hosted a Saturday Blues radio show on CBC that I have listened to for many years. It must be on that show I heard “Queen of the Okanogan”. Otherwise I don’t know this album at all. Definitely getting a listen.

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  2. Pingback:  Formerly Brothers – The Return of the Formerly Brothers …album review – MobsterTiger

  4. “Loose, but not sloppy” seems to sum up Doug Sahm. Well put. I didn’t recognize his voice in the first notes of “Teardrops on my Letter”. You’re right – it is great! “Queen of the Okanagan” sounds like vintage Doug Sahm (and confused me for a second, as Okanagan sounds a lot like Ontonagon, a little town in the UP near the Porcupine Mountains).

    I hadn’t heard this band – thanks! And thanks for the link.

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    1. No problem! This was like finding a Christmas gift to me when a friend sent me a link to it after knowing I wanted to hear more Sahm.
      I still need to go over more of his solo albums. Thanks again to you…it’s a gift that keeps giving.

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  5. Great review, fantastic album. There is a second album by these folks.

    I assume WordPress is acting up as I don’t see my comment on this week’s Prisoner entry. Do I need to redo?

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  8. A long way from Texas but music transcends borders. The Edmonton Folk Fest was always worth paying attention to. Where I found these guys. So many musical connections. The album just continues to grow on me. Trut be know it was Gene Taylors involvement that brought me to this band.

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  9. Very interesting interview- Doug sounds like he loves the life he’s living there in the late 80s, and who wouldn’t? Making music with friends, feeling the love up in Canada with the Juno, making enough to get by. Loved the story of playing ‘San Antonio Rose’ for the lady and then getting tossed out the barroom door, Bob Dylan and all! That’s a story that deserves a song written about it.

    I really liked ‘Sure Is A Good Thing,’ that has a Little Feat feel to it- that tight yet fluid backing. That said there’s not a track I’d skip on the Spotify list, just that one really grabbed my ear.

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    1. Thanks for giving it a try obbverse. Three really talented guys here.
      I’ve listened to around 7 minutes of that interview so far…damn work pestered me! How dare them! I’ll give it a listen today. I loved the Bob Dylan story.
      Good solid album with a thrown together band that knew what they were doing.

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  10. Great pick, Max. I’m all new to this album and instantly dig it! While I knew of the bands Doug Sahm, Amos Garrett and Gene Taylor had been affiliated with, I wasn’t aware of them as individual artists. It appears that similar to Little Village, “Return of the Formerly Brothers” was a one-album collaboration only, which is too bad. At the same time, I guess this is also part of its charm!

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