Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

ALEXANDER, Alger 'Texas'

(b c 1880, Leona TX; d c'55) Blues singer. Worked at itinerant music and odd jobs; made records '27--34 (with King Oliver NYC '28); imprisoned for murder early '40s, sang with his cousin Lightnin' Hopkins in streets, on city buses in Houston late '40s--early '50s; recorded in Houston '50. One of the purest stylists in the genre, his work based on shouts, work songs, field hollers.