Keith Ferguson (July 23, 1946 – April 29, 1997) was an American bass guitarist, best remembered as a member of the

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

band,

The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an American blues band formed in 1974. Career After performing for several years in the Austin, Texas blues scene, the band won a recording contract with Takoma/Chrysalis Records and later signed with Epic Records ...

, based in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, Texas. Ferguson received several awards for his musicianship.

Biography

Ferguson was born July 23, 1946, and raised in the 'Sexto' – the Sixth Ward of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, where he graduated from San Jacinto High School in 1964. In 1969 he joined "Sunnyland Special", a blues band with

Angela Strehli Angela Strehli (born November 22, 1945) is an American electric blues singer and songwriter. She is also a Texas blues historian and impresario. Despite a sporadic recording career, Strehli spends time each year performing in Europe, the US an ...

and Lewis Cowdrey. They recorded a 45rpm single. In 1972 he joined "Black Kangaroo" with guitarist

Peter Kaukonen Peter Kaukonen (born Benson Lee Kaukonen on September 23, 1945) is an American guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/songwriter based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the younger brother of Jorma Kaukonen from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Peter Ka ...

, and toured with them. In 1974 he played in the "Nightcrawlers" together with

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

. Keith also played with Rocky Hill at that time. In 1976, Ferguson joined

, along with vocalists

Lou Ann Barton Lou Ann Barton (born February 17, 1954) is an American blues singer based in Austin, Texas since the 1970s. AllMusic noted that "The grace, poise, and confidence she projects on-stage is part of a long tradition for women blues singers". Biogr ...

and

Kim Wilson Kim Wilson (born January 6, 1951) is an American blues singer and harmonica player. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman for the Fabulous Thunderbirds on two hit songs of the 1980s, " Tuff Enuff" (which was the group's only Top 40 ...

and guitarist

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...

. (Barton left soon after the group began.) The band had an initial large local following, but was unable to maintain a sustained following with commercially positive results. More than five years of being dropped by small and large record labels, with

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

being the last in their initial period to drop the band, there was a hiatus of several years, during which time a re-shuffling of band members began to take place, and Ferguson was one of the first to leave. Ferguson went on to become a member of the Tailgators along with Don Leady and Gary "Mudcat" Smith. After leaving the Tailgators, Ferguson freelanced with a number of Austin blues bands on the 6 Street blues circuit and played with the Excellos and the Solid Senders. He died of liver failure at the age of 50, on April 29, 1997, due in part to a nearly thirty-year addiction to heroin. In 2014, a biography was written by author Detlef Schmidt: ''Keith Ferguson: Texas Blues Bass''.

Discography

With the Fabulous Thunderbirds

* 1979 '' Girls Go Wild'' * 1980 '' What's the Word'' * 1981 '' Butt Rockin''' * 1982 '' T-Bird Rhythm'' * 1996 '' Different Tacos'' * 2003 '' Thunderbirds Tacos Deluxe''

With the Tailgators

* 1985 ''

Swamp Rock Swamp rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the mid-1960s as a fusion of rockabilly and soul music with swamp blues, country music and funk. The genre originated in Louisiana by artists such as Tony Joe White, but was subsequently po ...

'' * 1986 '' Mumbo Jumbo'' * 1987 '' Tore Up'' * 1988 '' Hide Your Eyes'' * 1989 '' OK Let's Go''

With other artists

* 1983 '' Havana Moon'' with

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

* 1983 '' Check This Action'' with

LeRoi Brothers The LeRoi Brothers are an American rock band from Austin, Texas. The group was founded in 1981 by Mike Buck (also of The Fabulous Thunderbirds), Don Leady, Steve Doerr, and Alex Napier. The group was a long-running Austin bar band, but achieved n ...

* 1994 '' Let The Dogs Run'' with Mike Morgan and Jim Suhler

Awards

*1997: Austin Music Hall of Fame Inductee *1985: Austin Music Awards, Best Bass Guitar

References

Archival Materials

Keith Ferguson papers at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University

Keith Ferguson digital collection, 1951-2008, at Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library, Texas Tech University

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Keith 1946 births 1997 deaths American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Deaths from liver failure Musicians from Austin, Texas 20th-century American bass guitarists Guitarists from Texas The Fabulous Thunderbirds members 20th-century American male musicians