Bob Wills
Encyclopedia
James Robert Wills better known as Bob Wills, was an American
Western Swing
musician, songwriter
, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.
Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with Western Swing. Although he did not invent the genre single-handedly (he and his old Fort Worth friend, Milton Brown
, co-created Western Swing), Wills truly popularized the genre and changed its rules. In the process, he reinvented the rules of popular music. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys were a dance band with a country string section that played pop songs as if they were jazz numbers. Their music expanded and erased boundaries between genres. It was also some of the most popular music of its era. Throughout the '40s, the band was one of the most popular groups in the country and the musicians in the Playboys were among the finest of their era. As the popularity of Western Swing declined, so did Wills' popularity, but his influence is immeasurable. From the first honky tonkers to Western Swing revivalists, generations of country artists owe him a significant debt, as do certain rock and jazz musicians. Wills was a maverick and his spirit infused American popular music of the 20th century with a renegade, virtuosic flair.
Wills was born outside of Kosse, Texas
, in 1905. From his father and grandfather, he learned how to play mandolin, guitar, and eventually fiddle, and he regularly played local dances in his teens. In 1929, he joined a medicine show in Fort Worth, where he played fiddle and did blackface comedy. At one performance, he met guitarist Herman Arnspiger and the duo formed the Wills Fiddle Band. Within a year, they were playing dances and radio stations around Fort Worth. During one of their local dance performances, the pair met a vocalist, Milton Brown, who joined the band. Soon, Brown's guitarist brother Derwood joined the group, as did Clifton "Sleepy" Johnson, a tenor banjo player. The Wills Fiddle Band was soon hired by Fort Worth's Aladdin Lamp Company, and changed their name to the "Aladdin Laddies".
In early 1931, the band landed their own radio show, which was sponsored by the Burris Mill and Elevator Company, the manufacturers of Light Crust Flour. The group rechristened themselves the Light Crust Doughboys
and their show was being broadcast throughout Texas, hosted and organized by W. Lee O'Daniel
, the manager of Burris Mill. By 1932, the band became quite famous playing dances throughout Texas, but there was some trouble behind the scenes; O'Daniel wasn't allowing the band to play at dances, and wanted them to only perform for the radio show. This situation led to the departure of Brown; Wills eventually replaced Brown with vocalist Tommy Duncan
, whom he would work with for the next 16 years. By late summer 1933, Wills, aggravated by a series of fights with O'Daniel, left the Light Crust Doughboys and Tommy Duncan left with him.
Wills relocated to Waco, Texas
, and formed the new band, The Playboys, which featured Wills on fiddle, Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass. For the next year, The Playboys moved through a number of radio stations, as O'Daniel tried to force them off the air. Finally, the group renamed themselves "Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys" and settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma
, where they had a job at KVOO.
Tulsa is where Wills and His Texas Playboys began to refine their sound. Wills added an 18-year-old electric steel guitarist called Leon McAuliffe
, pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey Dacus, and a horn section to the band's lineup. Meanwhile, Herman Arnspiger & Sleepy Johnson left the Light Crust Doughboys to join Wills' Texas Playboys in Tulsa. Soon, the Texas Playboys were the most popular band in Oklahoma and Texas. The band made their first record in 1935 for the American Recording Company, which would later become part of Columbia Records
. At ARC, they were produced by Uncle Art Satherley, who would wind up as Wills' producer for the next 12 years. The bandleader had his way and they cut a number of tracks that were released on a series of 78s. The singles were successful enough that Wills could demand that McAuliffe be featured on the Playboys' next record, 1936's "Steel Guitar Rag." The song became a pioneering standard for steel guitar, and a major inspiration to Country Music
for decades to come. Also released from that session was the very successful single "Right or Wrong," which featured Duncan on lead vocals.
Toward the end of the decade, big bands were dominating popular music and Wills wanted a band capable of playing complex, jazz-inspired arrangements. To help him achieve his sound, he hired arranger and guitarist Eldon Shamblin
, who wrote charts that fused country with big band music for the Texas Playboys. By 1940, he had replaced some of the weaker musicians in the lineup, winding up with a full 18-piece band. The Texas Playboys were breaking concert attendance records across the country, filling out venues from Tulsa to California, and they also had their first genuine national hit with "New San Antonio Rose
", which climbed to number 11 in 1940. Throughout 1941 and 1942, Wills and His Texas Playboys continued to record and perform and they were one of the most popular bands in the country. However, their popularity was quickly derailed by the arrival of World War II
. Duncan enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor
and Stricklin became a defense plant worker. Late in 1942, McAuliffe and Shamblin both left the group. Wills enlisted in the Army at Fort Sill
late in 1942, but he was discharged as being unfit for service in the summer of 1943, primarily because he was out of shape and disagreeable. Duncan was discharged around the same time and the pair moved to California by the end of 1943. Wills revamped the sound of the Texas Playboys after World War II, cutting out the horn section and relying on acoustic and amplified string instruments.
During the '40s, Art Satherley had moved from ARC to OKeh Records and Wills followed him to the new label. His first single for OKeh was a new version of "New San Antonio Rose" and it became a Top Ten hit early in 1944, crossing over into the Top 20 on the pop charts. Wills stayed with OKeh for about year, having several Top Ten hits, as well as the number ones "Smoke on the Water" and "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima." After he left OKeh, he signed with Columbia Records, releasing his first single for the label, "Texas Playboy Rag," toward the end of 1945.
In 1946, the Texas Playboys began recording a series of transcriptions for Oakland, CA's Tiffany Music Corporation. Tiffany's plan was to syndicate the transcriptions throughout the Southwest, but their goal was never fulfilled. Nevertheless, the Texas Playboys made a number of transcriptions in 1946 and 1947, and these are the only recordings of the band playing extended jams. Consequently, they are close approximations of the group's live sound. Though the Tiffany transcriptions would turn out to be important historical items, the recordings that kept Wills and His Texas Playboys in the charts were their singles for Columbia, which were consistently reaching the Top Five between 1945 and 1948; in the summer of 1946, they had their biggest hit, "New Spanish Two Step," which spent 16 weeks at number one.
Guitarist Eldon Shamblin returned to the Playboys in 1947, the final year Wills recorded for Columbia Records. Beginning in late 1947, Wills was signed to MGM. His first single for the label, "Bubbles in My Beer," was a Top Ten hit early in 1948, as was its follow-up, "Keeper of My Heart." Though the Texas Playboys were one of the most popular bands in the nation, they were beginning to fight internally, mainly because Wills had developed a drinking problem that caused him to behave erratically and occasionally cancel performance engagements. Furthermore, Wills came to believe Duncan was demanding too much attention and asking for too much money. By the end of 1948, he had fired the singer.
Duncan's departure couldn't have come at a worse time. Western swing was beginning to fall out of public favor, and Wills' recordings weren't as consistently successful as they had been before; he had no hits at all in 1949. That year, he relocated to Oklahoma, beginning a 15-year stretch of frequent moves, all designed to find a thriving market for the band. In 1950, he had two Top Ten hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love," which would become a legendary country song and standard; they would be his last hits for a decade. Throughout the '50s, he struggled with poor health and poor finances, but he continued to perform frequently. However, his audience continued to shrink, despite his attempts to hold on to it. Wills moved throughout the Southwest during the decade, without ever finding a new home base. Audiences at dance halls plummeted with the advent of television and rock & roll. The Texas Playboys made some records for Decca that went unnoticed in the mid-'50s. In 1959, Wills signed with Liberty Records, where he was produced by Tommy Allsup
, a former Playboy. Before recording his first sessions with Liberty, Wills expanded the lineup of the band again and reunited with Duncan. The results were a success, with "Heart to Heart Talk" climbing into the Top Ten during the summer of 1960. Again, the Texas Playboys were drawing sizable crowds and selling a respectable amount of records.
In 1962, Wills had a heart attack that temporarily debilitated him, but by 1963 he was making an album for Kapp Records. The following year, he had a second heart attack, which forced him to disband the Playboys. After the second heart attack, he performed and recorded as a solo performer. His solo recordings for Kapp were made in Nashville with studio musicians and were generally ignored, though he continued to be successful playing in national concert performances and shows.
In 1968, the Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Wills and the following year the Texas State Legislature honored him for his contribution to American music. The day after he appeared in both houses of the Texas state government, Wills suffered a massive stroke that paralyzed his right side. During his recovery, Merle Haggard
-- the most popular country singer of the late '60s—recorded an album dedicated to Wills, "A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player", which helped return Wills to public consciousness and spark a widespread Western Swing revival. In 1972, Wills was well enough to accept a citation from ASCAP in Nashville, as well as appear at several Texas Playboy reunions, which attracted thousands of fans and were extremely popular. In the fall of 1973, Wills and Haggard began planning a Texas Playboys reunion album, featuring most of the original Texas Playboys: McAuliffe, Stricklin, Shamblin, and Dacus, among others. The first session was held on December 3, 1973, with Wills leading the band from his wheelchair. That night, he suffered another massive stroke in his sleep; the stroke left him comatose. The next day, the Texas Playboys finished the album with out him, appropriately titled "Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys ... For the Last Time". Wills never regained consciousness and died in a nursing home on May 15, 1975 in Fort Worth, the city where his iconic music career first began in 1929. He was buried in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he had enjoyed his most successful years as The King of Western Swing.
