Texas music legend Augie Meyers, founding keyboardist of the popular Tex-Mex bands Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados, has died at age 85. Meyers passing was announced on his official Facebook page.
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According to the message, he “passed away peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, March 7th … with his wife Sara at his side.”
The note added, “A memorial service for the public will be announced soon. The family thanks all of Augie’s friends and fans for their prayers during this time.”
The San Antonio-born Meyers began playing with his childhood friend and longtime collaborator Doug Sahm in the 1950s. In the early 1960s, they co-founded the Sir Douglas Quintet. Fronted by Sahm, the band featured Meyers’ Vox organ is a key element of its sound.
The Sir Douglas Quintet scored its biggest hit in 1965 with the Sahm-penned garage-rock classic “She’s About A Mover.” The song peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band also had Top-40 hits with “The Rains Came” in 1966 and “Mendocino” in 1968.
After the group broke up in 1972, Meyers and Sahm continued throughout the 1970s.
In 1989, Meyers and Sahm formed the Tex-Mex supergroup Texas Tornados with country and Tejano singer Freddy Fender and conjunto accordion legend Flaco Jiménez.
The band’s self-titled debut album was released in both English and Spanish versions in 1990. The Texas Tornados song “(Hey Baby) Que Paso,” which Meyers co-wrote, is known as the national anthem of San Antonio. In 1991, the group won a Grammy in the Best Mexican-American Performance category for the song “Soy de San Luis.”
Meyers’ Session Work, Later Career, and More
Meyers also lent his signature keyboard sound to recordings by many famous artists. Among them were Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Tom Waits, Jerry Lee Lewis, Townes Van Zandt, Raul Malo, and Tom Jones.
He was featured prominently on two Dylan albums, 1997’s Time Out Of Mind and 2001’s Love And Theft. Both won Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Folk Album, while Time Out Of Mind also won the Album of the Year prize.
Meyers also released many solo albums throughout his career. He continued playing in The Texas Tornados with various other musicians, including Sahm’s son, Shawn.
Augie released his final solo album, Chicken Fried Bacon Grease, in 2024.
Meyers was the last surviving original member of the Texas Tornados. Doug Sahm died of a heart attack in 1999 at age 58. Fender died of cancer in 2006 at age 69. Jiménez passed away in July 2025 at the age of 86.
In an obit posted in the San Antonio Express-News, Texas Tornado drummer Ernie Durawa shared a reflection on Meyers’ personality and musical talent.
“He’s one of a kind,” Durawa said. “He was always full of jokes and just a fun guy to play with.” He added, “Augie had his own style of playing those triplets, the way he attacked those chords.”
(Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns)
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