Whistlin' Alex Moore

Alex Moore ranked among the final practitioners of old-time Texas barrelhouse piano and stood as a local fixture in Dallas, the city where he spent his entire life. Renowned as a vivid performer who possessed an instinctive flair for loose, storytelling improvisations, he maintained one of the most extended careers on record in the blues, beginning with his initial Columbia sides in 1929 and concluding with a 1988 session. Despite that longevity, his output remained modest, marked by extended intervals between studio dates. The candid, self-referential quality of his later work gave those albums a distinctive appeal.

He started playing in the early 1920s at clubs and gatherings throughout Dallas, most often billed as Whistlin' Alex. His first recordings came in 1929 for Columbia, yet they drew limited notice, and another session did not occur until 1937, when he cut several tracks for Decca. In the years separating those two dates he kept performing regularly in Dallas venues. The gap that followed stretched even longer; RPM/Kent finally brought him back to the studio in 1951 for a handful of songs. During the 1940s and 1950s he worked clubs across Dallas and made occasional appearances elsewhere in Texas.

Moore gained wider recognition during the blues revival of the early 1960s. Arhoolie Records recorded him in 1960, and the resulting releases established his reputation nationwide. Throughout the remainder of the decade he appeared at clubs and festivals in the United States plus a few European festival engagements. Recording activity stayed sparse in the 1970s and 1980s, but he continued performing until his death in 1989. The previous year he completed a final date for Rounder Records that appeared as the album Wiggle Tail.