[78-L] Unissued western swing on Bear Family

[Cary Ginell]

Easy. The "new" prefix simply means that lyrics were added to an earlier recorded instrumental. "San Antonio Rose" (a variant of "Spanish Two-Step") was recorded as an instrumental in 1938. Lyrics were added for the 1940 recording. The same goes for other Wills recordings, including "Spanish Two-Step," "Maiden's Prayer," "Texas Playboy Rag," and the like. 

What's interesting is that the sound of the Texas Playboys was totally different by that time. The 1938 sessions featured the sounds of a string band while the 1940 group was no different than any of the swing bands of the period led by Dorsey, Goodman, Miller, et. al. No stringed instruments can be heard on "New San Antonio Rose," except maybe a rhythm guitar in the background, if you could hear it at all. The rest was horns. As popular as this recording became, it alienated many of Wills' fans, who preferred to hear Wills play fiddle and the sound of a string band. Wills took his innovation a little too far for the time. Wills removed nearly all of the horns, and never had more than one or two in any of his subsequent groups, usually a reed instrument and a muted trumpet. 

Cary Ginell

> From: kil at roadrunner.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2011 22:47:03 -0400
> Subject: Re: [78-L] Unissued western swing on Bear Family
> 
> Cary, here's a question I've never seen the answer to here or any other 
> place.  What is the difference between NEW SAN ANTONIO ROSE and SAN ANTONIO 
> ROSE, and the same for others like NEW SPANISH TWO STEP.
> RayK
> 
> 
> From: Cary Ginell
> Just listened to this CD and the sound quality is quite incredible. The 
> vocals on the small groups bring forth nuances that you could not hear on a 
> 78, and it's pretty astounding what kind of quality Columbia was getting in 
> the late '30s and early '40s on these field sessions. The songs themselves 
> are hit-and-miss, however, hearing the roaring steel guitar of Emil Hofner, 
> the hot fiddle of Leon Selph, and various and sundry primitive amplified 
> instruments make this a relevatory set to listen to. Bear Family has also 
> maxed out the amount of music you can put on a CD, cramming in 31 songs and 
> over 84 minutes of material. It's also nice to see that Bear Family has gone 
> green in its packaging, dispensing with the clumsy jewel case in favor of a 
> sleeker fold-out cardboard model with a plastic Digipak-style insert. Also 
> plenty of photographs, enlarged sufficiently to see faces (not like in some 
> other European product). Kevin Coffey's notes reveal a number of 
> revelations, including
> the tantalizing possibility that the lyrics to "New San Antonio Rose" may 
> have been penned by the Nite Owls' electric steel guitarist Bobby Symons, as 
> evidenced by a vintage lyric sheet kept by Symons' widow. She claims that 
> her husband sold the words to Bob Wills for $30. Coffey reports some 
> "fascinating differences" between Symons' version and the one that Wills 
> finally used, but doesn't elaborate, possibly saving that for another time. 
> These kinds of stories are rife in western swing, especially in light of the 
> presence of notorious song-grabbers like Jimmie Davis, who never met a hit 
> he wouldn't underpay for. Wills was known to have bought songs himself, so 
> it's possible, though not provable at this late date, that the San 
> Antonio-based Symons may have had a hand in writing the most celebrated 
> western swing song of all. Nice job, Bear Family!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> 78-L mailing list
> 78-L at klickitat.78online.com
> http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l