The Blues Promoter, Clifford Antone
A mural, located in the lounge area of an
Austin hotel depicts past and present
performers including Stevie Ray Vaughn,
Willie Nelson and Janis Joplin. Also the
great blues promoter, Clifford Antone (third
from left).
Clifford
Antone is perhaps best-known
for founding the legendary Austin club,
Antone’s, in 1975. This popular venue became
a mecca for blues artists and fans
throughout the world and played a key role
in establishing Austin’s vibrant live music
scene.
Through his nightclub
Antone not only helped reinvigorate the careers
of such veteran artists as B. B. King, Muddy
Waters, John Lee Hooker, James Cotton, and
Pinetop Perkins, he also helped launch the
careers of numerous younger artists, including
Stevie Ray Vaughan, Doug Sahm, Marcia Ball,
Johnny Gimble, Bonnie Raitt, John Lee Hooker,
Shawn Colvin, Bono, Lucinda Williams, Otis Rush,
Fats Domino, Lou Ann Barton, Joe Ely, Clarence
“Gatemouth” Brown, W. C. Clark, Albert Collins,
Denny Freeman, Reckless Kelly, Delbert
McClinton, Jimmy Reed, Lavelle White, Albert
King, Paul Ray and the Cobras, Derek O’Brien,
Angela Strehli, and Bob Schneider, have
performed at Antone’s over the years.
Born and raised in the
upper Texas Gulf Coast’s “Golden Triangle”
region, Clifford Antone absorbed a wide variety
of musical influences from an early age
including blues, R&B, soul, gospel, Cajun,
zydeco, honky-tonk, and swamp pop. As a
teenager, Antone began to frequent live music
venues along the Interstate Highway 10 corridor
connecting East Texas with southwestern
Louisiana. In such places as the Big Oaks Club
and Lou Ann’s, he heard a number of local and
regional acts, including Lazy Lester, Slim
Harpo, Katie Webster, the Boogie Kings, Johnny
Winter, and Aaron Neville. Although the region
was still racially segregated at that time,
Antone worked alongside African Americans and
often listened to blues and R&B on local black
radio stations. At the age of seventeen Antone
bought a bass guitar. Even though he never
became a professional musician, he began to
perform with other local blues players. Years
later he would occasionally sit in on bass at
Antone’s with some of his blues idols.
In 1968 he graduated
from Thomas Jefferson High School in Port
Arthur. At the age of eighteen Clifford Antone
moved to Austin to pursue a law degree at the
University of Texas. Although by the early 1970s
he had lost interest in school, his passion for
music remained strong. Disappointed that there
were not more live music venues in Austin to
showcase blues, R&B, gospel, and zydeco,
Clifford Antone decided to open his own club as
a way to share the music he loved with younger
Austin audiences. He rented a vacant store front
on Sixth Street in downtown Austin, and on July
15, 1975, Antone’s nightclub opened and featured
the legendary Houston-based “King of Zydeco”
Clifton Chenier and His Red-Hot Louisiana Band.
The club quickly gained
popularity and became one of the first venues to
attract live music fans to Austin’s Sixth Street
area. Although Antone’s changed locations four
times during its first thirty years, it
consistently hosted many of the legendary blues,
R&B, gospel, and zydeco artists whom Antone had
long admired, including B. B. King, Muddy
Waters, Walter Horton, Barbara Lynn, Sunnyland
Slim, Lavelle White, James Cotton, and others.
As one of the pioneering institutions of
Austin’s burgeoning live music scene during the
1970s, Antone’s also began to attract a number
of younger aspiring blues musicians. By the late
1970s Jimmie Vaughan had moved from Dallas to
Austin, joining Kim Wilson, Keith Ferguson, and
Mike Buck to form the Fabulous Thunderbirds and
become the club’s unofficial house band.
Jimmie’s younger brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan,
also took up residence at Antone’s and began
honing his singing, songwriting, and guitar
playing skills before going on to international
fame.
Though beloved as an iconic figure in
the Austin music scene, Antone suffered legal
difficulties that resulted in two stints in
federal prison after marijuana trafficking
convictions in 1984 and 2000. In the mid-1980s
he had to surrender ownership of his club, which
was assumed by his sister Susan Antone and a
board of directors. While serving a term at a
federal prison camp in Big Spring, Texas, in
1986, he organized area benefit concerts with
such musicians as Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willie
Nelson, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and others to
raise money for repairs to Comanche Trail Park
after it was devastated by a flood.
By 1987
Clifford Antone started the Antone’s record
label which would include in its catalog such
notable artists as James Cotton and Doug Sahm,
whose Juke Box Music won an Indie award
from the National Association of Independent
Record Distributors and Manufacturers in 1989.
Antone also opened Antone’s Record Shop at 2928
Guadalupe Street just north of the University of
Texas campus. In addition to these business
ventures, Clifford Antone was well-known for his
humanitarian efforts. Not only did he often
spend his own money to help musicians pay for
medical care or clothing and school supplies for
their children, he also was involved in a number
of charity and educational activities. Later in
life he led the “Help Clifford Help Kids”
fundraising campaign for American Youthworks, a
non-profit organization that mentors at-risk
public school students. In November 2005 he
helped organize the “Neighbors in Need” concert
to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. In
addition to his charity work, Antone taught
courses on the history of the blues at both
Texas State University in San Marcos and at the
University of Texas at Austin. He received a
Lifetime Achievement Award from the National
Blues Foundation for his efforts at promoting
the blues.
Although he is best-known for his involvement
with the blues, Clifford Antone appreciated all
types of music. On any night of the week he
could be found at other local venues, including
the Broken Spoke, Jovita’s, and Artz Rib House,
listening to, and sometimes sitting in with,
honky-tonk, western swing, folk, Cajun, and
rock-and-roll bands.
Clifford Antone died of a heart attack at his
home in Austin on May 23, 2006, and is buried at
the Greenlawn Memorial Park in Port Arthur.
Antone was survived by two sisters, Susan Antone
and Janelle Antone Raad, his niece Georgette
Raad and nephew Jamal Raad, along with several
aunts, uncles, and cousins. Shortly after his
death Austin-based SilverStar Entertainment
released the award-winning documentary,
Antone’s: Home of the Blues, celebrating
Antone’s life and career in music. A plaque
honoring Clifford Antone now stands at the site
of the original Antone’s nightclub on Sixth and
Brazos Streets in downtown Austin. He was
inducted into the Austin Music Memorial in 2010.