Chris Duarte

There’s much musical lore about the Lone Star State, but what is it about San Antonio, Texas? There are many songs about Houston and Dallas, but relatively few regarding San Antonio, considering the town’s alumni include Sir Doug Sahm, the Butthole Surfers, and Carol Burnett. (Is it the water?) Add to that list Chris Duarte, an electric guitar ace in the same illustrious lineage as fellow-state stringbenders Johnny Winter and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Like them, he’s paid his road dues with the blues but is no hardcore traditionalist. Duarte played in an Austin jazz combo and isn’t shy about rocking out, covering Dylan (“One More Cup of Coffee,” an inspired choice), or letting loose the lightning of a Jimi Hendrix-like cascading catharsis. Duarte values the blues (and its bastard offspring, rock ‘n’ roll) too much to treat them with stuffy, museum-like “reverence.”