Ernie Mae Miller is not only one of Austin's most enduring musical treasures, but also a living embodiment of the River City's African American cultural history. Born in her grandparents' house in 1927, Ernie Mae began her musical training at the tender age of six. "My teacher would play the song and give me the music...and I'd learn some of it and play the rest of it the way I wanted. My teacher told us , 'She'll never be a concert pianist, but she might play in a barroom.'"

After sojourns in the band at the old Anderson High School -- named after her grandfather -- and the Prairie View All-Girl Orchestra (where she played baritone sax), Ernie Mae did just that, playing her first cocktail piano gig at Dinty Moore's on West 6th Street in 1949. "It was just a long room with a piano way back at the end," Ernie Mae recalls. "Every night a little rat would come out and sit on top of the piano and cross his legs."

After that, Ernie Mae moved through the circuit of Austin's 1950s nightspots -- the Flamingo Lounge on Lake Austin Boulevard, the Jade Room on San Jacinto, the Jesters Club and the Old New Orleans (where her audience included a young Ann Richards), and the Longhorn Bar and Grill. "One night I was singing 'Stormy Weather,' and somebody took a cherry out of their drink and tossed it on stage, and it landed right in my mouth. And everybody just fell off their stools laughing."

From the nightclub scene, Ernie Mae moved into her latter-day niche as queen of society piano, with residencies at most every hotel in town -- the Driskill, the Bradford, the Hyatt Regency, the Stouffer, and most recently the Omni. Interspersed with these gigs are her performances as a favorite of the Austin party circuit. "I guess because I'm still playing the music that was around in my era...most of the people who are able to have the big parties (governors, senators, Lady Bird, et al) like that type of music because that's their age now. They like to hear the things they understand."

Ernie Mae may hold the title as Austin's first piano bar player. "For a while I was the only cocktail pianist around here...and certainly the only girl. Now, a lot of people come up and ask me 'Are you Margaret?' And a lot of folks come up to her [Margaret Miller] and ask 'Are you Ernie Mae?'"

-- Mike Clark-Madison and Sandra Beckmeier