The Bob Bullock Expressway in Laredo, Texas is an outlying segment of Interstate 35.

Robert Douglas Bullock, Sr., known as Bob Bullock (July 10, 1929 – June 18, 1999), was a Democratic politician from Texas, whose career spanned four decades. His service culminated in his term as the 38th Lieutenant Governor of Texas from January 15, 1991 to January 19, 1999 during the terms of Governors Ann W. Richards and George W. Bush.

Political career[link]

Bullock began his career in public service as a member of the Texas House of Representatives in the 1960s. After a stint as an assistant attorney general and in the private practice of law, Bullock returned to public life when he was appointed secretary of state, the state's chief elections and records officer, by Governor Preston Smith. Bullock soon left the post to prepare for a statewide race for state Comptroller in the 1974 Democratic primary. Under Texas law, a secretary of state must resign in order to run for another office, a practice not required in most states and served for the first of four 4-year consecutive terms for sixteen years.

Bullock, before he was widely known, was one of the few Texas Democrats to chastize John Connally for his party switch in 1973.^[1] In 1998, Bullock himself would urge the reelection of a Republican, then-Governor Bush.

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts[link]

In 1973, Bullock first sought the Democratic nomination for comptroller. The octogenarian incumbent, Robert S. Calvert, soon withdrew from the contest when he gauged Bullock's strength. Bullock promised to modernize the office and to collect certain taxes that had been previously gone uncollected for many years. The officials collecting such taxes were known as "Bullock raiders." Bullock was also the first elected state official to adopt an equal opportunity employment program, a policy that Calvert had opposed. Bullock was among the first elected officials to use computer technology in state government to cut costs and improve productivity. He was the winner of numerous national awards for his management skills, including the "Leon Rothenberg Taxpayer Service Award." During his sixteen years in office, Bullock pledged fair but aggressive audits. He made statewide headlines with a long series of "raids" on businesses which had collected state taxes from customers but did not turned them into the state. As an outgrowth of his tax collecting efforts, the term "Bullock's Raiders" entered the Texas government lexicon.

As Comptroller of Public Accounts, his frequent and increasingly accurate forecasts on state finances allowed the legislature to budget more accurately. He also developed a "Taxpayers Bill of Rights" to guarantee fairness, courtesy and common sense. Bullock was re-elected overwhelmingly in 1978, 1982, and 1986 by landslide margins and although Bullock refused to seek the governorship during the 1980s, he saw his eyes on the lieutenant governorship when the longtime incumbent William P. "Bill" Hobby, Jr. of Houston chose not to seek re-election to a sixth term. Bullock quickly announced his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor in September 1987.

Lieutenant Governorship[link]

In 1990, he was easily elected Lieutenant Governor, having defeated the 40-year-old Republican nominee, businessman Robert Mosbacher, Jr., of Houston, the son of the sitting United States Secretary of Commerce Robert Mosbacher. Bullock prevailed, 53 to 44 percent, for the right to succeed the retiring Bill Hobby. Bullock took office on January 15, 1991, when Democrat Ann W. Richards became the state's second female governor. In 1994, Bullock was easily re-elected to a second four-year term as lieutenant governor defeating Republican Harold "Tex" Lezar, 61 to 38 percent. He was inaugurated for his second term on January 17, 1995, while Republican George W. Bush was sworn-in as the 46th Governor of Texas, havin unseated Ann Richards. Bullock did not seek re-election to a third term in 1998, having been succeeded by Republican Agriculture Commissioner (and current Governor) Rick Perry on January 19, 1999.

Serving as Texas' 38th Lieutenant Governor, Bullock favored a hands-on management style that he carried onto the lieutenant governor's office and resulted in numerous achievements as the presiding officer of the Texas Senate.^[2] Bullock overhauled the ethics laws during his first term in an effort to restore public confidence in state government. He created the Texas Performance Review for the State Comptroller to analyze spending at state agencies and recommended cost-saving alternatives. He helped consolidate all environmental agencies into one department in an effort to better serve Texans and protecting the state's natural resources. As the state's second-highest elected statewide officeholder, Bullock aggressively pushed through a constitutional amendment requiring voter approval before a state personal income tax can be enacted and requiring the money be earmarked for education, if voters approve the tax. He led efforts to modernize the Texas tax system and worked on state problems in tort reform, health and juvenile justice. Bullock was instrumental in finding a legislative solution to get Texas out of federal court lawsuits involving prisons and mental health. He was a leader in legislative efforts to revamp the state's educational funding system and ushered through a law that created the state's first comprehensive water conservation and management plan, and promoted establishing a state museum in the Capitol Complex. Lawmakers during the 76th Legislature voted to name the museum after him for his work on the project.