, in Limestone County
near Groesbeck
, to Emma Lee Foley and John Tompkins Wills. His father was a statewide champion fiddle player and the Wills family was either playing music, or someone was "always wanting us to play for them," in addition to raising cotton on their farm.
In addition to picking cotton, the young Jim Bob learned to play the fiddle and the mandolin
. Both a sister and several brothers played musical instruments, while another sister played piano. The Wills family frequently held country dances in their home, and there was dancing in all four rooms While living in Hall County, Texas,they also played at 'ranch dances' which were popular in both West Texas and eastern New Mexico.
Wills not only learned traditional music from his family, he learned some Negro songs directly from African Americans in the cotton fields near Lakeview, Texas and said that he did not play with many white children other than his siblings, until he was seven or eight years old. African Americans were his playmates, and his father enjoyed watching him jig dance with black children.
"I don't know whether they made them up as they moved down the cotton rows or not," Wills once told Charles Townsend, author of San Antonio Rose: The Life and Times of Bob Wills, "but they sang blues you never heard before."
in 1913, and in 1919 they bought a farm between the towns of Lakeview
and Turkey
. At the age of 16 Wills left the family and hopped a freight train. "Jim Rob", as he became known, drifted for several years, traveling from town to town to try and earn a living, at one point almost losing his life when he nearly fell from a moving train, and later being chased by railroad police. In his 20s he attended barber school, got married, and moved first to Roy, New Mexico
then returned to Turkey in Hall County (now considered his home town) to work as a barber at Hamm's Barber Shop. He alternated barbering and fiddling even when he moved to Fort Worth
after leaving Hall County in 1929. There he played in minstrel
and medicine show
s, and, as with other Texas musicians such as Ocie Stockard, continued to earn money as a barber. He wore blackface
makeup to appear in comedy routines, something that was common at the time. "He was playing his violin and singing." There were two guitars and a banjo player with him. "Bob was in blackface and was the comic; he cracked jokes, sang, and did an amazing jig dance." Since there was already a "Jim" on the show, the manager began calling him "Bob." However, it was as "Jim Rob Wills", paired with Herman Arnspiger, that he made his first commercial (though unissued) recordings in November 1929 for Brunswick/Vocalion.
Wills was known for his hollering and wisecracking. One source for this was when, as a very young boy, he would hear his father, grandfather, and cowboys give out loud cries when the music moved them. When asked if his wisecracking and talking on the bandstand came from his medicine show experience, he said it did not. Rather, he said that it came directly from playing and living close to Negroes, and that he never did it necessarily as show, but more as a way to express his feelings.
While in Fort Worth, Wills added the "rowdy city blues" of Bessie Smith
and Emmett Miller
to a repertoire of mainly waltzes and breakdowns he had learned from his father, and patterned his vocal style after that of Miller and other performers such as Al Bernard
. Wills acknowledged that he idolized Miller. Furthermore, his 1935 version of "St. Louis Blues" is nearly a word-for-word copy of Al Bernard's patter on his 1928 recording of the same song.
The fact that Wills made his professional debut in blackface was commented on by Wills' daughter, Rosetta: "He had a lot of respect for the musicians and music of his black friends," Rosetta is quoted as saying on the Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys Web site. She remembers that her father was such a fan of Bessie Smith
, "he once rode 50 miles on horseback just to see her perform live." (Wills is quoted as saying, "I rode horeseback from the place between the rivers to Childress to see Bessie Smith...She was about the greatest thing I had ever heard. In fact, there was no doubt about it. She was the greatest thing I ever heard."
In Fort Worth, Wills met Herman Arnspinger and formed The Wills Fiddle Band. In 1930
Milton Brown
joined the group as lead vocalist and brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band, now called the Light Crust Doughboys
due to radio sponsorship by the makers of Light Crust Flour. Brown left the band in 1932
to form the Musical Brownies, the first true Western swing
band. Brown added twin fiddles, tenor banjo
and slap bass, pointing the music in the direction of swing, which they played on local radio
and at dancehalls.
Wills remained with the Doughboys and replaced Brown with new singer Tommy Duncan
in 1932. He found himself unable to get along with future Texas Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, the authoritarian host of the Light Crust Doughboy radio show. O'Daniel had parlayed the show's popularity into growing power within Light Crust Flour's parent company, Burrus Mill and Elevator Company and wound up as General Manager, though he despised what he considered "hillbilly music." Wills and Duncan left the Doughboys in 1933
after Wills had missed one show too many due to his sporadic drinking.
Wills recalled the early days of what became known as Western swing music in a 1949 interview. "Here's the way I figure it. We sure not tryin' to take credit for swingin' it." Speaking of Milt Brown and himself working with songs done by Jimmie Davis
, the Skillet Lickers, Jimmie Rodgers
, and others, and songs he'd learned from his father, he said that "We'd pull these tunes down an set 'em in a dance category. It wouldn't be a runaway, and just lay a real nice beat behind it an the people would get to really like it. It was nobody intended to start anything in the world. We was just tryin' to find enough tunes to keep 'em dancin' to not have to repeat so much."
Wills is also quoted as saying, "You can change the name of an old song, rearrange it and make it a swing. "One Star Rag", "Rat Cheese under the Hill", "Take Me Back to Tulsa
", "Basin Street Blues
", "Steel Guitar Rag
", and "Trouble in Mind
" were some of the songs in his extensive repertory."
, Wills found enough popularity there to decide on a bigger market. They left Waco in January of 1934
for Oklahoma City
. Wills soon settled the renamed Texas Playboys in Tulsa, Oklahoma
, and began broadcasting noontime shows over the 50,000 watt KVOO
radio station
. Their 12:30-1:15 p.m. Monday–Friday broadcasts became a veritable institution in the region.
Nearly all of the daily (except Sunday) shows originated from the stage of Cain's Ballroom
. In addition, they played dances in the evenings, including regular ones at the ballroom on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Wills added a trumpet to the band inadvertently when he hired Everet Stover as an announcer, not knowing that he had played with the New Orleans symphony and had directed the governor's band in Austin. Stover, thinking he had been hired as a trumpeter began playing with the band with no comment from Wills. Young sax player Zeb McNally was allowed to play with the band, although Wills initially discouraged it. With two horns in the band Wills realized he would have to add a drummer to balance things and create a fuller sound. He hired the young, "modern style musician" Smokey Ducas.
By 1935
Wills had added horn
, reed
players and drums
to the Playboys. The addition of steel guitar
whiz Leon McAuliffe
in March, 1935 added not only a formidable instrumentalist but a second engaging vocalist. Wills himself largely sang blues
and sentimental ballads.
With its jazz
sophistication, pop music and blues
influence, plus improvised scats and wisecrack commentary by Wills, the band became the first superstar
s of the genre. Milton Brown's tragic and untimely death in 1936 had cleared the way for the Playboys.
Session rosters from 1938 show both "lead guitar" and "electric guitar" in addition to guitar and steel guitar in the Texas Playboys recordings. Wills' 1938 recording of "Ida Red
" served as a model for Chuck Berry's decades later version of the same song - "Maybellene
".
About this time Wills purchased and performed with an old Guadagnini
violin that had once fetched $7,600 for $1,600, the equivalent of about $24,000 in 2009.
In 1940 "New San Antonio Rose
" sold a million records and became the signature song
of The Texas Playboys. The song's title referred to the fact that Wills had recorded it as a fiddle instrumental in 1938
as "San Antonio Rose". By then, the Texas Playboys were virtually two bands: one a fiddle-guitar-steel band with rhythm section and the second a first-rate big band
able to play the day's swing
and pop
hits as well as Dixieland
.
The "front line" of Wills' orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944.
in Take Me Back to Oklahoma
. Other films would follow. In late 1942 after several band members had left the group, and as World War II raged, Wills joined the Army, but received a medical discharge in 1943.
Wills also appeared in The Lone Prairie (1942), Riders of the Northwest Mounted (1943), Saddles and Sagebrush (1943), The Vigilantes Ride (1943), The Last Horseman (1944), Rhythm Round-Up (1945), Blazing the Western Trail (1945), and Lawless Empire (1945). According to one source, he appeared in a total of 19 films.
and World War II
in search of jobs. Monday through Friday the band broadcast from 12:01 to 1:00 p.m. over KMTR-AM (now KLAC) in LA. They also played regularly every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night at the Mission Beach Ballroom in San Diego.
He commanded enormous fees playing dances there, and began to make more creative use of electric guitar
s to replace the big horn sections the Tulsa band had boasted. For a very brief period in 1944 the Wills band included 23 members., and around mid year he toured Northern California and the Pacific Northwest with 21 pieces in the orchestra.
Billboard reported that Wills outgrossed Harry James, Benny Goodman, "both Dorsies, et al." at Civic Auditorium in Oakland
, California
, in January 1944.
While on his first cross-country tour, he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry
and defied that conservative show's ban on using drums of any sort.
