Houston blues guitar legend, Pete Mayes, passed on December 16, 2008. The Houston Chronicle's Andrew Dansbury wrote a nice tribute article and can tell it better than myself, so here's the link: Pete Mayes. Pete was one of those Houston bluesmen that knew what the limelight was all about and chose to remain close to home to ply his trade. Blues guitar fans certainly know his work. After hearing him play for the first time, I felt that absolutely no one understood T-Bone Walker's style as well as Pete Mayes. He certainly had his own way of picking, but when he wanted to evoke the ghost of the master, he nailed it down pat.
One of the drawbacks to living in a smaller city, is that I have to depend on the Internet to get important blues news and sometimes, sad news such as this. The news came via Bob Corritore's newsletter which I receive by e-mail weekly and always is full of very timely blues news. With the passing of Joe 'Guitar' Hughes and Calvin Owens and now Pete Mayes, the represenatives of an very important Houston blues generation have left us, but they also have left us with an important legacy. They each kept their music vital up to the very end, without compromise. Anyway--
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