As Lieutenant Governor, he professed a nonpartisan approach to lawmaking, often telling members of the Texas Senate to leave their politics at the door. Bullock and Bush got along well, in part because Bullock got to lead an increasingly Republican legislature to agree to key laws and policies and "when they passed, Bullock and House Speaker Pete Laney allowed Bush to claim some credit."^[2] Bullock unofficially endorsed Republican Governor Bush's presidential campaign even before it got off the ground. At a November 8, 2006, post-election press conference, a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman, who had covered Bush's tenure as governor, asked Bush if he thought then U.S. House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi resembled Bullock. The President replied that the reporter's question was an inside joke. The question was a thinly-veiled reference to the close working relationship, well known in Texas, to have existed between Republican Bush and Democrat Bullock; the reporter apparently was asking whether Bush would be capable of forging a similar bipartisan relationship with the members of the new Democratic legislative majority in the U. S. Congress.

Bullock was renowned for his blunt and sometimes politically incorrect speaking style, but also for his trademark closing line "God bless Texas." A lover of Texas history, he was instrumental in the establishment of the Texas State History Museum, located just to the north of the State Capitol in Austin. Opened to the public on April 21, 2001 (San Jacinto Day) after Bullock's death, it was named in his honor. The second-floor lobby of the museum features a seven-foot-tall bronze statue of Bullock holding a giant gavel, next to a gallery of items and a video from his career in politics.

Personal life[link]

	Law portal
	Texas portal

Bob Bullock grave marker at Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas

Born in Hillsboro in Hill County, Bullock attended Hill College, a junior college. In 1955, he received his bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He obtained a law degree from Baylor University in Waco. His political papers are housed in the Baylor Collection of Political Materials. Bullock also served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. Bullock's adult life was marred by alcoholism and divorce; he had a total of five marriages, although at least one of them was a repeat. He stopped drinking in 1981 and remained active with Alcoholics Anonymous for the remainder of his life. Bullock died in Austin of cancer and is interred there at the Texas State Cemetery.

An Interstate 35 loop in Laredo is named in Bullock's honor. The Laredo Energy Arena is located just off the Bob Bullock Loop.

External links[link]

Bob Bullock Story & Papers from Baylor University

• [1]

Bullock Gravesite at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin

• [2]

Texas State Historical Association Online of Bullock's biography and accomplishments

• [3]

References[link]

v t e Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Texas Governors J. P. Henderson Wood Bell J. W. Henderson Pease Runnels Houston Clark Lubbock Murrah Hamilton Throckmorton Pease Davis Coke Hubbard Roberts Ireland Ross Hogg Culberson Sayers Lanham Campbell Colquitt J. Ferguson Hobby Neff M. Ferguson Moody Sterling M. Ferguson Allred O'Daniel Stevenson Jester Shivers Daniel Connally Smith Briscoe Clements White Clements Richards Bush Perry Lieutenant Governors Horton Greer Henderson Dickson Runnels Lubbock Clark Crockett Stockdale Jones J. W. Flanagan Campbell D. W. Flanagan Fountain Pickett Hubbard Sayers Storey Martin Gibbs Wheeler Pendleton Crane Jester Browning Neal A. B. Davidson Mayes Hobby, Sr. Johnson L. Davidson T. W. Davidson Miller Witt Woodul Stevenson J. L. Smith Shivers Ramsey P. Smith Barnes Hobby, Jr. Bullock Perry Ratliff Dewhurst

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Junior Brown
Junior Brown with his guit-steel at Antone's in Austin, TX (2006)
Background information
Birth name	Jamieson Brown
Born	(1952-06-12) June 12, 1952 (age 60) Kirksville, Indiana, US
Genres	Texas Country, Neotraditional Country, Americana
Occupations	Musician, Singer-songwriter, Actor
Instruments	Electric guitar, lap steel guitar
Labels	Curb, Telarc
Associated acts	Hank Thompson
Website	www.juniorbrown.com
Notable instruments
"Guit-steel" double-neck guitar

Jamieson "Junior" Brown (born June 12, 1952) is an American country guitarist and singer. He has released nine studio albums in his career, and has charted twice on the Billboard country singles charts. Brown's signature instrument is the "guit-steel" double neck guitar, a hybrid of electric guitar and lap steel guitar.