In 1945 Wills' dances were outdrawing those of Tommy Dorsey
and Benny Goodman
, and he had moved to Fresno
, California. Then in 1947 he opened the Wills Point nightclub in Sacramento
and continued touring the Southwest and Pacific Northwest from Texas to Washington State. While based in Sacramento his radio broadcasts over 50,000 watt KFBK
were heard all over the West.
Famous swing orchestras in California realized that many of their followers were leaving to dance to Bob Will's Western swing. Because he was in such demand, some places booked Wills any time he had an opening, regardless of how undesirable the date. The manager of a popular auditorium in the LA Basin town of Wilmington, California: "Although Monday night dancing is frankly an experiment it was the only night of the week on which this outstanding band could be secured."
During the postwar period, KGO
radio in San Francisco syndicated a Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys show recorded at the Fairmont Hotel. Many of these recordings survive today as the Tiffany Transcriptions, and are available on CD
. They show off the band's strengths significantly, in part because the group was not confined to the three-minute limits of 78 RPM discs. They featured superb instrumental work from fiddlers Joe Holley and Louis Tierney, steel guitarists Noel Boggs and Herb Remington, guitarists Eldon Shamblin
and Junior Barnard
and electric mandolinist-fiddler Tiny Moore
. The original recorded version of Wills' "Faded Love
", appeared on the Tiffanys as a fairly swinging instrumental unlike the ballad it became when lyrics were added in 1950.
Wills and the Texas Playboys played dances throughout the West to more than 10,000 people every week. They held dance attendance records at Jantzen Beach
in Portland, Oregon; Santa Monica, California, and at the Oakland (California) Auditorium, where they drew 19,000 people in two nights. Wills also broke an attendance record of 2,100 previously held by Jan Garbner at the Armory in Klamath Falls, Oregon, by attracting 2,514 dancers.
Actor Clint Eastwood
recalled seeing Wills when he was 18 or 19 (1948 or 1949) and working at a pulp mill in Springfield
, Oregon
.
Appearances at the Bostonia Ballroom in San Diego continued throughout the 1950s.
Still a binge drinker, Wills became increasingly unreliable in the late 1940s, causing a rift with Tommy Duncan (who bore the brunt of audience anger when Wills's binges prevented him from appearing). It ended when he fired Duncan in the fall of 1948.
. Turning the club over to managers later revealed to be dishonest left Wills in desperate financial straits with heavy debts to the IRS
for back tax
es that caused him to sell many assets including, mistakenly, the rights to "New San Antonio Rose." It wrecked him financially.
In 1950 Wills had two Top Ten hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love
". After 1950 radio stations began to increasingly specialize in one form or another of commercially popular music. Wills did not fit into the popular Nashville country and western stations, although he was usually labeled "country and western". Neither did he fit into the pop or middle of the road stations, although he played a good deal of pop music, and was not accepted in the pop music world.
He continued to tour and record through the 1950s into the early 1960s, despite the fact that Western swing's popularity, even in the Southwest, had greatly diminished. Bob could draw "a thousand people on Monday night between 1950 and 1952, but he could not do that by 1956. Entertainment habits had changed."
On Wills' return to Tulsa late in 1957, Jim Downing of the Tulsa Tribune
wrote an article headlined "Wills Brothers Together Again — Bob Back with Heavy Beat". The article quotes Wills as saying, "Rock and Roll? Why, man, that's the same kind of music we've been playin' since 1928!...We didn't call it rock and roll back when we introduced it as our style back in 1928, and we don't call it rock and roll the way we play it now. But it's just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. It's the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments. The rhythm's what's important."
Even a 1958 return to KVOO, where his younger brother Johnnie Lee Wills
had maintained the family's presence, did not produce the success he hoped for. He appeared twice on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA and kept the band on the road into the 1960s. After two heart attacks, in 1965 he dissolved the Texas Playboys (who briefly continued as an independent unit) to perform solo with house bands. While he did well in Las Vegas and other areas, and made records for the Kapp Records
label, he was largely a forgotten figure — even though inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
in 1968. A 1969 stroke left his right side paralyzed, ending his active career.
The May 26, 1975 issue of TIME
(Milestones section) read: "Died. Bob Wills, 70, "Western Swing" bandleader-composer; of pneumonia; in Fort Worth. Wills turned out dance tunes that are now called country rock, introducing with his Texas Playboys such C & W classics as Take Me Back to Tulsa and New San Antonio Rose".
and Merle Haggard
and helped to spawn a style of music now known as the Bakersfield Sound
. (Bakersfield, California
was one of Wills' regular stops in his heyday). A 1970 tribute album
by Haggard directed a wider audience to Wills' music, as did the appearance of younger "revival" bands like Asleep at the Wheel
and the growing popularity of longtime Wills disciple and fan Willie Nelson
. By 1971, Wills recovered sufficiently to travel occasionally and appear at tribute concerts. In 1973 he participated in a final reunion session with members of some the Texas Playboys from the 1930s to the 1960s. Merle Haggard was invited to play at this reunion. The session, scheduled for two days, took place in December 1973, with the album to be titled For the Last Time. Wills, speaking or attempting to holler, appeared on a couple tracks from the first day's session but suffered a stroke overnight. He had a more severe one a few days later. The musicians completed the album without him. Wills by then was comatose. He lingered until his death on May 13, 1975.
In addition to being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968, Wills was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1970, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in the Early Influence category along with the Texas Playboys in 1999, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
in 2007.
From the 1970s until his 2002 death, Waylon Jennings
performed a song called "Bob Wills is Still the King". In addition, The Rolling Stones
performed this song live in Austin, Texas
at Zilker Park
for their DVD The Biggest Bang. In a 1968 issue of Guitar Player, rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix
said of Wills and the Playboys: "I dig them. The Grand Ole Opry used to come on, and I used to watch that. They used to have some pretty heavy cats, some heavy guitar players."
Wills ranked No. 27 in "CMT
's 40 Greatest Men in Country Music" in 2003.
Fats Domino
once remarked that he patterned his 1960 rhythm section after that of Bob Wills.
During the 49th Grammy Awards, Carrie Underwood
performed his song "San Antonio Rose". Today, George Strait
performs Wills' music on concert tours and also records songs greatly reflecting the magic of Wills and his Texas-style swing.
Asleep at the Wheel
, the Austin, Texas
-based Western swing band has been paying homage to Wills for over 35 years, best demonstrated by their continuing performances of the musical drama A Ride With Bob which debuted in Austin in March 2005 to coincide with celebrations of Wills' 100th birthday.
Another band that contributes to keeping the Western swing tradition alive are The Armadillos, who hail from Manchester, England and have been performing for more than 15 years.
In 2004, a documentary film about his life and music music, entitled Fiddlin' Man: The Life and Times of Bob Wills, was released by VIEW Inc.
In 2011, Proper Records
released an album by Hot Club of Cowtown titled What Makes Bob Holler: A Tribute to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.
June 17, 2011, the 82nd Texas Legislature created Senate Concurrent Resolution 35, Signed by Texas Govenor Rick Perry, making Western Swing music the Official Music of Texas.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Western Swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
musician, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.
Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with Western Swing. Although he did not invent the genre single-handedly (he and his old Fort Worth friend, Milton Brown
Milton Brown
Milton Brown was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing"...
, co-created Western Swing), Wills truly popularized the genre and changed its rules. In the process, he reinvented the rules of popular music. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys were a dance band with a country string section that played pop songs as if they were jazz numbers. Their music expanded and erased boundaries between genres. It was also some of the most popular music of its era. Throughout the '40s, the band was one of the most popular groups in the country and the musicians in the Playboys were among the finest of their era. As the popularity of Western Swing declined, so did Wills' popularity, but his influence is immeasurable. From the first honky tonkers to Western Swing revivalists, generations of country artists owe him a significant debt, as do certain rock and jazz musicians. Wills was a maverick and his spirit infused American popular music of the 20th century with a renegade, virtuosic flair.
Wills was born outside of Kosse, Texas
Kosse, Texas
There were 205 households out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.5% had someone...
, in 1905. From his father and grandfather, he learned how to play mandolin, guitar, and eventually fiddle, and he regularly played local dances in his teens. In 1929, he joined a medicine show in Fort Worth, where he played fiddle and did blackface comedy. At one performance, he met guitarist Herman Arnspiger and the duo formed the Wills Fiddle Band. Within a year, they were playing dances and radio stations around Fort Worth. During one of their local dance performances, the pair met a vocalist, Milton Brown, who joined the band. Soon, Brown's guitarist brother Derwood joined the group, as did Clifton "Sleepy" Johnson, a tenor banjo player. The Wills Fiddle Band was soon hired by Fort Worth's Aladdin Lamp Company, and changed their name to the "Aladdin Laddies".
