{"id":288520,"date":"2025-10-09T06:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T06:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/288520\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T06:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T06:09:15","slug":"speedy-sparks-bassist-for-texas-tornados-other-san-antonio-music-icons-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/288520\/","title":{"rendered":"Speedy Sparks, bassist for Texas Tornados, other San Antonio music icons, has died"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SpeedySpeedy Sparks (second from left in the rear) performed with legendary musicians, including the Texas Tornados. Credit: Courtesy Photo \/ Texas Tornados<\/p>\n

Speedy Sparks, a bassist who played with Lone Star State music icons including Doug Sahm, Joe King Carrasco and the Texas Tornados, has died at age 79, according to friends and associates. <\/p>\n

Though he primarily worked out of Austin, Sparks first made his mark in San Antonio, recording with new-wave wild man Carrasco at the West Side\u2019s Zaz Studios. That recording, eventually released as Carrasco\u2019s album Tex-Mex Rock & Roll, pulled together some of the city\u2019s finest players, including the West Side Horns, and became a surprise\u00a0UK hit.<\/p>\n

Sparks later joined a reformed Sir Douglas Quintet for the Border Wave LP, produced by San Antonio native Cassell Webb and Ramones producer Craig Leon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From there, Sparks became Sahm\u2019s go-to bassist and in 1989 joined the Texas Tornados when Sahm formed that supergroup with a Mount Rushmore of South Texas musicians, including Augie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez and Freddy Fender<\/p>\n

Following the Tornados\u2019 explosive success, Sparks stayed on the Austin scene, performing multiple gigs weekly with local\u00a0acts and cementing his rep as of the city\u2019s most quietly accomplished musicians.\u00a0 His credits also including working with Velvet Underground founder Sterling Morrison, a Texas transplant. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstated, grooveful, foundational \u2014 elevating,\u201d\u00a0Jeff Smith of San Antonio\u2019s Saustex Records wrote in a Facebook\u00a0tribute to Sparks.\u00a0\u201cSpeedy knew how to listen and how to lay it down in the mode of Jimmy Reed style blues \u2014 deceptively melodic and shaded with nuance. If someone were to ask me to point to anyone I think\/thought was a great bass player, Speedy would be at the top of my list. He intuitively knew exactly what and how much to play no matter the style of the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

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This article appears in Oct. 2-15<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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