Life and career[link]

Brown was born in Kirksville, Indiana.^[1] He first learned to play piano from his father "before I could talk". His music career began in the 1960s, and he worked through that decade and the next singing and playing pedal steel and guitar for groups such as The Last Mile Ramblers, Dusty Drapes and the Dusters and Asleep at the Wheel while developing his astonishing guitar skills. By the mid-1980s he was teaching guitar at the Hank Thompson School of Country Music at Rogers State University, in Claremore, Oklahoma.

In 1985, Junior invented a double-neck guitar, with some assistance from Michael Stevens.^[2] Junior called the instrument his "guit-steel". When performing, Junior plays the guitar by standing behind it, while it rests on a small podium/music stand. The top neck on the guit-steel is a traditional 6-string guitar, while the lower neck is a full-size lap steel guitar for slide playing. Brown has two guit-steels for recording and live work. The original instrument, dubbed "Old Yeller", has as its standard 6-string guitar portion the neck and pickups from Brown's previous stage guitar, a Fender Bullet. The second guit-steel, named "Big Red", has a neck laser-copied from the Bullet neck, but in addition to electric guitar pickups, both the standard and lap-steel necks use an identical Sho-Bud lap-steel pickup. There is a pocket in the upper bout of the guitar to hold the slide bar when it is not in use.

Brown quickly became a local success in Austin, Texas, as the house band at the Continental Club. His debut album was 1990's 12 Shades of Brown, released by the British Demon Records; it was re-released in 1993 on Curb Records in the U.S., followed by Guit with It. In 1995, Brown released Semi Crazy, and followed it with 1997's Long Walk Back.

In 1996, Brown was featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 performing a cover of their 1962 hit "409". The song features Brown playing guitar and singing lead with the Beach Boys singing harmonies and backing vocals.

Brown appeared in the music video for "Honky Tonk Song" by George Jones in 1996 and also won the CMA Country Music Video of the Year award that year for his video, "My Wife Thinks You're Dead," which featured 6-foot-7-inch Gwendolyn Gillingham.

Brown's music has been showcased on various TV shows and movie soundtracks, including Me, Myself and Irene, SpongeBob SquarePants and the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard remake, in which he also played the narrator.

Although Brown plays traditional country and Hawaiian steel styles, few of his performances will finish without some blues playing and surf-rock instrumentals.

Beginning in August 2006 Brown joined Bob Dylan's third tour of American minor league baseball stadiums.

In April 2008, Brown shot three pilot episodes of a country music program modeled after programs from the early 60s, in which Brown will play with a house band as well as guests as host of the show.^[3]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

Music videos[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Junior Brown web site
• Allmusic

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (August 2010)

Jimmie Vaughan
Vaughan performing in Bowling Green, Kentucky in November 2010.
Background information
Birth name	James Lawrence Vaughan
Born	(1951-03-20) March 20, 1951 (age 61) Dallas, Texas, United States
Genres	Electric blues,[1] blues rock,[1] Texas blues, jazz blues
Occupations	Singer, guitarist
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Epic, Shout! Factory
Associated acts	Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Omar Kent Dykes
Notable instruments
Gretsch G400JV Signature guitar, Fender Signature Stratocaster

James Lawrence "Jimmie" Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer from Dallas, Texas, United States.^[1] He is the older brother of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan.

A significant influence on Jimmie Vaughan's style was Freddie King, who advised him personally; from Albert King and B. B. King; as well as from Johnny "Guitar" Watson.

History[link]

In the late 1960s, Jimmie Vaughan and Paul Ray were playing at an East Austin club when future blues legend^{[citation needed]} and Austin, Texas, native W. C. Clark sat in on bass guitar with the younger Austin locals. Clark was on tour as a member of the R&B Joe Tex Band at the time. After playing the session with Vaughan and Ray, Clark changed his mind about Austin blues having died, and two weeks later he left Joe Tex and moved back to Austin, where he then went on to develop his reputation as the "Godfather of Austin Blues."^[2]

In 1969 in Ft. Worth, Vaughan's band opened for The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Vaughan lent Jimi Hendrix his Vox Wah pedal. Hendrix broke it, and gave Vaughan his touring Wah pedal. In the 1970s Clark formed several Austin bands with various names, which included as members Jimmie Vaughan, Vaughan's brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lou Ann Barton, Billy Gibbons and Angela Strehli.

