Read My Lips

Biography

Lou Ann Barton (born in Fort Worth, TX, on 17 February 1954) is an American blues singer based in Austin, TX, since the 1970s. Prior to that, she was a member of W.C. Clark Blues Revue, Double Trouble, and Roomful of Blues. Although she doesn't tour nearly as much as she probably could, Austin-based vocalist Barton is one of the finest purveyors of raw, unadulterated roadhouse blues. Like Delbert McClinton, she can belt out a lyric so that she can be heard over a two-guitar band with horns. She...

Lou Ann Barton (born in Fort Worth, TX, on 17 February 1954) is an American blues singer based in Austin, TX, since the 1970s. Prior to that, she was a member of W.C. Clark Blues Revue, Double Trouble, and Roomful of Blues.

Although she doesn't tour nearly as much as she probably could, Austin-based vocalist Barton is one of the finest purveyors of raw, unadulterated roadhouse blues. Like Delbert McClinton, she can belt out a lyric so that she can be heard over a two-guitar band with horns. She is a veteran of thousands of dance hall and club shows all over Texas.

In 1975, she joined up with W.C. Clark to form his W.C. Clark Blues Revue. In late September 1977, Barton joined a new Austin blues group Triple Threat Revue, with Stevie Ray Vaughan and W.C. Clark. It was renamed Double Trouble when Clark left in May 1978, and Barton continued with Double Trouble until November 1979. In the early 1980s, she did a stint with the jump blues band Roomful of Blues. It was there that she was spotted by famed record producer Jerry Wexler.

Although she has a few great recordings out, notably Old Enough (1982, Asylum Records), produced by Jerry Wexler and Glenn Frey, Barton has to be seen live to be fully appreciated. She belts out her lyrics in a twangy voice so full of Texas that you can smell the barbecue sauce. She swaggers confidently about the stage, casually tossing her cigarette to the floor as the band kicks in on its first number. The grace, poise and confidence she projects on stage is part of a long tradition for women blues singers.

Barton has several other excellent albums out on the Austin-based Antone's Records, Read My Lips (1989) and her cooperative effort with fellow Texas blues women Marcia Ball and Angela Strehli, Dreams Come True (1990). Old Enough was reissued on compact disc in 1992 on the Antone's label.

As of 2010, she was touring with Jimmie Vaughan and the Tilt-a-Whirl Band. Through 2018 Barton continued to perform in Austin, and elsewhere, sometimes with Derek O'Brien, Denny Freeman, Scott Nelson, & Jay Moeller, sometimes with Sue Foley. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.