AUSTIN, Texas — February is Black History Month, and that history is very apparent in Texas’ music scene.
Bevis M. Griffin is a pioneer in glam rock, hard rock and punk rock, music genres that were dominated by white musicians when he got his start more than 50 years ago.
Spectrum News 1 was joined by Griffin and Dr. Jason Mellar, Texas State University history professor and co-editor of the Journal of Texas Music History.
Griffin has been making music in the Lone Star State for decades.
“I came to Austin right out of high school. 1972. The Austin music scene was really starting to percolate, with a lot of energy,” he said. “I came down here from Wichita Fall, Texas, after being transplanted from Los Angeles, where I was born and raised.”
Griffin said the early 1970s was a special time in Austin.
“Austin was youth-driven. There was a lot of young entrepreneurs that had come from the University of Texas. And they started the nightclubs, they started the clothing stores, a lot of the community restaurants and things of that nature,” Griffin said. “The energy was very focused on perpetuating freedom of thought and freedom of self-determination.”
For inspiration, Griffin looked at what was happening overseas.
“I had my antenna up as far as a more global perspective. And glam rock was what was happening in 1972 in England,” he said. “So I was thinking about it in terms of – like a projector. If it was happening in England, it would eventually roll back Stateside. So if I got on that wavelength, we’d be ahead of the curve.”
Griffin will appear in conversation at the Texas Music Museum in Austin at 2 p.m. on Feb. 24.