Biography
Pete Mayes, who handled guitar, vocals, and songwriting, came of age inside Houston’s blues club world, the same environment that produced Don Robey’s Duke/Peacock label along with noted blues figures such as Lightnin’ Hopkins, Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. He spent his childhood in the modest settlement of Double Bayou, located between Houston and Beaumont near the Trinity River’s mouth at the Gulf of Mexico. That community contained a dancehall bearing the identical name, which regularly drew audiences from considerable distances.
During his early teenage years he began sitting in on guitar with assorted groups at the dancehall in the opening years of the 1950s. Several years afterward he started fronting his own ensemble, serving as an opener for traveling artists, and in 1983 he assumed ownership of the venue from a relative. He maintained his guitar playing throughout his time in military service. By closely observing masters including T-Bone Walker and Gatemouth Brown, Mayes acquired extensive knowledge, and he named Walker a principal influence on the sound he later developed. Walker first invited the sixteen-year-old Mayes onstage for a guest spot. Mayes additionally cited B.B. King, Wes Montgomery, Lowell Fulson, and Kenny Burrell among the musicians who shaped his approach.
Mayes settled in Houston in 1960 and promptly became deeply involved in the city’s expanding nightclub circuit. Before long he, Albert Collins, Joe “Guitar” Hughes, Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, and vocalist Frankie Lee were all regarded as leading artists on the local blues club scene. Throughout the 1960s he performed or recorded with Fulson, Big Joe Turner, Percy Mayfield, Bill Doggett, Junior Parker, and other musicians then active in the area. While refining his personal style on regional tours with Parker and additional artists, he released three albums under his own name. He also worked during that decade as guitarist for touring jazz performers such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.
Mayes took special pride in the late-1990s album he issued on the Austin-based Antone’s Records label, For Pete’s Sake. The recording featured members of his Houston touring band, among them keyboardist Bert Lewis, bassist Eugene Murray, saxophonist Don Rollins, and drummer Johnny Prejan. The influence of T-Bone Walker and further pioneers of Texas roadhouse blues is evident throughout For Pete’s Sake. Mayes told Texas journalist Alan Govenar, author of the book Texas Blues: “There is a Texas style of blues that’s played with a kind of modern sound and a whole lot of expression. It’s not jazz, but it’s not like the Delta. Texas blues has class and is played with deep feeling.”
Because of the financial demands of touring, the spread of television, and the resulting loss of large dancehalls nationwide, Mayes never earned his living solely from blues performance and instead held a variety of jobs over the course of his life, including ranch hand, hospital orderly, and painter. Mayes died in December 2008 in the Houston area at the age of 70 after contending with diabetes and heart problems for much of the preceding decade. He appeared at his family’s Double Bayou Dance Hall every year across 54 consecutive years. Owing to Mayes’ declining health, the annual Christmas afternoon performance was not held in 2008.
During his early teenage years he began sitting in on guitar with assorted groups at the dancehall in the opening years of the 1950s. Several years afterward he started fronting his own ensemble, serving as an opener for traveling artists, and in 1983 he assumed ownership of the venue from a relative. He maintained his guitar playing throughout his time in military service. By closely observing masters including T-Bone Walker and Gatemouth Brown, Mayes acquired extensive knowledge, and he named Walker a principal influence on the sound he later developed. Walker first invited the sixteen-year-old Mayes onstage for a guest spot. Mayes additionally cited B.B. King, Wes Montgomery, Lowell Fulson, and Kenny Burrell among the musicians who shaped his approach.
Mayes settled in Houston in 1960 and promptly became deeply involved in the city’s expanding nightclub circuit. Before long he, Albert Collins, Joe “Guitar” Hughes, Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, and vocalist Frankie Lee were all regarded as leading artists on the local blues club scene. Throughout the 1960s he performed or recorded with Fulson, Big Joe Turner, Percy Mayfield, Bill Doggett, Junior Parker, and other musicians then active in the area. While refining his personal style on regional tours with Parker and additional artists, he released three albums under his own name. He also worked during that decade as guitarist for touring jazz performers such as Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie.
Mayes took special pride in the late-1990s album he issued on the Austin-based Antone’s Records label, For Pete’s Sake. The recording featured members of his Houston touring band, among them keyboardist Bert Lewis, bassist Eugene Murray, saxophonist Don Rollins, and drummer Johnny Prejan. The influence of T-Bone Walker and further pioneers of Texas roadhouse blues is evident throughout For Pete’s Sake. Mayes told Texas journalist Alan Govenar, author of the book Texas Blues: “There is a Texas style of blues that’s played with a kind of modern sound and a whole lot of expression. It’s not jazz, but it’s not like the Delta. Texas blues has class and is played with deep feeling.”
Because of the financial demands of touring, the spread of television, and the resulting loss of large dancehalls nationwide, Mayes never earned his living solely from blues performance and instead held a variety of jobs over the course of his life, including ranch hand, hospital orderly, and painter. Mayes died in December 2008 in the Houston area at the age of 70 after contending with diabetes and heart problems for much of the preceding decade. He appeared at his family’s Double Bayou Dance Hall every year across 54 consecutive years. Owing to Mayes’ declining health, the annual Christmas afternoon performance was not held in 2008.
Albums