Texas Lowlands

Check out this great new CD of Texas Polish Polka music by Houston based fiddler Brian Marshall.

     

Several small towns in Texas -- New Waverly, Chappel Hill and Bremond, to name a few -- were settled by Poles that immigrated to the Lone Star State in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. As a result, these communities have fostered a style of music that connects them over time and space to the villages of Poland. This down-home style utilizes the instruments that were readily available on the rural American landscape at the time -- violin, bass, guitar and accordion but has largely avoided the brass sound that became popular among American Poles in more northern urban areas. To this day, the western swing-tinged polkas and obereks performed by Texas Poles still can be heard at weddings, family reunions and other community events.

A fourth generation musician of Polish ancestry, Brian Marshall (nee Marszalek) started playing music at the age of 7 and he likely learned his first Polish tune at 8. Brian's grandfather was a fiddler, from Bremond, Texas the single largest Polish settlement in the state until the Second World War and from him Brian learned a true affection for the old music. As a teenager, Brian played in a country band that would flip to its Polish set list for the right community events. By his late 20s Brian realized an entire generation of Texas Polish musicians were disappearing and their repertoires with them. In response, he started recording himself and many of the older players to ensure that the music was not lost. His passion for this effort has resulted in two acclaimed and currently available recording projects, the self-produced "Polish Roots" and "Texas Kapela", on Arhoolie Records.