Jimmie Vaughan developed his own easily recognized personal style. He formed the band The Fabulous Thunderbirds with singer and harpist Kim Wilson, bassist Keith Ferguson, and drummer Mike Buck. (The original Fabulous Thunderbirds were all protégés of Austin, Texas, blues club owner Clifford Antone). The band's first four albums, released between 1979 and 1983, are ranked among the most important 'white blues' recordings. These early albums did not sell well, so the band was left without a recording contract for a couple of years (during the time when Vaughan's younger brother achieved commercial success).

The Fabulous Thunderbirds got a new contract in 1986, and made several albums with a more commercially popular sound and production style. Vaughan left the band in 1989, and made his first — and last — "duo album," Family Style, with his younger brother, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Before the album's release, Stevie Ray died in a helicopter crash in East Troy, Wisconsin, on August 27, 1990. The album was released a few days after the tragic accident. The artist listed on the album was "The Vaughan Brothers." The album was light, blues-influenced rock, with Jimmie Vaughan singing on several tracks.

Vaughan released his first solo album Strange Pleasure in 1994. The album contained a song "Six Strings Down" that was dedicated to the memory of his brother. He has continued his solo career since then. Vaughan's solo albums contain mostly blues-rock material that he writes himself. He made a special guest appearance on Bo Diddley's 1996 album A Man Amongst Men, playing guitar on the tracks "He's Got A Key" and "Coatimundi." In 2001, Vaughan paid an installment on his (and the Fabulous Thunderbirds') debt to harmonica swamp blues when he contributed guitar to the Lazy Lester album Blues Stop Knockin.'

Since 1997 Fender has produced a Jimmie Vaughan Tex-Mex Stratocaster.

Vaughan appeared in the 1998 released film Blues Brothers 2000 as a member of the fictional "Louisiana Gator Boys" blues band led by B.B. King.

Vaughan is close friends with Dennis Quaid. They worked together on the film Great Balls of Fire!

Vaughan was the third opening act for most of the dates of Bob Dylan's summer 2006 tour, preceded by Elana James and the Continental Two and Junior Brown.

Vaughan loves classic and custom cars, and is an avid car collector. Vaughan has had many of his customs and hot rods displayed in museums, as well as featured in rodding and custom magazines.^[3]

Awards[link]

Grammys

• 1990 Contemporary Blues Recording: Family Style with Stevie Ray Vaughan
• 1990 Rock Instrumental Performance: "D/FW" with Stevie Ray Vaughan
• 1996 Rock Instrumental Performance: "SRV Shuffle" with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, and Art Neville
• 2001 Traditional Blues Album: Do You Get the Blues?

Discography[link]

With Fabulous Thunderbirds

• The Fabulous Thunderbirds (1979)
• What's the Word (1980)
• Butt Rockin' (1981)
• T-Bird Rhythm (1982)
• Tuff Enuff (1986)
• Hot Number (1987)
• Powerful Stuff (1989)

Vaughan Brothers

• Family Style (1990)

Solo career

• Strange Pleasure (1994)
• Out There (1998)
• Do You Get the Blues? (2001)
• On The Jimmy Reed Highway (2007) with Omar Kent Dykes
• Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites (2010)
• Plays More Blues, Ballads & Favorites (2011)

Recent activities[link]

Vaughan continues to perform. He has also been politically active to some degree. He endorsed Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul in 2008 and played before one of Paul's speeches at the University of Texas.^[4] Vaughan also opened for Ron Paul's keynote address at the Rally For The Republic in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 2, 2008. Vaughan appeared with Boz Scaggs & The Blue Velvet Band at the 2009 Hardly Strictly Blugrass Festival in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Shout! Factory released Jimmie Vaughan's first new album in nine years, "Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites," on July 6, 2010.

Vaughan played with Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, BB King, Hubert Sumlin, and others during the 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival.^[5]

Vaughan performed on the episode of the TBS cable television show Conan that aired December 22, 2010.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Jimmie Vaughan Tex-Mex Fender Stratocaster.

Redd Volkaert (born 1958) was a successor to Roy Nichols in Merle Haggard's backing band, and is "among the country’s top Telecaster guitar slingers.".^[1] Volkaert won a 2009 Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Redd Volkaert's official website
• Guitarist Redd Volkaert Talks About Telecasters, Austin and Chihuahuas

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