Rufus Thibodeaux
Posted on 05/13/2006 3:36:08 PM PDT by fgoodwin
May 13, 1975: Fiddler Bob Wills dies
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/daybyday/05-13-002.html
On this day in 1975, Texas swing musician James Robert (Bob) Wills died.
He was born in 1905, near Kosse, Limestone County, Texas. In 1913 his family moved to Hall County, where Wills learned to play the fiddle; in 1915 he played at his first dance. He played for ranch dances in West Texas for the next fourteen years, and his life and career were greatly influenced by that environment. During that time he brought together two streams of American folk music to produce western swing. He had learned frontier fiddle music from his father and grandfather, and blues from black playmates and coworkers in the cottonfields of East and West Texas.
In 1929 Wills moved to Fort Worth, where he performed on several radio stations, organized a band that became the Light Crust Doughboys, and worked for a future governor of Texas and United States senator, W. Lee O'Daniel. In 1934 Wills moved to Oklahoma, where he made radio and musical history with his broadcasts over Station KVOO. During his years in Tulsa (1934-43) he and his new group, the Texas Playboys, continued to develop the swinging western sound he had pioneered in West Texas, and his recording of his composition "New San Antonio Rose" (1940) made him a national figure in popular music.
By the time of his death in 1975, he had received numerous honors, including a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
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May 13, 1975 The inventor of western swing dies
http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=oldwest&month=10272957&day=10272978 http://tinyurl.com/rskwf
Bob Wills, one of the most influential musicians in the history of country-western music, is born on a small farm near Kosse, Texas.
Born James Robert Wills in 1905, he was trained to be a musician from an early age. His father was a champion fiddle player, and he began giving Wills lessons as soon as the boy could hold the instrument. By the time he was 10, Wills was a skilled fiddler and a competent guitar and mandolin player.
Wills left home at 16 and worked various jobs, like picking cotton and preaching. He eventually joined a traveling medicine show, where he played fiddle and met Herman Arnspiger, a Texas farm boy who had learned to play guitar from a Sears catalog guitar book. The pair began playing at dances and parties around Fort Worth, and after adding a singer, won a regular radio gig performing as the Light Crust Doughboys.
In 1933, the group separated and Wills formed the band that would make him famous: Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. With the Playboys, Wills perfected his hard-driving country-western sound, which drew heavily on the rhythms of the popular jazz-swing bands of the era. Wills' fiddle playing sounded nothing like the traditional folk music he had heard as a child. By using strong beats and syncopation, he produced a sound that seemed to cry out for dancing.
Wills eventually added drums, brass, and woodwinds to the Texas Playboys, making himself into a country-western bandleader in the style of Benny Goodman or Artie Shaw. Several of his bands were as large as 22 pieces, and Wills worked with more than 600 musicians in his long career. In 1940, Wills took some of the Playboys to Hollywood, where the band appeared in a number of western movies that won them a nationwide following. Among their many hits were highly danceable tunes like, "Take Me Back to Tulsa," "Bubbles in My Beer," and the ever popular "San Antonio Rose." All told, Wills has sold more than 20 million records to date
Many critics have argued Wills and the Texas Playboys had a greater influence on the sounds of country-western music than any other performer or group. In recognition of his achievements, Wills was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968. He believed his chances of winning were so slim he was backstage chatting with friends when the award was announced. When he was finally tracked down and brought on stage, he said, "I don't usually take my hat off to nobody. But I sure do to you folks."
Stricken by a series of severe strokes, he died seven years later at the age of 70.
Big Balls in Cowtown!
That was my daddy's favorite to sing to me, even though I'm a girl and I wasn't *real* fat *then.*
October 25, 1984
http://www.texasplayboys.net/Biographies/johnnie_lee_wills.htm
My favorite western music!
BOB WILLS AND THE TEXAS PLAYBOYS!
I have many of their records and now a couple of cds.
My 3yr old grandson just sang some of that to me on the phone the other night including the "Ah-ha". I need to learn how to record him singing that into my computer, it was too cute.
