[78-L] Unissued western swing on Bear Family

[David Lewis]

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
Just the other day I watched the 1944 Vitaphone short "Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys." I did not expect to come away thinking that it was sort of "strange," but I did. Bob Wills is a weird looking guy; obviously smiling and cheating to the crowd, but having a constant air of having something else on his mind, or up his sleeve; if it was the latter, he didn't produce any rabbits in hats or card tricks, so there was that feeling of unrelieved tension. The Western Swing aspect of his show was presented in the short as part of a larger agenda, like it was another trick that Bob could play to help broaden his popularity, not as the main thing which made him famous. At the end there was a duet by Bob and another gentleman where Bob was interjecting his part, rather than singing it -- a sort of involved, not involved, throw out the funny voice here and again gag duet. 

As much as Wills was great on records, I'm not so sure his act was cut out for the movies.  

Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis at hotmail.com