In early 1931, the band landed their own radio show, which was sponsored by the Burris Mill and Elevator Company, the manufacturers of Light Crust Flour. The group rechristened themselves the Light Crust Doughboys
Light Crust Doughboys
The Light Crust Doughboys is a quintessential American Western swing band from Texas organized in 1931 by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company in Saginaw, Texas. The band achieved its peak popularity in the few years leading up to World War II...
and their show was being broadcast throughout Texas, hosted and organized by W. Lee O'Daniel
W. Lee O'Daniel
Wilbert Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, , was a conservative Democratic Party politician from Texas, who came to prominence by hosting a popular radio program. Known for his populist appeal, Pappy O'Daniel was the governor of Texas and later its junior U.S. Senator. He is also the only person ever to have...
, the manager of Burris Mill. By 1932, the band became quite famous playing dances throughout Texas, but there was some trouble behind the scenes; O'Daniel wasn't allowing the band to play at dances, and wanted them to only perform for the radio show. This situation led to the departure of Brown; Wills eventually replaced Brown with vocalist Tommy Duncan
Tommy Duncan
Thomas Elmer Duncan , better known as Tommy Duncan, was a pioneering American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys...
, whom he would work with for the next 16 years. By late summer 1933, Wills, aggravated by a series of fights with O'Daniel, left the Light Crust Doughboys and Tommy Duncan left with him.
Wills relocated to Waco, Texas
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
, and formed the new band, The Playboys, which featured Wills on fiddle, Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass. For the next year, The Playboys moved through a number of radio stations, as O'Daniel tried to force them off the air. Finally, the group renamed themselves "Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys" and settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, where they had a job at KVOO.
Tulsa is where Wills and His Texas Playboys began to refine their sound. Wills added an 18-year-old electric steel guitarist called Leon McAuliffe
Leon McAuliffe
Leon McAuliffe , born William Leon McAuliffe, was an American Western swing musician from Houston, Texas...
, pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey Dacus, and a horn section to the band's lineup. Meanwhile, Herman Arnspiger & Sleepy Johnson left the Light Crust Doughboys to join Wills' Texas Playboys in Tulsa. Soon, the Texas Playboys were the most popular band in Oklahoma and Texas. The band made their first record in 1935 for the American Recording Company, which would later become part of Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. At ARC, they were produced by Uncle Art Satherley, who would wind up as Wills' producer for the next 12 years. The bandleader had his way and they cut a number of tracks that were released on a series of 78s. The singles were successful enough that Wills could demand that McAuliffe be featured on the Playboys' next record, 1936's "Steel Guitar Rag." The song became a pioneering standard for steel guitar, and a major inspiration to Country Music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
for decades to come. Also released from that session was the very successful single "Right or Wrong," which featured Duncan on lead vocals.
Toward the end of the decade, big bands were dominating popular music and Wills wanted a band capable of playing complex, jazz-inspired arrangements. To help him achieve his sound, he hired arranger and guitarist Eldon Shamblin
Eldon Shamblin
Eldon Shamblin was an American guitarist and arranger, particularly important to the development of Western swing music as one of the first electric guitarists in a popular dance band....
, who wrote charts that fused country with big band music for the Texas Playboys. By 1940, he had replaced some of the weaker musicians in the lineup, winding up with a full 18-piece band. The Texas Playboys were breaking concert attendance records across the country, filling out venues from Tulsa to California, and they also had their first genuine national hit with "New San Antonio Rose
New San Antonio Rose
"San Antonio Rose"/"New San Antonio Rose" was the signature song of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. "San Antonio Rose" was an instrumental song written by Bob Wills, who first recorded it with the Playboys in 1938. Band members added lyrics and it was retitled "New San Antonio Rose"...
", which climbed to number 11 in 1940. Throughout 1941 and 1942, Wills and His Texas Playboys continued to record and perform and they were one of the most popular bands in the country. However, their popularity was quickly derailed by the arrival of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Duncan enlisted in the Army after Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
and Stricklin became a defense plant worker. Late in 1942, McAuliffe and Shamblin both left the group. Wills enlisted in the Army at Fort Sill
Fort Sill
Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars...
late in 1942, but he was discharged as being unfit for service in the summer of 1943, primarily because he was out of shape and disagreeable. Duncan was discharged around the same time and the pair moved to California by the end of 1943. Wills revamped the sound of the Texas Playboys after World War II, cutting out the horn section and relying on acoustic and amplified string instruments.
During the '40s, Art Satherley had moved from ARC to OKeh Records and Wills followed him to the new label. His first single for OKeh was a new version of "New San Antonio Rose" and it became a Top Ten hit early in 1944, crossing over into the Top 20 on the pop charts. Wills stayed with OKeh for about year, having several Top Ten hits, as well as the number ones "Smoke on the Water" and "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima." After he left OKeh, he signed with Columbia Records, releasing his first single for the label, "Texas Playboy Rag," toward the end of 1945.
In 1946, the Texas Playboys began recording a series of transcriptions for Oakland, CA's Tiffany Music Corporation. Tiffany's plan was to syndicate the transcriptions throughout the Southwest, but their goal was never fulfilled. Nevertheless, the Texas Playboys made a number of transcriptions in 1946 and 1947, and these are the only recordings of the band playing extended jams. Consequently, they are close approximations of the group's live sound. Though the Tiffany transcriptions would turn out to be important historical items, the recordings that kept Wills and His Texas Playboys in the charts were their singles for Columbia, which were consistently reaching the Top Five between 1945 and 1948; in the summer of 1946, they had their biggest hit, "New Spanish Two Step," which spent 16 weeks at number one.
Guitarist Eldon Shamblin returned to the Playboys in 1947, the final year Wills recorded for Columbia Records. Beginning in late 1947, Wills was signed to MGM. His first single for the label, "Bubbles in My Beer," was a Top Ten hit early in 1948, as was its follow-up, "Keeper of My Heart." Though the Texas Playboys were one of the most popular bands in the nation, they were beginning to fight internally, mainly because Wills had developed a drinking problem that caused him to behave erratically and occasionally cancel performance engagements. Furthermore, Wills came to believe Duncan was demanding too much attention and asking for too much money. By the end of 1948, he had fired the singer.
Duncan's departure couldn't have come at a worse time. Western swing was beginning to fall out of public favor, and Wills' recordings weren't as consistently successful as they had been before; he had no hits at all in 1949. That year, he relocated to Oklahoma, beginning a 15-year stretch of frequent moves, all designed to find a thriving market for the band. In 1950, he had two Top Ten hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love," which would become a legendary country song and standard; they would be his last hits for a decade. Throughout the '50s, he struggled with poor health and poor finances, but he continued to perform frequently. However, his audience continued to shrink, despite his attempts to hold on to it. Wills moved throughout the Southwest during the decade, without ever finding a new home base. Audiences at dance halls plummeted with the advent of television and rock & roll. The Texas Playboys made some records for Decca that went unnoticed in the mid-'50s. In 1959, Wills signed with Liberty Records, where he was produced by Tommy Allsup
Tommy Allsup
Tommy Allsup is an American musician.He worked with entertainers such as Buddy Holly and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys...
, a former Playboy. Before recording his first sessions with Liberty, Wills expanded the lineup of the band again and reunited with Duncan. The results were a success, with "Heart to Heart Talk" climbing into the Top Ten during the summer of 1960. Again, the Texas Playboys were drawing sizable crowds and selling a respectable amount of records.
In 1962, Wills had a heart attack that temporarily debilitated him, but by 1963 he was making an album for Kapp Records. The following year, he had a second heart attack, which forced him to disband the Playboys. After the second heart attack, he performed and recorded as a solo performer. His solo recordings for Kapp were made in Nashville with studio musicians and were generally ignored, though he continued to be successful playing in national concert performances and shows.
In 1968, the Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Wills and the following year the Texas State Legislature honored him for his contribution to American music. The day after he appeared in both houses of the Texas state government, Wills suffered a massive stroke that paralyzed his right side. During his recovery, Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
-- the most popular country singer of the late '60s—recorded an album dedicated to Wills, "A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player", which helped return Wills to public consciousness and spark a widespread Western Swing revival. In 1972, Wills was well enough to accept a citation from ASCAP in Nashville, as well as appear at several Texas Playboy reunions, which attracted thousands of fans and were extremely popular. In the fall of 1973, Wills and Haggard began planning a Texas Playboys reunion album, featuring most of the original Texas Playboys: McAuliffe, Stricklin, Shamblin, and Dacus, among others. The first session was held on December 3, 1973, with Wills leading the band from his wheelchair. That night, he suffered another massive stroke in his sleep; the stroke left him comatose. The next day, the Texas Playboys finished the album with out him, appropriately titled "Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys ... For the Last Time". Wills never regained consciousness and died in a nursing home on May 15, 1975 in Fort Worth, the city where his iconic music career first began in 1929. He was buried in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he had enjoyed his most successful years as The King of Western Swing.
Early years
He was born on a farm near Kosse, TexasKosse, Texas
There were 205 households out of which 32.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% were non-families. 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.5% had someone...
, in Limestone County
Limestone County, Texas
Limestone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population was 22,051. Its county seat is Groesbeck.-Geography:According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and is water....
near Groesbeck
Groesbeck, Texas
Groesbeck is a city in and the county seat of Limestone County, Texas, United States. The population was 4,291 at the 2000 census. The community is named after a railroad employee.- History :...