Rufus Thibodeaux
Wow, that 1973. He was in a coma for two years after that!
I love this story from Al Stricklin, who only became a Texas Playboy much, much later - long after this happened:
http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fstbx.html
"In 1930 Al Stricklin was the assistant program director at radio station KFJZ in Fort Worth. A frightened secretary cried out one morning: "Mr. Stricklin, will you please come in here a moment."
He rushed into the reception room and saw "three guys standing there, and they were hungry looking, and they needed a shave. One of them had something in a flour sack; the other one had a guitar strapped across his back, hanging over his back like he carrying a rifle or something."
Stricklin was almost as startled as the secretary. "It was Mr. Bob Wills," he said, "with his fiddle in a flour sack." Wills asked Stricklin for an audition. Wills and his band then performed on KFJZ. "They called two days later from the post office and said there was so much mail for the station one man couldn't carry it, better bring a pickup or something."
I know it's "... straight as an ARROW flies ... we'll ride to paradise ...."
Eagle works, too - but it's wrong!
"Stay all night, stay a little longer ... dance all night, dance a little longer ... take off your *shoes* and throw 'em in the corner ... don't see why you don't stay a little longer."
Bob was dying as they recorded "For The Last Time" -- everybody in the band knew it. They carried him in and out of the studio. In fact, he was too sick to attend some of the sessions, so other members of the band stood in for him -- doing his bits on the fiddle or hollering.
Nonetheless, there is so much life, so much energy and vitality in those recordings, it is simply amazing.
In "My Years With Bob Wills", Stricklin also tells a wonderful story about the band arriving in San Antonio for the first time after the release of "The New San Antonio Rose". They had played San Angelo the night before and picked up WOAI on the bus radio on the way to San Antone -- discovering that their scheduled appearance was the biggest thing that had happened in town since the Alamo.
The downtown streets were crowded just to welcome their bus. They could hardly make their way into the lobby of the Menger (I believe it was)...and it took them over an hour to work their way back through the crowds to the auditorium.
Once they began playing, the crowd made it clear they were there to hear one song...and they wanted it NOW! When Bob acquiesced and kicked off New San Antonio Rose, the crowd went berserk.
They played it through three encores...then the crowd rushed the stage...and the concert was over. Every man for himself!
And we thought rock concerts were unruly...
Mine, too.
"In 1934 Wills moved to Oklahoma, where he made radio and musical history with his broadcasts over Station KVOO. During his years in Tulsa (1934-43) he and his new group, the Texas Playboys, continued to develop the swinging western sound he had pioneered in West Texas, and his recording of his composition "New San Antonio Rose" (1940) made him a national figure in popular music."
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Bob Wills was a Tulsan before I was born, but he left a lasting impression on our city. Bob Wills fans will find this interesting, I think: http://www.sandspringsmuseum.org/Virtual%20Tour%20WS.htm
Yes!! and "Cotton Eyed Joe". "San Antonio Rose" is hard to best.
Thanks for the links - I couldn't see all the Cain's Ballroom pix, but will go back and try them again.
I got lost in some memories there for a little while, with the mention of the Cimarron Ballroom and Leon McAuliffe. I spent some time there, too.
But what amazed me was something else I found. There was a mention that Garth Brooks had one of his last appearances in Oklahoma at the Cimarron in 1986, with his band "Santa Fe."
That rang a bell and I realized that Garth was one of a group of country singers I had worked with and escorted around for a national contest for one of my clients. His group didn't win the finals in OKC, where I met them, they came in 3rd - but I remembered them instantly.
Funny, I've always been a fan of his, but I didn't remember him specifically until now.
Ah hah!
I was just hearing a tune in my head like "It's just Johnnie Lee and all the boys ...." or "Johnnie Lee Wills and all the boys ..." - a little sing-song ditty. That must have been a jingle on one of his KVOO shows.
I would have never known about Bob Wills had it not been for Rick Jackson's radio show. It's a complete and total shame that we can't get it here in Nashville.
Rick Jackson's show should be required listening for *ANY* country fan. It's the talk radio of country music.
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