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Bob Wills is indeed still the King of Country Music, once you cross that ol' Red River (w/tip of the hat to the late Waylon Jennings who I'll bet is sitting in on some of the 'new' sessions upstairs ;)... I found it notable and appropriate that Bob Wills left his fiddle to noneother than Merle Haggard, who performed with Bob Wills and his band on their last album production in 1973. As I recall the story, Merle made it known that he really wanted 'in' on the session, and he was told "Merle, this kinda work only pays union scale" and Merle laughed and said "Union scale? Are you kidding? I'd pay THEM!" - and the universal agreement among the Playboys was that Merle was always a Texas Playboy at heart, if not with the actual band.

I have a copy of that actual final album 'Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys For The Last Time', and if you ever have the chance to pick it up, be SURE that the book is included with it, written by Charles R. Townsend, who wrote the biography of Wills "San Antonio Rose: The Life and Music of Bob Wills" (1974) it is a wonderful read and there won't be any dry eyes by the time you're done with it.

They broke the mold after Bob Wills, and it was the right thing to do.