Biography of Joe Tex

An oddball figure, Tex came to soul music via Nashville after a decade covering all the bases from sappy pop to ersatz Little Richard. His mentor, country-music publisher Buddy Killen, founded Dial Records specifically to record him. Tex had a preachy, didactic style that was a virtual parody of Black ministers. His records were sermonettes on various subjects that generally got back to sex and relationships at some point. When his homespun homilies worked, they worked marvellously ("Hold What You Got," "I Want to Do Everything for You," "Buying a Book," etc.) Unfortunately, it was a style that eventually tended toward self-parody and his work cannot be indiscrimately recommended. At his best, though, Tex was a true eccentric with a completely different slant on the music and concerns of the day. ~ Colin Escott