[78-L] Bob Wilsl/Texas Playboys anniversary

[Cary Ginell]

To show everyone that I'm not a mypoc, single-minded Milton Brown fanatic, today is the 75th anniversary of the conclusion of the initial recording sessions in Dallas by Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys. The 3-day session officially entered Wills into the western swing derby - Contrary to many unschooled fans' belief, Wills was not the first to record western swing - He was beaten by the Fort Worth Doughboys, The Westerners (Massey Family), Milton Brown & his Brownies, the Light Crust Doughboys, Roy Newman & his Boys, and Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers, to mention just a few. Still - the Wills session was important in that it established horns as an important element of the genre and marked the recording debut of Tommy Duncan, one of the greatest of all w.s. vocalists. Also making their recording debuts that week were pianist Al Stricklin, Smokey Dacus (western swing's first recorded drummer), and fiddler Jesse Ashlock. Leon McAuliffe also made his debut playing electric standard and steel guitar. 
 
Although musically ragged at times, Wills' Vocalion session bristled with energy and innovation, and produced some outstanding western swing titles, inluding "Osage Stomp," "Get With It," "I Can't Give You Anything But Love," "Old Fashioned Love," "Oklahoma Rag," and "I Can't Be Satisfied," building upon what Milton Brown started three years before when he formed his Musical Brownies. On September 25, the third day of the session, Wills and guitarist Sleepy Johnson recorded four fiddle-and-guitar duets, two of which were issued on ARC 6-11-58. It was a remarkable start to a recording career that would last 38 years. It took a series of strokes to finally prevent Wills from recording - he suffered his final stroke in the middle of what would be his last session in December 1973, a stroke from which he never recovered. He died on May 13, 1975 at the age of 70.
 
The early sessions by Bob Wills were the first to stimulate my interest in western swing and I still get a charge out of listening to the original 78s.
 
Cary Ginell