, to Emma Lee Foley and John Tompkins Wills. His father was a statewide champion fiddle player and the Wills family was either playing music, or someone was "always wanting us to play for them," in addition to raising cotton on their farm.
In addition to picking cotton, the young Jim Bob learned to play the fiddle and the mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
. Both a sister and several brothers played musical instruments, while another sister played piano. The Wills family frequently held country dances in their home, and there was dancing in all four rooms While living in Hall County, Texas,they also played at 'ranch dances' which were popular in both West Texas and eastern New Mexico.
Wills not only learned traditional music from his family, he learned some Negro songs directly from African Americans in the cotton fields near Lakeview, Texas and said that he did not play with many white children other than his siblings, until he was seven or eight years old. African Americans were his playmates, and his father enjoyed watching him jig dance with black children.
"I don't know whether they made them up as they moved down the cotton rows or not," Wills once told Charles Townsend, author of San Antonio Rose: The Life and Times of Bob Wills, "but they sang blues you never heard before."
New Mexico and Texas
The family moved to Hall County in the Texas PanhandleTexas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
in 1913, and in 1919 they bought a farm between the towns of Lakeview
Lakeview, Texas
Lakeview is a town in Hall County, Texas, United States. The population was 152 at the 2000 census. A July 1, 2008 U.S. Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 140.-Geography:Lakeview is located at...
and Turkey
Turkey, Texas
Turkey is a city in Hall County, Texas, United States. The population was 494 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Turkey is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
. At the age of 16 Wills left the family and hopped a freight train. "Jim Rob", as he became known, drifted for several years, traveling from town to town to try and earn a living, at one point almost losing his life when he nearly fell from a moving train, and later being chased by railroad police. In his 20s he attended barber school, got married, and moved first to Roy, New Mexico
Roy, New Mexico
Roy is a village in Harding County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 304 at the 2000 census. The village has massively been losing population, but is still a major center for Northeastern New Mexico....
then returned to Turkey in Hall County (now considered his home town) to work as a barber at Hamm's Barber Shop. He alternated barbering and fiddling even when he moved to Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
after leaving Hall County in 1929. There he played in minstrel
Minstrel show
The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American entertainment consisting of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music, performed by white people in blackface or, especially after the Civil War, black people in blackface....
and medicine show
Medicine show
Medicine shows were traveling horse and wagon teams which peddled "miracle cure" medications and other products between various entertainment acts. Their precise origins unknown, medicine shows were common in the 19th century United States...
s, and, as with other Texas musicians such as Ocie Stockard, continued to earn money as a barber. He wore blackface
Blackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
makeup to appear in comedy routines, something that was common at the time. "He was playing his violin and singing." There were two guitars and a banjo player with him. "Bob was in blackface and was the comic; he cracked jokes, sang, and did an amazing jig dance." Since there was already a "Jim" on the show, the manager began calling him "Bob." However, it was as "Jim Rob Wills", paired with Herman Arnspiger, that he made his first commercial (though unissued) recordings in November 1929 for Brunswick/Vocalion.
Wills was known for his hollering and wisecracking. One source for this was when, as a very young boy, he would hear his father, grandfather, and cowboys give out loud cries when the music moved them. When asked if his wisecracking and talking on the bandstand came from his medicine show experience, he said it did not. Rather, he said that it came directly from playing and living close to Negroes, and that he never did it necessarily as show, but more as a way to express his feelings.
While in Fort Worth, Wills added the "rowdy city blues" of Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
and Emmett Miller
Emmett Miller
Emmett Miller was an American minstrel show performer and recording artist known for his falsetto, yodel-like voice. Little-remembered today, Miller was a major influence on many country music singers, including Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, Milton Brown, Tommy Duncan, and Merle Haggard...
to a repertoire of mainly waltzes and breakdowns he had learned from his father, and patterned his vocal style after that of Miller and other performers such as Al Bernard
Al Bernard
Alfred A. Bernard was an American vaudeville singer, known as "The Boy From Dixie", who was most popular during the 1910s through early 1930s.-Life:...
. Wills acknowledged that he idolized Miller. Furthermore, his 1935 version of "St. Louis Blues" is nearly a word-for-word copy of Al Bernard's patter on his 1928 recording of the same song.
The fact that Wills made his professional debut in blackface was commented on by Wills' daughter, Rosetta: "He had a lot of respect for the musicians and music of his black friends," Rosetta is quoted as saying on the Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys Web site. She remembers that her father was such a fan of Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
, "he once rode 50 miles on horseback just to see her perform live." (Wills is quoted as saying, "I rode horeseback from the place between the rivers to Childress to see Bessie Smith...She was about the greatest thing I had ever heard. In fact, there was no doubt about it. She was the greatest thing I ever heard."
In Fort Worth, Wills met Herman Arnspinger and formed The Wills Fiddle Band. In 1930
1930 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1930.-Top hits of the year:* "Anniversary Yodel " - Jimmie Rodgers* "Barbara Allen" - Bradley Kincaid* "Blue Yodel No...
Milton Brown
Milton Brown
Milton Brown was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing"...
joined the group as lead vocalist and brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band, now called the Light Crust Doughboys
Light Crust Doughboys
The Light Crust Doughboys is a quintessential American Western swing band from Texas organized in 1931 by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company in Saginaw, Texas. The band achieved its peak popularity in the few years leading up to World War II...
due to radio sponsorship by the makers of Light Crust Flour. Brown left the band in 1932
1932 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1932.-Top hits of the year:* "Roll Along, Kentucky Moon" - Jimmie Rodgers- Births :...
to form the Musical Brownies, the first true Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
band. Brown added twin fiddles, tenor banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
and slap bass, pointing the music in the direction of swing, which they played on local radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and at dancehalls.
Wills remained with the Doughboys and replaced Brown with new singer Tommy Duncan
Tommy Duncan
Thomas Elmer Duncan , better known as Tommy Duncan, was a pioneering American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys...
in 1932. He found himself unable to get along with future Texas Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, the authoritarian host of the Light Crust Doughboy radio show. O'Daniel had parlayed the show's popularity into growing power within Light Crust Flour's parent company, Burrus Mill and Elevator Company and wound up as General Manager, though he despised what he considered "hillbilly music." Wills and Duncan left the Doughboys in 1933
1933 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1933.- Births :* March 10 - Ralph Emery, radio and television personality.* April 15 - Roy Clark, singer and multi-instrumentalist, host of television's Hee Haw....
after Wills had missed one show too many due to his sporadic drinking.
Wills recalled the early days of what became known as Western swing music in a 1949 interview. "Here's the way I figure it. We sure not tryin' to take credit for swingin' it." Speaking of Milt Brown and himself working with songs done by Jimmie Davis
Jimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
, the Skillet Lickers, Jimmie Rodgers
Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)
James Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
, and others, and songs he'd learned from his father, he said that "We'd pull these tunes down an set 'em in a dance category. It wouldn't be a runaway, and just lay a real nice beat behind it an the people would get to really like it. It was nobody intended to start anything in the world. We was just tryin' to find enough tunes to keep 'em dancin' to not have to repeat so much."
Wills is also quoted as saying, "You can change the name of an old song, rearrange it and make it a swing. "One Star Rag", "Rat Cheese under the Hill", "Take Me Back to Tulsa
Take Me Back to Tulsa
"Take Me Back To Tulsa" is a Western swing standard song. Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan added words to one of Bob Wills old fiddle tunes in 1940. The song takes its name from the chorus:The song is a series of unrelated, mostly nonsense, rhyming couplets, i.e.:Modern covers of the song, in order to...
", "Basin Street Blues
Basin Street Blues
"Basin Street Blues" is a song often performed by Dixieland jazz bands, written by Spencer Williams. The song was published in 1926 and made famous in a recording by Louis Armstrong in 1928...
", "Steel Guitar Rag
Steel Guitar Rag
"Steel Guitar Rag" is the seminal Western swing instrumental credited with popularizing the steel guitar as an integral instrument in a Western band....
", and "Trouble in Mind
Trouble in Mind (song)
"Trouble in Mind" is a slow eight-bar blues song written by jazz pianist Richard M. Jones. The song was recorded in 1924 by singer Thelma La Vizzo with Jones providing the piano accompaniment...
" were some of the songs in his extensive repertory."
The Texas Playboys
After forming a new band, The Playboys, and relocating to WacoWaco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
, Wills found enough popularity there to decide on a bigger market. They left Waco in January of 1934
1934 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1934.-Top hits of the year:* "Down Yonder" - Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers* "My Mary" - W...
for Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
. Wills soon settled the renamed Texas Playboys in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, and began broadcasting noontime shows over the 50,000 watt KVOO
KFAQ
KFAQ is a news/talk radio station in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area. The station is owned by Journal Broadcast Group and airs a mix of local and national talk shows. The station is an ABC News Radio affiliate...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
. Their 12:30-1:15 p.m. Monday–Friday broadcasts became a veritable institution in the region.
Nearly all of the daily (except Sunday) shows originated from the stage of Cain's Ballroom
Cain's Ballroom
Cain's Ballroom is a historic music venue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, built in 1924 to serve as a garage for one of Tulsa's founders, Tate Brady. Madison W. "Daddy" Cain purchased the building in 1930 and named it , where he charged 10¢ for dance lessons. The academy was the site of the Texas Playboys'...
