Shawn Sahm gets by with a little help from his friends

Texas Tornados founder Doug Sahm was a legendary free spirit. His son, musician Shawn Sahm, not so much.

“I’m the realist,” said Sahm, 53.

He’s the homebody, iron-fist-in-the-velvet-glove keeper of the flame, protector of the Doug Sahm and Texas Tornados legacy and brand. He was in his 30s when his dad died of a heart attack at 58 while in Taos, New Mexico, in November 1999. It began then.

And it will continue Saturday at a Cinco de Mayo gig at Gruene Hall with his new band, Shawn Sahm & Friends, which will mostly be playing the country and Tex-Mex sounds his dad loved.

It’s an impressive crew that includes musicians Charlie Sexton, John Jorgenson, Joe King Carrasco, Bobby Flores, Dwayne Verhayden, Tom Kenny, Freddie Krc and Neal Walker.

Doug Sahm, who began his career as “Little Doug” in the 1940s, has been hailed as a pivotal character in Texas music. He shaped San Antonio’s R&B and doo-wop scene in the ’50s, partied with Bob Dylan and Brian Jones in the ’60s when he fronted the Sir Douglas Quintet, and had a major hand in both Tex-Mex rock ’n’ roll and what became outlaw country.

He is among those being celebrated at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s much-anticipated exhibition “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s,” which opens May 25 in Nashville. His steel guitar and Fender Telecaster will be on display.

As influential a musician as he was, Sahm also was a hot mess when it came to his business affairs and personal relations. It fell to his older son to untangle it all.

“When my dad passed away, it was on me,” Shawn Sahm said while thumbing through a jumble of his dad’s old contracts, love letters, hats, childhood baseball glove, “Little Doug” 78s, handmade outfits, photos, lyrics and personal notes stored at his Boerne-area home.

It was an admittedly complicated relationship for the guitarist and songwriter, who toured with his dad and who fronts the 2.0 version of the Texas Tornados. Few artists have been so consumed by, and intertwined with, the legacy of a famous parent. Lisa Minnelli, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Lisa Marie Presley come to mind.

It would make for a fascinating song cycle should the younger Sahm, who sounds just like his father, ever put his deepest, conflicted feelings about his dad to music.

“I wish he would go deep,” said music journalist and documentary filmmaker Joe Nick Patoski, who has known Shawn since he was a kid and applauds him easing out from under Doug’s shadow. “Shawn is becoming his own man.”

For now, however, Shawn Sahm is “just exploring” life beyond the Texas Tornados. He says the band is on hiatus, but its presence may well be felt Saturday.

Envisioned as a Tex-Mex party and Doug Sahm tribute, with Flaco Jimenez protégé Verhayden on button accordion, the performance will veer into Texas Tornados territory.

“It’s definitely a fresh take on Doug,” said Carrasco, who last played with Shawn Sahm & Friends at the Steamboat Springs Musicfest in January. “And it works.”

“I’ll do my ‘96 Tears’ and ‘Wooly Bully’ thing,” he added.

“The live shows are always about flying the family flag,” Sahm said. “It’s important to keep his groove alive.”

The future of the Tornados isn’t clear. While Sahm pursues his new project, the last surviving Texas Tornados, Augie Meyers and Jimenez, are planning shows together.

“I’ve got my name. Augie’s got his,” Jimenez said. “We just want to make some music.”

They also are freelancing with Los TexManiacs and will take part in a Cinco de Mayo show at Paper Tiger with D.T. Buffkin and Garrett T. Capps.

No Tornados concerts are currently booked. Privately, both Meyers and Jimenez say the Tornados — never a drama-free zone — are probably over.

Sahm, who books the act, is not so hasty. “Never say never,” he said.

One thing is clear. Shawn Sahm has his daddy’s genes and moves. Just ask uncle Augie.

“Onstage, sometimes the hair on the back of my neck would rise when Shawn was singing Doug’s songs,” Meyers said. “That’s how spooky it was.”