25. CLARENCE “GATEMOUTH” BROWN

Blues-rock singer-guitarist-violinist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown was born in Louisiana in 1924 but came of age in Orange, Texas, and started his longrunning musical career in San Antonio. His blend of musical styles not only anticipated what was to come — his smokin’, horn-saturated 1954 instrumental “Okie Dokie Stomp” is as fine an example of early rock’n’roll as there is — but it also straddled the boundaries of country and soul. Most Texas musical moment: Houston provided his breakthrough when, in 1947, he substituted for an ailing T-Bone Walker at the city’s Bronze Peacock venue.