[78-L] books on western swing

[Cary Ginell]

For me, the first set to really get me interested in early Wills was "The Bob Wills Anthology" - a 2 LP set on Columbia, issued around 1973. When Wills held his last session that December, after suffering a stroke and not being able to do anything except utter a few hoarse hollers, that was it for me. One of the most dramatic, poignant recording sessions ever. I rooted for him to pull through for more than a year, but he finally died in May 1975. It was then that I discovered Chris Strachwitz's Old Timey LP reissues of other western swing bands' recordings from this period and that really opened my eyes to the fact that not only wasn't Wills the only game in town, but all the other bands sounded similar to Milton Brown's than to Wills's. This made me start wondering which band was more influential in the early years. From the very start, Wills' bands had horns, but few others ever did. Then Tony Russell's String compilations came out, which featured more of the bands from the Houston scene, and darned if they didn't copy Brown as well. I interviewed members of the Texas Playboys in 1977, when they came out here to play a gig at Knott's Berry Farm, and all Leon McAuliffe could talk about was Bob Dunn. It took a few years for me to get to Texas, but when I did, in 1981, I found Ocie Stockard, Roscoe Pierce, and Buster Ferguson, and through them, Milton Brown's brother Roy Lee, and that was it for me. Brown was always the unsung hero of western swing. Townsend will probably tell you differently in his interview today on WKCR, but it will be interesting listening.

Incidentally, the Brownies recorded 49 tracks in 3 days during their last session in New Orleans in March 1936. All were issued and nearly all were first takes. By contrast, Wills' most prolific early session, September 29-30, 1936, produced 32 tracks, of which 15 were unissued. This tells you a little about how accomplished the two bands were at the time. Wills' bands were always exciting but ragged and uneven, while Brown's were thoroughly professional and ran like clockwork. That's the difference between the two men at this point in their careers. 

Cary Ginell

> Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2011 09:35:15 +0100
> From: julianvein at blueyonder.co.uk
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] books on western swing
> 
> Bill McClung wrote:
> > Thanks.  I didn't list "San Antonio Rose" because Cary mentioned it and I
> > didn't think I needed to.  It is a valuable book and Cary is very
> > gracious in the ways he refers to Mr. Townsend in his Milton Brown book.
> > But I still think the book on the history of western swing is still to be
> > written.  It is such a rich music.  It is the comfort music I always seem to
> > fall back on when I get tired of others.
> ======================
> It's the sheer exuberance and enthusiasm that gets to me. How many bands 
> in other genres could enter a recording studio for the first time and 
> reel off perhaps twenty performances in one day? No studio nerves there!
> 
> Before I got interested in western swing in the mid-1970s I barely knew 
> anything about it and other country music. I'd heard of Bob Wills, but 
> never heard him and I'd probably heard Jimmie Rodgers, and thought that 
> that was all there was. Correction, also The Sons of the Pioneers' 
> "Tumbling Tumbleweed". It was Tony Russell's String label reissues and 
> the Bill Boyd Bluebird double that got me hooked.
> 
>        Julian Vein
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