Whistlin' Alex Moore

By: Terry Currier

Article Reprint from the June 1998 BluesNotes
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When you think of the Texas Blues scene, most likely you think of great guitarists. People such as Freddie King, T-Bone Walker, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny "Clyde" Copeland, Johnny Winter, Lightnin' Hopkins, Blind Lemon Jefferson - the list goes on and on. But, what about all those other men and women? What about the great vocalists like Angela Strehli, Big Mama Thornton, and Z. Z. Hill; horn players like Grady Ganies and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson; the kings and queens of the black and white keys such as Floyd Dixon, Katie Webster, and Charles Brown. And, let's not forget, another keyboard player, Alex Moore.

Alexander Herman Moore was born on November 22, 1899 in Dallas, Texas. He quit school to go to work when he was 11 because his father had died. He liked music and began learning to play harmonica. By the time he was 16, he was playing occasionally on WRR, a radio station in Dallas. The following year, he joined the U.S. Army.

After his release from the Army, Alex learned to play the piano. He once said, "When I was first listening to Blues music, a lot of colored cats played the piano. There were more piano players in North Dallas than anywhere in the United States." This gave him the opportunity to learn from watching some of them play. During this time, he delivered groceries to many white people's homes who owned pianos and he played on them whenever he could. In the early 1920s, he started taking his music more seriously and he began playing area houses, parties and bars. Alex cut his first sides for the Columbia record label in 1929 when their A&R people made their regular twice yearly visits to record Blues music.

The Depression of the 1930s hit. Alex managed to find work playing, but many Blues players were not so fortunate. The piano was an instrument that made the transition to the music of the 1930s easier than the harmonica and the guitar. Jazz took over the big time, and Blues music became just a shadow of what it had been during the 1920s golden decade of Blues. In 1937, he recorded for Decca Records in Chicago. Those sides did not do much and Decca did not ask him do any more.

For Alex, the 1940s were a mirror of the 1930s. He continued playing in lounges, clubs and bars -- from upscale supper clubs to Pam's striptease bar and dance lounge. Then, in 1947, he got his third chance in the recording studio on a small Dallas label called Highway. Like the others, these recordings did not do a lot to escalate Alex's career, but they did get played on many Texas juke boxes.

Then came the 1950s. He continued to play the Dallas nightclub and bar circuit, but took on more work outside music. His fourth time in the studio came in 1951 on yet another label, RPM / Kent. It was almost a decade before he recorded again. In 1960, he recorded sides for Decca and a complete album for Arhoolie. It was Chris Strachwitzs' Arhoolie label that finally took Alex's music out of Texas.

The next year, he appeared in the film "The Blues" and was also invited to play with the American Folk Blues Festival when they toured Europe. He toured with them again in 1969. Arhoolie released another album by him that year entitled "Alex Moore -- In Europe".

Alex turned 70 in 1969, but that did not stop him from playing. He continued playing the Dallas circuit well into the 1980s. There was a long lapse before he recorded again -- this time for Rounder Records in 1988.

In 1987, Alex received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Endowment For The Arts. This was a tremendous honor and one he truly deserved. Two years later, on January 20, 1989, Alex died in Dallas, Texas, the same town where he had been born. Although most of the country never had much of an opportunity to see him, he is a legend in the city of Dallas. As Paul Oliver wrote on the back of the first Arhoolie album, "He is a true original, a Folk Blues singer of the city who can sit at the piano and improvise endlessly piano themes and Blues verses that are sometimes startling, sometimes comic, sometimes grim, and very often pure poetry."

Whistlin' Alex Moore

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