Bob Wills... No Faded Memories
Written: Oct 07 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Original Western Swing Music
Cons: None
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| slick4591's Full Review: Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys by Bob Wills |
Country music has taken many turns since it’s inception, but none greater than the 1930’s with Bob Wills and his Western Swing style of music. Being a child of the 1950’s, I was born to late in life to be an original Bob Wills fan, but his music found me early in my childhood.
I can remember my father playing the old 33 1/3’s and reminiscing of the “old days” while listening to Bob Wills music. I have apparently turned into my father after inheriting an old wind up 78 rpm Victrola and a few original Bob Wills records. Bob’s music has followed me through the years and here are some facts I have picked up along they way.
Bob Wills was born James Robert (Jim Rob) Wills on March 6, 1905 in the panhandle of Texas. His father was a championship fiddler who had aspirations of Bob also playing a fiddle and so it was. By the age of ten Bob was an accomplished guitar and mandolin player and would even stand in for his father playing the fiddle when the need arose.
Bob left home at the age of 16 and he scratched out a living however he could. Always keeping his fiddle close he managed to build a band and played his music at private parties, ranch dances and dance halls. His style of music was becoming popular because the beat was enjoyable and easy to dance to.
His break came in 1931 when his band, sponsored by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company, entertained on a daily radio show advertising the mill’s Light Crust Flour. Hence, the birth of Bob’s second most popular band The Light Crust Doughboys. This fame only lasted about a year because Bob was driven from Texas by W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel, the operator of the Burrus Mill and later a Governor of Texas.
This landed Bob in Tulsa, Oklahoma and he began putting together his most popular band the Texas Playboys. With the Texas Playboys Bob refined his music and blended a mix of jazz, blues, swing, folk fiddle and string band elements to refine his Western Swing sound. This band is responsible for recording such masterpieces as Faded Love, San Antonio Rose, Take Me Back to Tulsa, Bubbles in My Beer and Right or Wrong.
The Texas Playboys had many artists in and out of the band over the years and two notables were Tommy Duncan (vocalist) and Leon McAuliffe (steel guitar). There has been as many as twenty-two pieces in the band and it is said that Bob hired over 600 musicians through the years.
In the early 1950’s Western Swing began to decline and gathered dust on radio station shelves for the next 20 years until a new generation of fans revitalized the music in the early 1970’s. In total, Bob has sold over twenty million records. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on October 18, 1968 and is one of only two performers who have been voted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the other is Gene Autry.
Bob’s last performance came from his wheel chair when he led the band while recording his last album suitably titled Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, For the Last Time. Bob Wills died May 13, 1975, leaving us with his special brand of music and knowing that he is truly The King of Western Swing.
Recommended:
Yes
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slick4591
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Member: Dennis Hughes
Location: Farmersville,Texas
Reviews written: 40
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BBQ and fine dining caterer.
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