Legends Of Country Music - Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys CD

 Keep 'em coming
It don't matter who's in Nashville, Bob Wills is still the KING! Make you laugh, make you cry, Good, better, best!
Submitted by tattoobaby58 (south Louisiana) 
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 Essential!
This is a fabulous package: beautifully designed,excellent liner notes from Wills' authority Rich Kienzle, and more than 100 of the finest Western Swing tracks. This is what happens when a major label takes the time to do it right.
Submitted by Mark (Toronto, Canada) 
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 A moving tribute to a great musician
Born to a poor family in Limestone County, Texas, Bob Wills (the undisputed “King of Western Swing”) has become synonymous with that style of music. In 2006, this 4-disc release in Columbia “Legends of Country Music” series is a great way to celebrate his centennial! Wills had learned to play the fiddle by age ten. By the late 1920s, he and Herman Arnspiger were performing in the Fort Worth area as The Wills Fiddle Band. In 1931, they were joined by Milton & Durwood Brown and called themselves Aladdin’s Laddies. Disc #1 in this set begins in 1932 with recordings of The Light Crust Doughboys, the band formed after the Light Crust Flour Co. hired the band for radio broadcasts. Because of a trademark, Victor Records called them The Fort Worth Doughboys. By 1934, Wills had formed his own band, moved to Tulsa, and signed with Okeh Records. Disc #2 covers 1937-1940, and disc #3 spans 1941-45. Disc #4 begins with 1946 and ends with Bob Wills’ final session (1973 in Dallas). It’s important for such compilations to include a musician’s big hits, as well as a sampling of their entire repertoire and influential pieces. We hear many favorites like “Big Ball in Cowtown,” “Bubbles In My Beer,” “Roly Poly,” “Take Me Back to Tulsa” and “Stay A Little Longer.” “San Antonio Rose” and “New San Antonio Rose” are both included, the former written in just 30 minutes when Wills needed another number at a recording session. Pandhandle Rag was a top ten hit in 1949. We’re given the 1969 version here. Leon McAuliffe’s influential “Steel Guitar Rag” appears on disc #1. In the 1960s, Wills made the charts with “Shape Up or Ship Out” and “I Don’t Love Nobody.” Unfortunately, these songs are not provided. And how in the heck could they not have included one of my favorites, “Across the Alley from the Alamo”? Oh well … can’t have everything. With 105 tracks in total, this compilation certainly tells the musical story with both old-time fiddling (e.g. Osage Stomp) and country-styled jazz (e.g. Trouble in Mind, Basin Street Blues) well represented. But don’t forget about the times that Bob Wills lived and played his music in, just after the Depression. Many of his fans were poor, the working folks in need of a charismatic performer to look up to. Somewhat of a folk hero, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys traveled the backroads to rural areas in a large bus with a big longhorn steer head on the front. With heavy emphasis on the backbeat and guitar chords played over a moving bass line, the music was infectious an designed for dancing. And then there were the great lyrics, often sung by the great Tommy Duncan. Excellent notes, in a booklet with many excellent historic photographs, are an added bonus in this legends series. All I can say, is that it’s a moving tribute to a great musician. So, to quote Bob Wills, “Aaaaa-haaaa!” (Joe Ross)
Submitted by Joe Ross (Roseburg, OR.)
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 True Western Swing Excellence !!!!!
One needn't go any farther if your a new, or a longtime listener of the great Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys. This is as essential a collection of some of their greatest recordings that I've seen in quite a while. Bob had an elite bunch of fine musicians to ever grace a stage. They took several different types of music and melded them into a sound to which the likes have never been heard since. Now of course some will say that there's Asleep At The Wheel out there, but just ask Mr. Ray Benson of AATW, who is their main swing influence and no doubt he'll say Bob Wills, bar-none hands down. You want a fine collection to listen to while driving on a trip, slide one of these cds into your player and most likely you'll have to stop on the side of the road and two-step a bit. Yuk yuk. I highly recommend this to anyone for their music collection. No regrets guaranteed. Enjoy.
Submitted by Cody Behr (Okieland, USA)
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