Alger "Texas" Alexander

Alger "Texas" Alexander (September 12, 1900 – April 18, 1954) was an American blues singer from Jewett, Texas. It has also been asserted that he was the uncle of the Texas country blues guitarist Frankie Lee Sims.

Career A short man with a big, deep voice, Alexander started his career performing on the streets and at parties and picnics in the Brazos River bottomlands, where he sometimes worked with Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1927, he began a recording career that continued into the 1930s, recording sides for Okeh Records and Vocalion Records in New York, San Antonio, and Fort Worth.

Songs he recorded include "Mama's Bad Luck Child," "Sittin' on a Log," "Texas Special," "Broken Yo Yo" and "Don't You Wish Your Baby Was Built Up Like Mine?" On April 9, 1934, Alexander recorded with backing by the Mississippi Sheiks. Their line-up featured Bo Carter on violin and Sam Chatman and Walter Vinson on guitar. The eight tracks recorded included "Seen Better Days" and "Frost Texas Tornado Blues", the latter of which told of the tornado which destroyed Frost, Texas, on May 6, 1930, leaving 41 dead.

Alexander did not play a musical instrument, and over the years he worked with a number of other artists, including King Oliver, Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson, Little Hat Jones, the Mississippi Sheiks, J. T. Smith, and Lightnin' Hopkins. He sang in the free rhythm of work songs, such as the migrant cotton pickers he performed for might have sung, which posed a challenge for those accompanying him. The rhythm of his singing is often difficult to follow, and on his records his accompanists can often be heard resetting their watches to "Alexander time". Lonnie Johnson devised free-form guitar melodies in counterpoint to Alexander's vocal lines. He was buried in Longstreet Cemetery, in Montgomery County, Texas. In 2013 the Killer Blues Headstone Project placed a headstone for him there.

Discography Buddy Boy Hawkins and his Buddies 1934 recording of "Easy Rider Blues" (Yazoo, 1968) Texas Troublesome Blues (Agram, 1982) Complete Recordings, vols. 1–4 (Matchbox, 1982–1990) Complete Recordings in Chronological Order, vols. 1–3 (Document, 1993–1994) 98 Degree Blues (Catfish, 1999)