. In addition, they played dances in the evenings, including regular ones at the ballroom on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Wills added a trumpet to the band inadvertently when he hired Everet Stover as an announcer, not knowing that he had played with the New Orleans symphony and had directed the governor's band in Austin. Stover, thinking he had been hired as a trumpeter began playing with the band with no comment from Wills. Young sax player Zeb McNally was allowed to play with the band, although Wills initially discouraged it. With two horns in the band Wills realized he would have to add a drummer to balance things and create a fuller sound. He hired the young, "modern style musician" Smokey Ducas.
By 1935
1935 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1935.-Top hits of the year:* "Can the Circle Be Unbroken " - Carter Family* "I Want to be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" - Patsy Montana and the Prairie Ramblers...
Wills had added horn
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
, reed
Reed (instrument)
A reed is a thin strip of material which vibrates to produce a sound on a musical instrument. The reeds of most Woodwind instruments are made from Arundo donax or synthetic material; tuned reeds are made of metal or synthetics.-Single reeds:Single reeds are used on the mouthpieces of clarinets...
players and drums
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
to the Playboys. The addition of steel guitar
Steel guitar
Steel guitar is a type of guitar or the method of playing the instrument. Developed in Hawaii in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a steel guitar is usually positioned horizontally; strings are plucked with one hand, while the other hand changes the pitch of one or more strings with the use...
whiz Leon McAuliffe
Leon McAuliffe
Leon McAuliffe , born William Leon McAuliffe, was an American Western swing musician from Houston, Texas...
in March, 1935 added not only a formidable instrumentalist but a second engaging vocalist. Wills himself largely sang blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and sentimental ballads.
With its jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
sophistication, pop music and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
influence, plus improvised scats and wisecrack commentary by Wills, the band became the first superstar
Superstar
A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity.Superstar or superstars may also refer to:-People:* Warhol Superstar, associates of Andy Warhol* WWE Superstar, the term used to refer to entertainers from the WWE...
s of the genre. Milton Brown's tragic and untimely death in 1936 had cleared the way for the Playboys.
Session rosters from 1938 show both "lead guitar" and "electric guitar" in addition to guitar and steel guitar in the Texas Playboys recordings. Wills' 1938 recording of "Ida Red
Ida Red
"Ida Red" is an American traditional song of unknown origins. It is chiefly identified by variations of the chorus:Verses are unrelated, rather humorous, and free form, changing from performance to performance. Ida Red's identity is unknown, but is feminine in most uses.The earliest recording is a...
" served as a model for Chuck Berry's decades later version of the same song - "Maybellene
Maybellene
"Maybellene" is a song recorded by Chuck Berry, adapted from the traditional fiddle tune "Ida Red" that tells the story of a hot rod race and a broken romance. It was released in July 1955 as a single on Chess Records of Chicago, Illinois. It was Berry's first single release and his first hit...
".
About this time Wills purchased and performed with an old Guadagnini
Giovanni Battista Guadagnini
Giovanni Battista Guadagnini ; was an emiliano luthier, regarded as one of the finest craftsmen of string instruments in history.-Biography:...
violin that had once fetched $7,600 for $1,600, the equivalent of about $24,000 in 2009.
In 1940 "New San Antonio Rose
New San Antonio Rose
"San Antonio Rose"/"New San Antonio Rose" was the signature song of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. "San Antonio Rose" was an instrumental song written by Bob Wills, who first recorded it with the Playboys in 1938. Band members added lyrics and it was retitled "New San Antonio Rose"...
" sold a million records and became the signature song
Signature song
A signature song is the one song that a popular and well-established singer or band is most closely identified with or best known for, even if they have had success with a variety of songs...
of The Texas Playboys. The song's title referred to the fact that Wills had recorded it as a fiddle instrumental in 1938
1938 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1938.-Top hits of the year:* "Aura Lee" - Shelton Brothers * "Hi-Yo, Silver" - Roy Rogers...
as "San Antonio Rose". By then, the Texas Playboys were virtually two bands: one a fiddle-guitar-steel band with rhythm section and the second a first-rate big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
able to play the day's swing
Swing (genre)
Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
hits as well as Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
.
The "front line" of Wills' orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944.
Film career
In 1940 Wills, along with the Texas Playboys, co-starred with Tex RitterTex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
in Take Me Back to Oklahoma
Take Me Back to Oklahoma
- Cast :*Tex Ritter as Tex Lawton*Bob Wills as Himself, leader Texas Playboys*Slim Andrews as Slim Hunkapillar*Terry Walker as Jane Winters*Robert McKenzie as Deacon Ames*Karl Hackett as Storm*Donald Curtis as Henchman Snapper*Gene Alsace as Henchman Red...
. Other films would follow. In late 1942 after several band members had left the group, and as World War II raged, Wills joined the Army, but received a medical discharge in 1943.
Wills also appeared in The Lone Prairie (1942), Riders of the Northwest Mounted (1943), Saddles and Sagebrush (1943), The Vigilantes Ride (1943), The Last Horseman (1944), Rhythm Round-Up (1945), Blazing the Western Trail (1945), and Lawless Empire (1945). According to one source, he appeared in a total of 19 films.
California
After leaving the Army in 1943 Wills moved to Hollywood and began to reorganize the Texas Playboys. He became an enormous draw in Los Angeles, where many of his Texas, Oklahoma and regional fans had also relocated during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
in search of jobs. Monday through Friday the band broadcast from 12:01 to 1:00 p.m. over KMTR-AM (now KLAC) in LA. They also played regularly every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night at the Mission Beach Ballroom in San Diego.
He commanded enormous fees playing dances there, and began to make more creative use of electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s to replace the big horn sections the Tulsa band had boasted. For a very brief period in 1944 the Wills band included 23 members., and around mid year he toured Northern California and the Pacific Northwest with 21 pieces in the orchestra.
Billboard reported that Wills outgrossed Harry James, Benny Goodman, "both Dorsies, et al." at Civic Auditorium in Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, in January 1944.
While on his first cross-country tour, he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
and defied that conservative show's ban on using drums of any sort.
In 1945 Wills' dances were outdrawing those of Tommy Dorsey
Tommy Dorsey
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr. was an American jazz trombonist, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader of the Big Band era. He was known as "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing", due to his smooth-toned trombone playing. He was the younger brother of bandleader Jimmy Dorsey...
and Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, and he had moved to Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, California. Then in 1947 he opened the Wills Point nightclub in Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
and continued touring the Southwest and Pacific Northwest from Texas to Washington State. While based in Sacramento his radio broadcasts over 50,000 watt KFBK
KFBK
KFBK is a radio station in Sacramento, California broadcasting on a frequency of 1530 kHz. KFBK is a class A clear channel station, formerly designated as a class "I-B" station, sharing 1530 with WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio...
were heard all over the West.
Famous swing orchestras in California realized that many of their followers were leaving to dance to Bob Will's Western swing. Because he was in such demand, some places booked Wills any time he had an opening, regardless of how undesirable the date. The manager of a popular auditorium in the LA Basin town of Wilmington, California: "Although Monday night dancing is frankly an experiment it was the only night of the week on which this outstanding band could be secured."
During the postwar period, KGO
KGO (AM)
KGO is a news/talk-format radio station radio with offices and studios in San Francisco, California. Unlike most other American news/talk stations, KGO originates nearly all of its own programming locally. Since 1978, KGO radio has received Arbitron's number-one ranking in the Bay Area...
radio in San Francisco syndicated a Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys show recorded at the Fairmont Hotel. Many of these recordings survive today as the Tiffany Transcriptions, and are available on CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
. They show off the band's strengths significantly, in part because the group was not confined to the three-minute limits of 78 RPM discs. They featured superb instrumental work from fiddlers Joe Holley and Louis Tierney, steel guitarists Noel Boggs and Herb Remington, guitarists Eldon Shamblin
Eldon Shamblin
Eldon Shamblin was an American guitarist and arranger, particularly important to the development of Western swing music as one of the first electric guitarists in a popular dance band....
and Junior Barnard
Junior Barnard
Junior Barnard was a pioneering American electric guitarist. He is best known for his work with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys...
and electric mandolinist-fiddler Tiny Moore
Tiny Moore
Billie "Tiny" Moore was a Western swing musician who played the electric mandolin and fiddle with Western swing legend Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in the 1940s....
. The original recorded version of Wills' "Faded Love
Faded Love
"Faded Love" is a Western swing song written by Bob Wills, his father John Wills, and his brother, Billy Jack Wills. The tune is considered to be an exemplar of the Western swing fiddle component of American fiddle.The melody came from an old fiddle tune Bob learned from his father, John Wills....
", appeared on the Tiffanys as a fairly swinging instrumental unlike the ballad it became when lyrics were added in 1950.
