Augie Meyers
By 
The great Texas organist and accordionist died this weekend:
Born in San Antonio in May 1940, Meyers rose to prominence in the 1960s as a founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet alongside longtime friend Doug Sahm. The band gained national attention during the British Invasion era, when many listeners mistakenly believed the Texas group was from England.
“Everybody thought they were from Britain,” recalled Henry Pena. “When they got there, they saw a bunch of kids from Texas and said, ‘What’s going on here?’ Well, we’re here already, you might as well let us play.”
Meyers became widely recognized for his signature use of the Vox Continental organ and his ability to blend rock, conjunto and Tex-Mex influences into a sound that became uniquely tied to South Texas.
With the Sir Douglas Quintet, Meyers helped produce several enduring hits, including “Mendocino,” “Velma from Selma,” “Nuevo Laredo” and the iconic, “(Hey Baby) Qué Pasó.”
“San Antonio is missing him now,” Pena said. “We’ve got to pay homage to him because he was a hero for all of us here in the music industry – a big contributor.”
In the 1990s, Meyers co-founded the Grammy-winning supergroup Texas Tornados with Tex-Mex stars Flaco Jiménez and Freddy Fender, further cementing his legacy in the genre.
Accordionist Santiago Jiménez Jr., brother of Flaco Jiménez, remembered Meyers as both a gifted musician and a generous friend.
“We lost a friend, a musician, an icon,” Jiménez said.
Friends and colleagues also described Meyers as humble despite his fame. Treviño said the musician was frequently recognized in public but never turned away fans.
In addition to his two great bands, he was also a signature instrumentalist on Dylan’s two greatest post-1980 albums. R.I.P.