The Steel Guitar Forum

...by talking while the guys solo! And otherwise injecting far too much scatting and "oh yes"'s that I can tolerate. I have the standard greatest hits packages; are there other recordings (I'm sourcing the much-discussed Tiffany Transcriptions at the moment) that let you hear more steel and less shenanigans? Does anyone else feel this way about Wills' recordings? My wife has banned me from playing his stuff due to the vocal antics....seriously!

Regards,

Blake

That's Bob! Love it or leave it.

Blake,When I first started listening to Bob Wills I couldn't stand it,I actually used to yell at the turntable Shut Up!when someone yacks in the mic while I'm soloing it breaks my concentration...After many years listening to Bob Wills records I got used to him and accepted it as his thang,I still can't stand people doing it to me.What makes Bob Holler?spicy food?

I share your pain on that! My Dad, who was attracted to the Swing aspect of that music, hated it as well, and said it ruined it for him. Recently I was reflecting, while listening to some of it, that I now understood his point. And since this is becoming a bit of a confessional, I've never much cared for the lyrics to "Roly Poly" either! But you kinda have to take the old stuff as you find it!

I'll tell you why Bob does that: BECAUSE HE CAN

When you sign the checks that gives you the right!

I just talked to Bob and he said he really did not give a ......aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

No you didn't.

Be careful !! You're treading on thin ice !!! Bob Wills is "King" in Texas ( they all carry guns ) and a lot of other places !!!! Don't get anybody mad at you !!!! I love old Bob Wills !!!!! Eddie "C" ( the old non-pedal , no reverb , out of work old geezer )

Ron Whitfield wrote:No you didn't.

Used one of these..




He loved the pink color...aaaaahhHHHHHHHHHEEEEeeee!!!

Bob doesn't bother me in the slightest. When you have Leon McAuliffe or Herb Remington playing steel, who cares?
http://westernswing78.blogspot.com/ is featuring some rare Bob Wills currently. Perhaps some of this will sound better to your ears.

Yep that's Bob Wills the turrets of spewing over solos lol That's why i like Milton Brown better but, but, but, there is good stuff on Wills song so you learn to tolerate it in small bits of course.

I used to feel the same way about David Lee Roth of Van Halen fame. Then I invented a drinking game involving it, and it was much more entertaining.

BTW - love Bob Wills. I think his "vocalizations" make the music more fun, not less.

I think the non pedal steel community owes Mr.Wills a debt of gratitude. Alot of steel players got their first break, or became more established as a direct result of the experience they gained in Bob Wills band.

The fact that I occasionally want to shoot Mr. Wills in no way detracts from my enjoyment of the music or my appreciation of his contribution to American music and to steel pickers.

Hey Anthony--tell Izzy I said hey.

Yes, sometimes Bob over did it but he constantly promoted the musicians in his band. During his heyday Bob not only became a living icon but all his musicians gained reputations that followed them long after they left the band even to this day. You don't see any of the current so called "stars" giving any of their musicians credit for propping them up.

Yeah, Jon Light said it exactly how I wished I'd of said it!

I have a tape somewhere of Tommy Duncan and Bob Wills three sheets to the wind during a session. It is hilarious. Needless to say, this stuff was never released.

It's nice to know for sure who's playing on each cut.

Fred

Hey Mike,

That sounds like a gem of a recording. Perhaps the folks that release those "Celebreties at their Worst" series can include that on their next one.

Ya gotta remember, they were "The Texas Playboys" and playboys are a noisey bunch!
I have only one CD with Bob Wills band, and don't know who is on steel on it.

Billy C., the "other old geezer"

During one of his Pacific Northwest Tours, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were to play at Portland's DIVISION STREET CORRAL.

The band had been playing for about an hour 'without' Mr. Wills presence. One of the band members stepped up to the microphone and explained the band always traveled by 'bus' and thus they had made the trip without complications HOWEVER, Mr. Wills who was to fly up to Portland was unexpectedly detained in Dallas due to heavy fog at the airport and sadly to say, he was not going to be there on this given occasion.

Way back in the back of the over-flow crowd, a patron was heard to say, to the effect: "Bob's sure going to be mad when he catches up with you fellers because some druken S--O' Bitch is out there right now, in Bob's bus and he's tearing the living S--- out of it and on top of that, he's claiming to be Bob Wills. The crowd loved it!

What makes me even more crazy is the OTHER band leaders who did it, riding on Bob Wills' coat tails, I guess because he was so successful at it. Got an Ole Rasmussen CD recently, in part because I wanted to hear our own Billy Tonneson's work on it (impeccable, by the way) and said to myself if I hear one more "Play it pretty, boys," I'm gonna chuck this damn thing out the window. (I kept the CD, as it happens, but anyone who wants it just let me know and it's all yours!) This to me is one of the things that made Spade Cooley the indisputable "King of Western Swing": he kept his yap shut and let his fiddle and his band do the talkin'. At least on studio recordings that's the case; on air check recordings as often as not you'll hear him introduce the boy genius on steel guitar as, "Joaqueeeno"! Hard to argue with that.

I first heard Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys on record in the base service club at Fort Ord California in 1962. At first I was upset at Bob's talking while the band played. Later I found out that it was just his style. Now I love to listen to Bob Wills recordings.

ROGER

BTW: I once heard that Bob Wills & The Texas
Playboys outdrew (head count) Benny Goodman's
band in Oakland Ca. (1940s)

I was a fan of Billy Tonneson and Ole Rasmussen back in the '50's when I bought the 78 rpm records.

Got the CD and will not part with it.

Not only is the musicianship first rate, but the technical quality is the best I've ever heard
for a Western Swing Group.
The producer and the recording engineers knew their
business.
(Well, OK, Hank Thompson's Capitol stuff is good too.)

Blake