Wills and the Texas Playboys played dances throughout the West to more than 10,000 people every week. They held dance attendance records at Jantzen Beach
Jantzen Beach
Jantzen Beach Amusement Park was a popular amusement park from 1928 to 1970 in Portland, Oregon, on Hayden Island in the middle of the Columbia River. "The Coney Island of the West" opened on May 26, 1928 as the largest amusement park in the nation, covering over at the northern tip of...
in Portland, Oregon; Santa Monica, California, and at the Oakland (California) Auditorium, where they drew 19,000 people in two nights. Wills also broke an attendance record of 2,100 previously held by Jan Garbner at the Armory in Klamath Falls, Oregon, by attracting 2,514 dancers.
Actor Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
recalled seeing Wills when he was 18 or 19 (1948 or 1949) and working at a pulp mill in Springfield
Springfield, Oregon
Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield is the second-most populous city in the metropolitan area...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
Appearances at the Bostonia Ballroom in San Diego continued throughout the 1950s.
Still a binge drinker, Wills became increasingly unreliable in the late 1940s, causing a rift with Tommy Duncan (who bore the brunt of audience anger when Wills's binges prevented him from appearing). It ended when he fired Duncan in the fall of 1948.
Winding down
Having lived a lavish lifestyle in California, in 1949 Wills moved back to Oklahoma City, then went back on the road to maintain his payroll and Wills Point. An even more disastrous business decision came when he opened a second club, the Bob Wills Ranch House in Dallas, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Turning the club over to managers later revealed to be dishonest left Wills in desperate financial straits with heavy debts to the IRS
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
for back tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
es that caused him to sell many assets including, mistakenly, the rights to "New San Antonio Rose." It wrecked him financially.
In 1950 Wills had two Top Ten hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love
Faded Love
"Faded Love" is a Western swing song written by Bob Wills, his father John Wills, and his brother, Billy Jack Wills. The tune is considered to be an exemplar of the Western swing fiddle component of American fiddle.The melody came from an old fiddle tune Bob learned from his father, John Wills....
". After 1950 radio stations began to increasingly specialize in one form or another of commercially popular music. Wills did not fit into the popular Nashville country and western stations, although he was usually labeled "country and western". Neither did he fit into the pop or middle of the road stations, although he played a good deal of pop music, and was not accepted in the pop music world.
He continued to tour and record through the 1950s into the early 1960s, despite the fact that Western swing's popularity, even in the Southwest, had greatly diminished. Bob could draw "a thousand people on Monday night between 1950 and 1952, but he could not do that by 1956. Entertainment habits had changed."
On Wills' return to Tulsa late in 1957, Jim Downing of the Tulsa Tribune
Tulsa Tribune
The Tulsa Tribune was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1919 to 1992. Owned and run by three generations of the Jones family, the Tribune closed in 1992 after the termination of its joint operating agreement with the morning Tulsa World.-Antecedents:In 1895, a group of...
wrote an article headlined "Wills Brothers Together Again — Bob Back with Heavy Beat". The article quotes Wills as saying, "Rock and Roll? Why, man, that's the same kind of music we've been playin' since 1928!...We didn't call it rock and roll back when we introduced it as our style back in 1928, and we don't call it rock and roll the way we play it now. But it's just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. It's the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments. The rhythm's what's important."
Even a 1958 return to KVOO, where his younger brother Johnnie Lee Wills
Johnnie Lee Wills
Johnnie Lee Wills was an American Western swing fiddler popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:Wills was born in Jewett, Texas, and was the younger brother of Bob Wills. He played banjo with Bob as a member of the Texas Playboys starting in 1934, the year the ensemble began playing on KVOO-AM...
had maintained the family's presence, did not produce the success he hoped for. He appeared twice on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA and kept the band on the road into the 1960s. After two heart attacks, in 1965 he dissolved the Texas Playboys (who briefly continued as an independent unit) to perform solo with house bands. While he did well in Las Vegas and other areas, and made records for the Kapp Records
Kapp Records
Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp . David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca Records and RCA Victor Records. Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK.In 1967, David Kapp sold his label to MCA Inc...
label, he was largely a forgotten figure — even though inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum identifies and preserves the evolving history and traditions of country music and educates its audiences...
in 1968. A 1969 stroke left his right side paralyzed, ending his active career.
The May 26, 1975 issue of TIME
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
(Milestones section) read: "Died. Bob Wills, 70, "Western Swing" bandleader-composer; of pneumonia; in Fort Worth. Wills turned out dance tunes that are now called country rock, introducing with his Texas Playboys such C & W classics as Take Me Back to Tulsa and New San Antonio Rose".
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | Together Again (w/ Tommy Duncan) | Liberty | |
| 1961 | A Living Legend | ||
| 1961 | Mr. Words & Mr. Music (w/ Tommy Duncan) | ||
| 1963 | Bob Wills Sings and Plays | ||
| 1965 | Bob Wills Keepsake Album #1 | Longhorn | |
| 1966 | From the Heart of Texas | 33 | Kapp |
| 1967 | King of Western Swing | 43 | |
| 1968 | Here's That Man Again | 24 | |
| 1974 | For the Last Time | 28 | United Artists |
| 1975 | The Best of Bob Wills Vol. II | 36 | MCA |
| 1976 | Remembering...The Greatest Hits of Bob Wills | 46 | Columbia |
| Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys in Concert | 44 | Capitol | |
| 1977 | 24 Great Hits by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys | 39 | MGM |
Singles
| Year | Single | US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 | "Osage Stomp (Rukus Juice Shuffle)" | Vocalion 03096 | |
| "Good Old Oklahoma" | Vocalion 3086 | ||
| "Spanish Two Step New Spanish Two Step "New Spanish Two Step" is a Western swing standard based on a traditional fiddle tune,"Spanish Two Step," which was one of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys signature songs. Wills and his vocalist, Tommy Duncan, added lyrics to reflect the title:-Bibliography:... " |
Vocalion 03230 | ||
| "Maiden's Prayer Maiden's Prayer "A Maiden's Prayer" is a composition of Polish composer Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska , which was published in 1856 in Warsaw, and then as a supplement to the Revue et gazette musicale de Paris in 1859.The piece is a medium difficulty short... " |
Vocalion 03924 | ||
| "I'm Sitting on Top of the World Sitting on Top of the World "Sitting on Top of the World" is a folk-blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon, core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, a popular country blues band of the 1930s... " |
Vocalion 3139 | ||
| 1936 | "Steel Guitar Rag Steel Guitar Rag "Steel Guitar Rag" is the seminal Western swing instrumental credited with popularizing the steel guitar as an integral instrument in a Western band.... " |
Vocalion 03394 | |
| "Right or Wrong Right or Wrong (song) "Right or Wrong" is a jazz ballad from 1921. Composed by Arthur Sizemore and Paul Biese, with words by Haven Gillespie, it is described by the original sheet music as "a beautiful fox-trot ballad."The lyrics tell of the loss of a paramour... " |
Vocalion 03451 | ||
| 1937 | "Playboy Stomp" | Vocalion 03763 | |
| "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas" | Vocalion 03659 | ||
| 1938 | "Ida Red Ida Red "Ida Red" is an American traditional song of unknown origins. It is chiefly identified by variations of the chorus:Verses are unrelated, rather humorous, and free form, changing from performance to performance. Ida Red's identity is unknown, but is feminine in most uses.The earliest recording is a... " |
Vocalion 05079 | |
| "San Antonio Rose New San Antonio Rose "San Antonio Rose"/"New San Antonio Rose" was the signature song of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. "San Antonio Rose" was an instrumental song written by Bob Wills, who first recorded it with the Playboys in 1938. Band members added lyrics and it was retitled "New San Antonio Rose"... " |
Vocalion 04755 | ||
| "Beaumont Rag" | Vocalion 04999 | ||
| 1940 | "Corrine, Corrina" | OKeh 06530 | |
| "New San Antonio Rose New San Antonio Rose "San Antonio Rose"/"New San Antonio Rose" was the signature song of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. "San Antonio Rose" was an instrumental song written by Bob Wills, who first recorded it with the Playboys in 1938. Band members added lyrics and it was retitled "New San Antonio Rose"... " |
OKeh 6894 | ||
| "Time Changes Everything Time Changes Everything (song) "Time Changes Everything" is a Western swing standard written by Tommy Duncan, the long-time vocalist with Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys. Written as a ballad, the lyrics tell of a failed romance and of the hurt that has healed. Each verse ends with:... " |
OKeh 05753 | ||
| 1941 | "Maiden's Prayer Maiden's Prayer "A Maiden's Prayer" is a composition of Polish composer Tekla Bądarzewska-Baranowska , which was published in 1856 in Warsaw, and then as a supplement to the Revue et gazette musicale de Paris in 1859.The piece is a medium difficulty short... " |
OKeh 06205 | |
| "Take Me Back to Tulsa Take Me Back to Tulsa "Take Me Back To Tulsa" is a Western swing standard song. Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan added words to one of Bob Wills old fiddle tunes in 1940. The song takes its name from the chorus:The song is a series of unrelated, mostly nonsense, rhyming couplets, i.e.:Modern covers of the song, in order to... " |
OKeh 06101 | ||
| "My Life's Been a Pleasure" | OKeh 06676 | ||
