"The Texas Playboys are ooon the air!!"
Posted on 05/13/2006 3:36:08 PM PDT by fgoodwin
I got news for the headline writer, Bob Wills was MUCH more than a "fiddler".
That's like saying Edward Teller played with atoms for a hobby.
Amen! My dad loved him. I grew up with Texas Playboy records playing in our house. Always have loved "Texas Swing". I read where he wasn't a very nice guy, but I still loved his music.
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I learned to play fiddle from Bob Wills records, and have been doing so for over 50 years. I wish I could have met him in person.
Ahh Ha.
Bob Wills is still the king!!!!
One of my cousins was a whale of a "fiddler" who played with the Crazy Water Crystals band out of Mineral Wells, Tx. Bob Wills once offered him a job - at $75 per week. My cousin turned him down.
I used to listen every day to Will's Light Crust Doughboys over WBAP/WFAA Fort Worth/Dallas. W. Lee O'Daniel was their "Master of Ceremonies". Really enjoyed them.
A salute to the memory of Bob Wills who played the fiddle like no other. Lots of danceable music and enjoyable to listen to . "Take Me Back to Tulsa" is still a favorite of mine. "Liberty" is husbands fav.
The Playboys are still playing - without the King, of course, and another Mineral Wells boy is among them. My husband's nephew plays with them. They are still great.
Take it away, Leon...
"Roly Poly, daddy's little fatty..."
The music will live on forever.
"We're the Light Crust Doughboys ... from Burrus Mills."
Can't you hear him? Ah hah!!
And later, of course:
"We're the Texas Playboys ... from the Lone Star State!"
Or, coming to you from Cain's Ballroom, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"The Texas Playboys are ooon the air!!"
A real jumpin' Bob Wills tune that I seldom hear is "Get With It", from the earlier days if I'm not mistaken.
Bob Wills is to music what Will Rogers is to Americana, and one musician and his band that has done a great deal to preserve Texas Swing is Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel.
Both Jim Robs, FR and Wills!
Not a mention of "Faded Love"? My favorite. His daddy wrote the tune ... then Jim Rob and his bro Billy Jack Wills wrote the melancholy words ...
"...I miss you, darlin', more and more ev'ry day ...
As heaven would miss the stars above ...
With ev'ry heartbeat, I still think of you ...
And remember our faded love.
The Pride of Turkey, Texas! They just had Bob Wills Day in Turkey a couple of weeks ago. I wonder how many Playboys are left now who can come to the Playboy Reunion. I haven't kept up.
"Deep Within My Heart Lies a Melody ..."
That's Jim Rob's epitaph. I was so fortunate to have met him several times in my youth and to have spent time with some Playboys - except my favorite, Leon McAuliffe - only got to be in the audience with him long ago - and help with some research for his widow's foundation - also long ago.
Ray Benson says that Western Swing didn't die with Bob Wills, it was just Asleep at the Wheel!
What about "Big Balls in Cowtown"? LOL. I loved "Cherokee Maiden".
"Why don't we take a trip back to that Cherokee Strip ... and I'll carry her away with me ... and ... straight as an eagle flies ... we'll ride to paradise ... my sweet little chickadee, my little Cherokee ... Maiden ... and me!"
Ah hah!
Yeah, over KVOO. Good old memories. Johnny Lee Wills was at Cains for a lot of years with Leon McAuliffe.
Johnny Lee had a boot store in Tulsa, if I recall correctly, but I think I read that he died recently.
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