Ruff Stuff Part 1 of 2

In those days, we, Janis and I, were just singing at parties. I wasn't ever in a band with Janis. One of the first times Janis sang solo was at a Sunday jam in Beaumont (a sister city of Port Arthur), Texas. She sang some Bessie Smith songs. Lamar Tech was our next move. Janis and I went to school there and then we eventually ended up in Austin to hang out, at what was referred to as, the "ghetto." It was an apartment building. This is where my drug experiences began and where we began to get into traditional Texas and Southern folk music.

D.J.: Would you say that the gigs at Threadgills (a converted gas station) was the beginning of the Austin music scene?

T.O.: Yes, it was. At least the beginnings of the white music scene. Austin (Tex.) always had a black music scene and a Mexican music scene. I started picking up the guitar at the age of 15 or 16 but it wasn't until I got to Austin that I took the guitar seriously. Janis left for the West Coast to play the "soap scene" and began to play with Jerry Garcia, Jefferson Airplane and the like. She got so deep into the drug scene that she decided to come back to Texas. She still wanted to sing, so she started singing in coffee shops. I stayed to play in Austin and got a grant as a folklorist, and went into the Texas prisons to record the old bluesmen and their "field hollars." While I seeking out Texas bluesmen, that's where I found Mance (Lipscomb) and the Grey Ghost. Around this time was when Janis wanted to sing in Austin, so I helped to get her some singing engagements and we had the first Austin Blues Festival in 1965. Mance and Robert Shaw took Janis in like a daughter. Janis just knocked people out with the power of her voice. This is when Big Brother and the Holding Company was looking for a female singer. She auditioned for Big Brother and she became the fifth member of big brother. Of course, later, she went out on her own and the rest is history. Then, I went out to California, as well.

D.J.: What is your affiliation with Catfish records? Are you the owner, the president . . .?

T.O.: I'm the owner. I started in the early 60's recording regional music for my folklore class. I ended up recording a large body of work. I opted to stay on at UT (University of Texas) and get a fellowship and become UT's resident folklorist. I was more interested in playing than recording, at that time. I continued as a musician for many years and finally when all of that came to a halt, and my drug use ended, I decided to stay out of the music business for a while. Then in 1987, there was a blues exhibit at UT and they highlighted the Grey Ghost and mistakenly said that he was dead. That pricked my conscience and I looked him up. It took me a month of going by his house, everyday, to talk him into seeing the exhibit. To get rid of me, he consented to go and when he saw that there was all this information on his music, he was really pleased to see that his music was valued.