| "Cherokee Maiden Cherokee Maiden "Cherokee Maiden" is a Western swing love song written by Cindy Walker. The title comes from a refrain in the chorus:Merle Haggard recorded "Cherokee Maiden" in 1976 . It spent 11 weeks on the charts, reaching #1.... " |
OKeh 06568 | ||
| "Dusty Skies" | OKeh 06598 | ||
| 1942 | "If You're from Texas" | OKeh 6722 | |
| "Let's Ride with Bob" | OKeh 6692 | ||
| 1944 | "New San Antonio Rose New San Antonio Rose "San Antonio Rose"/"New San Antonio Rose" was the signature song of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. "San Antonio Rose" was an instrumental song written by Bob Wills, who first recorded it with the Playboys in 1938. Band members added lyrics and it was retitled "New San Antonio Rose"... " |
3 | OKeh 5694 |
| "We Might as Well Forget It" | 2 | OKeh 6722 | |
| "You're from Texas" | 2 | ||
| 1945 | "Smoke on the Water Smoke On The Water (Red Foley song) "Smoke On The Water" is a 1944 song by Red Foley. The patriotic song was Foley's first song to hit No. 1 on the Folk Records charts, spending 13 weeks at the top and a total of 24 weeks on the chart. "Smoke On The Water" also peaked at No. 7 on the pop charts. The B-side of "Smoke On The Water"... " |
1 | OKeh 6736 |
| "Hang Your Head in Shame" | 3 | ||
| "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima "Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima" is a 1945 song by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. The song would be Bob Wills second number one on the Juke Box Folk charts, spending a single week at number one and a total of eleven weeks on the chart... " |
1 | OKeh 6742 | |
| "You Don't Care What Happens to Me" | 5 | ||
| "Texas Playboy Rag" | 2 | Columbia 36841 | |
| "Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight "Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight" is a 1945 song by Bob Wills. The song would be Bob Wills' third number one on the Juke Box Folk Record chart where it spent three weeks at the top with a total of fourteen weeks on the chart . The song was the B-side of " the instrumental, "Texas Playboy... " |
1 | ||
| 1946 | "White Cross on Okinawa White Cross on Okinawa "White Cross on Okinawa" is 1945 song by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. The song was Bob Wills' fourth number one on the Juke Box Folk chart where it spent a single week at the top and a total of five weeks on the chart .... " |
1 | Columbia 36881 |
| "New Spanish Two Step New Spanish Two Step "New Spanish Two Step" is a Western swing standard based on a traditional fiddle tune,"Spanish Two Step," which was one of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys signature songs. Wills and his vocalist, Tommy Duncan, added lyrics to reflect the title:-Bibliography:... " |
1 | Columbia 16966 | |
| "Roly Poly Roly Poly (song) "Roly Poly" is a humorous Western swing standard written by Fred Rose in 1946. In the song, Roly Poly is a very active boy who eats continuously to keep his strength up. Each verse ends with:"Roly Poly" was first recorded by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys in 1946, staying on the charts for 18... " |
3 | ||
| "Stay a Little Longer Stay A Little Longer "Stay a Little Longer" is a Western swing dance tune written by Bob Wills and Tommy Duncan. The title comes from a refrain in the chorus:*Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits. Billboard Books, 2006. ISBN 0-8230-8291-1... " |
2 | Columbia 37097 | |
| "I Can't Go on This Way" | 4 | ||
| 1947 | "I'm Gonna Be Boss from Now On" | 5 | Columbia 37205 |
| "Sugar Moon Sugar Moon "Sugar Moon" is a Western swing love song written by Bob Wills and Cindy Walker. The title comes from a refrain in the chorus:It has been covered by Willie Nelson, k.d. lang , Asleep at the Wheel, and other artists.... " |
1 | Columbia 37313 | |
| "Bob Wills Boogie" | 4 | Columbia 37357 | |
| 1948 | "Bubbles in My Beer" | 4 | MGM 10116 |
| "Keeper of My Heart" | 8 | MGM 10175 | |
| "Texarkana Baby Texarkana Baby (song) "Texarkana Baby" is a song by Fred Rose. It was made popular by Eddy Arnold and Bob Wills in 1948. Eddy Arnold and his Tennessee Plow Boys and his Guitar recorded it in New York City on January 6, 1947. It was released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-2806 in USA) and by EMI on the His... " |
15 | Columbia 38179 | |
| "Thorn in My Heart" | 10 | MGM 10236 | |
| 1950 | "Ida Red Likes the Boogie Ida Red "Ida Red" is an American traditional song of unknown origins. It is chiefly identified by variations of the chorus:Verses are unrelated, rather humorous, and free form, changing from performance to performance. Ida Red's identity is unknown, but is feminine in most uses.The earliest recording is a... " |
10 | MGM K10570 |
| "Faded Love Faded Love "Faded Love" is a Western swing song written by Bob Wills, his father John Wills, and his brother, Billy Jack Wills. The tune is considered to be an exemplar of the Western swing fiddle component of American fiddle.The melody came from an old fiddle tune Bob learned from his father, John Wills.... " |
8 | MGM K10786 | |
| 1960 | "Heart to Heart Talk" (w/ Tommy Duncan Tommy Duncan Thomas Elmer Duncan , better known as Tommy Duncan, was a pioneering American Western swing vocalist and songwriter who gained fame in the 1930s as a founding member of The Texas Playboys... ) |
5 | Liberty 55260 |
| 1961 | "The Image of Me" (w/ Tommy Duncan) | 26 | Liberty 55264 |
| 1976 | "Ida Red" (re-release) | 99 | Vocalion 05079 |
Legacy
Wills' style influenced performers Buck OwensBuck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
and Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
and helped to spawn a style of music now known as the Bakersfield Sound
Bakersfield sound
The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. The many hit singles were largely produced by Capitol Records country music head, Ken Nelson. Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly produced, string...
. (Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
was one of Wills' regular stops in his heyday). A 1970 tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
by Haggard directed a wider audience to Wills' music, as did the appearance of younger "revival" bands like Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
and the growing popularity of longtime Wills disciple and fan Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
. By 1971, Wills recovered sufficiently to travel occasionally and appear at tribute concerts. In 1973 he participated in a final reunion session with members of some the Texas Playboys from the 1930s to the 1960s. Merle Haggard was invited to play at this reunion. The session, scheduled for two days, took place in December 1973, with the album to be titled For the Last Time. Wills, speaking or attempting to holler, appeared on a couple tracks from the first day's session but suffered a stroke overnight. He had a more severe one a few days later. The musicians completed the album without him. Wills by then was comatose. He lingered until his death on May 13, 1975.
In addition to being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968, Wills was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is uniquely associated with music community in the city of...
in 1970, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
in the Early Influence category along with the Texas Playboys in 1999, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award is awarded by the Recording Academy to "performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording."...
in 2007.
From the 1970s until his 2002 death, Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
performed a song called "Bob Wills is Still the King". In addition, The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
performed this song live in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
at Zilker Park
Zilker Park
Zilker Metropolitan Park is a recreational area in the heart of south Austin that comprises over of publicly owned land. It is named after its benefactor Andrew Jackson Zilker, who donated the land to the city in 1917. It was developed into the park during the Great Depression in the 1930s...
for their DVD The Biggest Bang. In a 1968 issue of Guitar Player, rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
said of Wills and the Playboys: "I dig them. The Grand Ole Opry used to come on, and I used to watch that. They used to have some pretty heavy cats, some heavy guitar players."
Wills ranked No. 27 in "CMT
CMT
- Medicine :* California mastitis test* Certified Massage Therapist* Cervical motion tenderness, a sign of pelvic inflammatory disease* Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease* Chemically modified tetracyclines* Circus Movement Tachycardia...
's 40 Greatest Men in Country Music" in 2003.
Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
once remarked that he patterned his 1960 rhythm section after that of Bob Wills.
During the 49th Grammy Awards, Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood
Carrie Marie Underwood is an American country singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005...
performed his song "San Antonio Rose". Today, George Strait
George Strait
George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...
performs Wills' music on concert tours and also records songs greatly reflecting the magic of Wills and his Texas-style swing.
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
, the Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
-based Western swing band has been paying homage to Wills for over 35 years, best demonstrated by their continuing performances of the musical drama A Ride With Bob which debuted in Austin in March 2005 to coincide with celebrations of Wills' 100th birthday.
Another band that contributes to keeping the Western swing tradition alive are The Armadillos, who hail from Manchester, England and have been performing for more than 15 years.
In 2004, a documentary film about his life and music music, entitled Fiddlin' Man: The Life and Times of Bob Wills, was released by VIEW Inc.
In 2011, Proper Records
Proper Records
Proper Records is a record label founded in 1988 by Malcolm Mills and Paul Riley. Commencing with a handful of releases, including The Balham Alligators and Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, the label grew in stature and renown through its reissue marque, 'Proper Box', whose 4CD boxsets for...
released an album by Hot Club of Cowtown titled What Makes Bob Holler: A Tribute to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.
See also
- Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park)
June 17, 2011, the 82nd Texas Legislature created Senate Concurrent Resolution 35, Signed by Texas Govenor Rick Perry, making Western Swing music the Official Music of Texas.