Performer: Bob Wills
Title: King Of Western Swing / Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys
Released: 1983
Style: Country
Rating: 4.6
Votes: 577
Other formats: AU DMF MPC AHX WAV RA MOD
It was released in March 2015 under Proper Records. The album debuted on the Top Country Albums chart at No. 14 and No. 187 on the Billboard 200, selling 3,900 for the week in the US. It rose to No. 11 on the Top Country Albums chart in its third week, selling 8,600 in three weeks
JSP's outstanding four-CD Bob Wills anthology consists of 100 classic Western swing performances recorded between September 1935 and April 1940 in Dallas, Fort Worth, Chicago, and Saginaw. Almost all of these 78-rpm records came out under the name of the Texas Playboys; the only exceptions are two fiddle and guitar duets by Bob Wills and Sleepy Johnson and a pair of early ditties by the Fort Worth Doughboys. Wills created a hybrid genre using Afro-American jazz and blues and his own home-grown brand of Western country music, beautifully tempered with melodies he learned from the Mexican population in Texas.
Bob Wills (James Robert Wills, March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and big band leader. Considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western swing, he was universally known as the King of Western Swing. Wills formed several bands and played radio stations around the South and West until he formed the Texas Playboys in 1934 with Wills on fiddle, Tommy Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass.
Style: Country, Western Swing. 1. –Asleep At The Wheel With Leon Rausch. Intro: Texas Playboys Theme. 2. –Asleep At The Wheel With Amos Lee. I Hear Ya Talkin'. Bob Wills Is Still The King. Licensed To – Proper Music Publishing Limited. Recorded At – Bismeaux Studios.
As singer, fiddler, and bandleader of the Texas Playboys, Bob Wills played the same fatherly role to western swing that Bill Monroe did to bluegrass. No one is sure if he invented the music itself, but it's clear that the recordings of his Texas Playboys have since come to define the genre. As a musical hybrid, western swing introduced blues and country music to big band jazz and swing, polishing the results to achieve an urban sophistication necessary for broad appeal. The King of Western Swing is a fine overview of Wills' first decade as a recording artist. In between, Wills and his 13- to 18-piece band swing through some of their most popular songs. Early recordings drew most heavily from country and blues. In the tradition that brought this rural music into the city in refined form, the Texas Playboys recorded sweet-coated material like "Never No More Hard Times Blues," "Fan It," and "Sugar Blues.
Album · 2015 · 22 Songs. Bob Wills Is Still the King (with Shooter Jennings, Randy Rogers & Reckless Kelly). 22 Songs, 1 Hour 10 Minutes.
Bob Wills 1932-1947 - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 10 - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. The King Of Western Swing, CD A - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. He's A Ding Dong Daddy! - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. The King Of Western Swing, CD C - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys.
Ever since 1970, when Benson formed the now Austin, Texas-based group in Paw, Paw, Virginia, it’s preserved the Western Swing tradition of Bob Wills. This latest recording is the nine-time Grammy Award winning group’s third tribute to Wills. But don’t let all the fancy, arena-filling names fool you into thinking that the music is anything but Western Swing at its finest. It’s not a stretch to hear Merle Haggard’s distinctive vocals wrap smoothly around those of Asleep at the Wheel’s Emily Gimble on ‘Keeper of My Heart.
A1 | San Antonio Rose |
A2 | Memphis |
A3 | Let's Be Sure We Know |
A4 | Eight'r From Decatur |
A5 | Faded Love |
A6 | Comanche Hit And Run |
A7 | Sugarfoot Rag |
A8 | I Wish I Felt This Way At Home |
A9 | Looking Over My Shoulder |
A10 | I Needed You |
A11 | Big Beaver |
A12 | Somewhere South Of San Antone |
B1 | Orange Blossom Special |
B2 | Lone Star Rag |
B3 | New Faded Love |
B4 | Toodleumbo |
B5 | Betty's Wlatz |
B6 | With Tears In My Eyes |
B7 | An Old Flame |
B8 | Wait'll You''ll See |
B9 | Texas Two-Step |
B10 | La Golonrina (The Swallow) |
B11 | Will's Breakdown |
B12 | Bob's Breakdown |