Memorial Program for Clifford Antone

Antone was noted as founder of the internationally known nightclub Antone's, best known as Austin's Home of the Blues. Clifford Antone opened the original club July 15, 1975 at 6th and Brazos in an old furniture warehouse with zydeco king Clifton Chenier. Bringing in the blues and soul legends of the day such as Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon, John Lee Hooker, Fats Domino, Sunnyland Slim, Hubert Sumlin, Eddie Taylor, Walter "Shakey" Horton, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Pinetop Perkins, Albert King, James Cotton, Calvin Jones, Willie "Big Eye" Smith, Bobby Blue Bland, and B.B. King made Antone's the premier blues club in Texas. He furthered the career of regional R&B artists such as Albert Collins, Barbara Lynn, Clifton Chenier, Miss Lavelle White, and Lazy Lester. Yet what truly made Antone's Austin's Home of the Blues was its cultivation of local talent such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Jimmie Vaughan, Angela Strehli, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Derek O'Brien, Lou Ann Barton, Guy Forsyth, Doyle Bramhall II, Sue Foley, Bob Schneider, and Charlie Sexton. He created the "Help Clifford Help Kids" fundraiser for American Youthworks in 2000 and was among the first to respond to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 with his all-star benefit, Neighbors in Need. He loved teaching music at the University of Texas in Austin and at Texas State University in San Marcos.