Alger "Texas" Alexander
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Alger "Texas" Alexander (September 12, 1900 - April 16, 1954) was a Blues singer from Jewett, Texas.
A short man with a big, deep voice, Alexander started his career performing on the streets and at local parties and picnics in the Brazos River bottomlands, where he sometimes worked with Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1927 he began a recording career that continued into the 1930s, recording sides for the Okeh and Vocalion labels in New York City, San Antonio, and Fort Worth.
Alexander didn't play an instrument himself, and over the years he worked with a number of other fine musicians, including King Oliver, Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks, and his cousin Lightnin' Hopkins. He sang in the free rhythm of work songs, such as the migrant cotton pickers he performed for might have sung, which posed a challenge for those accompanying him.
In 1939, Alexander murdered his wife, resulting in a stay in the state penitentiary in Paris Texas from 1940 to 1945. After that he returned to performing and recording before dying of syphilis in 1954.
