Wealthy Texans

The Wealthy Texans were a long-running, eccentric Sheffield underground band active from the early 1980s into the 1990s. They were closely connected with the city's experimental, punk and alternative scene and had a deliberately loose, changing line-up rather than a fixed conventional band.

Driven by the late Martin Lilleker's love of the Fall, there was no single definitive Wealthy Texans line-up. his book Beats Working For A Living records numerous other musicians passing through the group during the 1980s and 1990s, including Tracey "George" Sandford, Jack Radford, Gil Gilfillan, Ian Kullman, Karl Ampofo, Alan Cole, Mal Veale and Adam Barnes, among others.

The surviving recordings give a good idea of their rather unusual repertoire. Mason-Texan Line 1986 includes:

• "Living in a Box (In Gleadless)"
• "(Leaning On A) Swing Door"
• "(There's A) Storm Brewing"
• "Best Holiday (I Ever Had)"

Their "Living in a Box (In Gleadless)" appeared on the 1987 Dolebusters compilation See You Later, Agitator! They also appeared on Company Classics compilation cassette released in the early 1980s with a track called "Cattle". They released a CD called The Joy of Tex in 1995, on Nether Edge Records.