Born, on this day in 1905: Bob Wills

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Tue Mar 6, 2018, 01:36 PM - Edit history (2)

Hat tip, http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/

Bob Wills



Bob Wills Wills c. 1946

James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western swing, he was universally known as the King of Western Swing (although Spade Cooley self-promoted the moniker "King Of Western Swing" from 1942 to 1969).

Wills formed several bands and played radio stations around the South and West until he formed the Texas Playboys in 1934 with Wills on fiddle, Tommy Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass. The band played regularly on a Tulsa, Oklahoma radio station and added Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar, pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey Dacus, and a horn section that expanded the band's sound. Wills favored jazz-like arrangements and the band found national popularity into the 1940s with such hits as "Steel Guitar Rag", "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke On The Water", "Stars And Stripes On Iwo Jima", and "New Spanish Two Step".

Since this is also the day in 1836 the Alamo fell (and Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Travis died), we really have to start with San Antonio Rose:

Oh -- look at this: here's "pretty little Patsy Cline" covering the song, sort of jazzy-like:

Even Lawrence Welk couldn't resist. Here's the fabulous Buddy Merrill, probably at about nineteen, give or take:

I can do without that organ. Anyway, look for other videos of Buddy Merrill, often playing the steel guitar on The Lawrence Welk Show. Be prepared to write off work for the rest of the day. Lawrence Welk must have had a thing for steel guitar, as he had Speedy West on the show too.

I've been looking for a video of Leon McAuliffe performing the song for which he is best known as a Texas Playboy. All I can find is videos of him playing with his own group. Here is the audio of Leon McAuliffe, playing with Bob Wills, the Steel Guitar Rag:

From the '60s:

[El Supremo]

1. He wasn't much without Tommy Duncan.

[Bradshaw3]

2. My parents watched him play live many times

"Take it away, Leon"