Top Texas Drummer Ernie Durawa Turns 80

Future's So Bright: Ernie Durawa (Photo by Dave Pedley)

"Oh, man, the big 8-0, so I imagine the party at Antone's is going to be pretty crazy, but where do I go from here? My bandmates are hardly moving! I was watching videos of the Tornados playing in Japan and at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and man, we were kings of the world."

Ernie Durawa shakes his head. Swiveling his drum stool toward mine in the dining room of his South Manchaca home, the jazz percussionist who grew up in a San Antonio conjunto bar glances out the window for delivery of his brand-new book, Ernie Durawa: The Story of a Legendary Texas Drummer – An Autobiography. Pandemically collaborated on alongside Anita Tobin Dunn, the as-told-to tome shuffles through the highs and lows of keeping time for a Texas trifecta of musical pioneers: Delbert McClinton, Doug Sahm, and the Texas Tornados.

"The splitting of the Nashville atom," writes drum authority Hal Blaine in the foreword, "country sounds into pop, sophisticated and beautiful, [went down] and Ernie Durawa's name became synonymous with this new 'Hit Sound' coming out of Texas."

After two big boxes of books arrive, Durawa narrates: "When I came to Austin in 1976, I was literally starving – living on food stamps out in Leander in a little, dinkyass trailer with spiders and scorpions. I told my mom, 'I have to go back to Chicago, because I can't make it in Austin.' Really, Delbert's the one who saved my ass.

"In '77, I was backing Doug at the old Opry House with the bassist from the Flying Burrito Brothers, Chris Ethridge, who told me, 'Delbert's looking for a bass player and drummer. We should go over to Soap Creek and talk to him.' So we go and Delbert invites me up to jam – starting with a shuffle. I love shuffles. After a break, he says, 'You know Ernie, I think we could make each other rich.'"

"Rich" doesn't describe the 1,200-square-foot abode inhabited since 1985 by the Alamo City native, whose birthday bash on the actual day of his 80th slingshot around the sun doubles as a benefit for Austin nonprofit HOME: Housing Opportunities for Musicians & Entertainers. Drum kit in the guest bedroom where Woodstock fusion guitar scion Murali Coryell sleeps before the duo's local shows, the house manifests its own hall of fame nonetheless. John Belushi and Jimmy Kimmel grin from framed backstage photos, and heartfelt thanks from Farrah Fawcett glitters on the piano. Grammy nominations, a governor's decree, and two Austin mayoral proclamations crowd the walls and hall.

On the top shelf of the entertainment unit stretch some 50 CDs, all bearing his beats.

"Nancy Coplin, Marcia Ball, and Carolyn Wonderland put together [HOME], helping musicians like Lavelle White that started the Austin music scene and now need [aid] – groceries, rent. I know some musicians that are really struggling. They have to live together just to survive. When I turned 75, my birthday show benefited HAAM."

Widower since 2006, but father of two, grandfather to one, and great-grandfather to several, Durawa acknowledges outliving loves of a lifetime – wife Ginger Shults, brother from another mother Sahm, Freddy Fender. Yet he looks 60, not knocking on 80.

"I always evolved with the times. I don't want to still be living in the Sixties or Seventies. And I decided a while ago, 'I'm not taking any lame gigs.' I call them wallpaper gigs, because nobody gives a shit. That's why I love my El Mercado gig [Tuesdays at 6:30pm]. It's like a concert every week. People come to listen and they clap after every solo. It's just a tip gig, but I love it so much."

Antone’s