In Memoriam: Chris Gaffney

The Hacienda Brothers: Cowboys to Girls

The Hacienda Brothers: Gone

[purchase]

Chris Gaffney of The Hacienda Brothers passed away in April of this year following a brief bout with liver cancer. He was 57.

I was first introduced to Chris Gaffney through his work as a member of Dave Alivn's band The Guilty Men around the time Alvin released his Ashgrove album in 2004. I really became a fan of Gaffney through his work with The Hacienda Brothers and their self-titled debut album in 2005. Gaffney's voice was a key element to the band's classic brand of R&B flavored country music.

During his illness, I followed news of his condition through the website www.helpgaff.com and was always touched by the personal messages of love and hope left for Chris by his family and friends. A great obituary can be found here from austin360.com. Gaffney's best friend Dave Alvin has a few videos of he and Gaff playing together on his website (scroll down). YepRoc Records will release a Chris Gaffney tribute album in March with contributions from Joe Ely, Dave Alvin, Los Lobos, Calexico, James McMurtry, Alejandro Escovedo, Dan Penn, and many, many others.

The two tracks here both come from a live Hacienda Brothers CD called Music for Ranch & Town that is only available through the band's website.