Another artist that belongs to that group, but that is often overlooked in some circles, is Bob Wills. Along with his Texas Playboys, Wills has influenced many with his blend of country, blues and jazz. George Jones recorded a tribute in 1962 (<I>George Jones Sings Bob Wills</I>), Merle Haggard produced his tribute in 1970 (<I>A Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player In The World (Or My Salute To Bob Wills)</I>).During the “Outlaw” movement, Willie placed a Wills song prominently on his <I>Shotgun Willie</I> album and continues to perform “Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer)” in his shows. In 1975, just prior to Wills’ death, Waylon recorded his proclamation that “Bob Wills is Still the King.” Wills’ songs have been covered by artists such as Ray Price, Johnny Cash, Tim McGraw and the Dixie Chicks.
Wills began his career working with medicine shows in 1929 before forming his first band, “The Bob Wills Fiddle Band,” in 1930. In 1931 joins the Lightcrust Doughboys, sponsored by Burris Mill. After a couple of years the Dougboys split and two of the preeminent Texas Sing bands are formed – Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies. Both bands travel around Texas and Oklahoma in a musical rivalry until Brown died in 1936.
Although other Texas Swing bands were popping up, Wills and the Playboys were the kings. As people began to make their way to California from Oklahoma, Wills started touring the Golden State heavily as most of its newer residents were familiar with his music. And this is where the Tiffany Transcriptions enter the picture.
In the early days of radio, the majority of music was played live and music played from a record was looked down upon. Every community with a local station pulled in musicians from the community to supply music for the station, often at no cost to the station. This was well and good, but often a radio station would want to feature a bigger name act, but bringing one in, especially in the early 1940s, was costly. So transcriptions began to come in vogue.
A transcription was a 16” 78 RPM acetates that an artist would take into the studio and perform their show on, often with recorded commercials for their sponsor. The larger size of disc enabled the bands to play more songs per side and to record slightly longer songs, if desired. These discs were then licensed to radio station so that they might have marquee artists on their station. (They were also used, as in the case of the recently released “Mother’s Best” Hank Williams shows, when the headline artist was going to be out of town.)
In 1945 Wills partnered with California disc jockey Cliff Johnson (better known as “Cactus” Jack) and businessman Clifford Sundin to form Tiffany Music with the idea that they would record transcriptions of Wills and the Texas Playboys to license to radio stations in both California and Oklahoma and points in between. (The story of the founding of the company is detailed in the fantastic liner notes by Western Swing expert Rich Kienzle.) Assembling the band at the end of a couple of tours, one in 1946, the other in 1947, Wills and the band ran through many of their hits and several songs by others that the Playboys would never record commercially. In all they recorded 26 discs of 10 songs each, including the “Texas Playboy Theme” that opened and closed each show. Of the 26 discs, 24 were circulated and following a tepid response, the company shut down.
Cliff Sundin retained ownership of the discs until his death in 1981. Beginning in 1983 Kaleidoscope Records began releasing selections from the Transcriptions on LP, releasing a total of 10 volumes through the 1990s. In the early ‘90s, Rhino licensed the material and released them on CD. After a couple of initial runs the CDs went out of print save a couple of volumes.
Collector’s Choice Music has now released these ten volumes, exactly as the original Kaleidoscope LPs were released, in a ten-volume boxed set. Each CD replicates the original LP packaging, which open to include brief liner notes by one of the Playboys and session information. Volumes 1 through 9 include the classic Playboys line-ups as they run through 14 songs (16 on Vol. 4, which leaves the opening and closing ‘Texas Playboy Themes” intact.). Vol. 10 is an addendum to the original 9-volume set and includes 22 tracks by the McKinney Sisters (Dean and Evelyn), two female singers who perform with the Playboys on the rest of the Transcription recordings as background singers. Volume 10 provides an overlooked slice of Western Swing – the female vocalist.
Two years ago <I>Legends of Country Music – Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys</I> boxed set was released and included 105 songs that ranged Wills’ entire career. That set provides an excellent introduction to Wills work and history for those who aren’t familiar with Western Swing. So the question to be answered is if you have that set, or plan on getting it, is it worth the money for the more costly 10-volume Transcription set?
If you are a fan of Wills and/or Western Swing, the answer is a resounding yes!
While many of the songs from the Transcriptions are also on the <I>Legends</I> set, such as “Steel Guitar Rag,” “San Antonio Rose,” Beaumont Rag” and “Sittin’ On Top Of The World,” the difference is in the playing. While the original recordings often feature the same band, they were done in a recording studio environment where the session was booked well in advance the players come in cold to record. On the Transcriptions, the band was just ending a series of show dates and was in full live mode, letting it swing more freely than on previous recordings. For example, “Sittin’ On Top Of The World” appears on the <Legends</I> set and shows the band in fine form, sticking closely to the loping tempo with more emphasis on the horns in the band, giving the track a slight Dixieland feel with short breaks by the trombone, acoustic guitar and the twin fiddles in the 3 minute 18 second take. The Transcriptions versions stretches to 4 minutes and 52 seconds and features a bluesier feel while giving solo room to piano (Millard Kelso), steel guitar (Noel Boggs), fiddle (Louis Tierney), electric guitar (Jr. Barnard) and another fiddle (Joe Holley) over top of Luke Wills solid bass. This is just one example of the music on the Transcriptions. It’s looser, highlighting individual players and giving a wonderful example of what it must have been like to see one of the greatest ensembles live in their prime. For Western Swing fans, this is an indispensable set.
One question remains unanswered. By my calculations, if you take out the two theme tracks from each disc there would be 208 existing tracks. The Tiffany Transcriptions contain 150 songs, leaving at least 58 tracks unaccounted for. Will we ever hear these tracks after our appetite has bee whetted by this historic and long-overdue release?
The Rowdy Prairie Dogs are one of those bands you hear and assume they’re from the south. In fact this bluesy Americana band hail from Madison, Wisconsin, home to several other bands featured in the past on this site. They say they’re northern boys with a southern heart. The band consists of Robert J. – Singer/songwriter/guitar/harmonica; Tom Dehlinger – Pedal Steel, Lap steel, Dobro, Mando, guitar; Ron Granberg – Drums; Joe McCloskey – Bass, vocals and Michael Tully – Guitars, vocals. Leaning heavily on Robert J’s voice which sound as if finely marinated in whiskey and smoke, the band has released a killer cd full of great music with all the flavors of Americana on its ingredient list.
