The Steel Guitar Forum

Ref: Billy Tonnesen - 3-neck non pedal steel.

In many of my posts I have made reference to the Ole Rasmussen Western Swing Band I played with from the mid 40's to mid 50's. By 1952 this was an 11-piece band playing full time in So. California Dance Halls.
During this time period The So. Calif. Market supported several Western Swing Bands and it was not necessary for the Band to go on the Road to survive.
The pay was averaging $150.00 a week which was pretty good for staying off the road in these years. In 1952 I was drafted in the Army and when I got out in 1954 the Big Band days were coming to the end. It was great while it lasted. In 1950 we started recording for Capitol Rcords and did seven sessions over the next two years. These are availeble now with "Bear Family Records" all on one CD. Every night on Radio Station KXLA - 5000 watts,
we would broadcast a half hour live show which reached the West Coast up to Oregon and Washington on clear nights. The band got to be quite well known. Once in a while the Band would play an out of town gig in Northern Calif. By this time Tommy Duncan had left Bob Wills and no longer had his own band. Ole would get Tommy to go with us on these out of town gigs and together would draw good crowds. Tommy used the Rasmussen Band on his own recordings with "Intro Records". I'm 3rd from the left on the top picture.

Love the band. My wife learned to play fiddle from Rocky when he was living in Indiana. Here's a great old clip I think some here may not have seen before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcjdGuJhelk

Did YOU play on "Charleson Alley"?

I think that was one of Ole's records?

Always enjoyed the sound but didn't get much air time up here on the radio. DRATT!

Hi Ray:.

Yes, I played on all of the recordings. Ole was always wanting a lot of "Chimes" (Harmonics) So I had to oblige. We were fortunate to have good producers at Capital, Ken Nelson and Lee Gillette, and they did an excellent job of mixing way back when there weren't that many tracks on the board.

Regards, BT

What a wonderful, inspiring time and era in American music. Thanks for the story and great photographs, Billy!

Great stuff! Thanks for sharing!

You say after you got out of the army, the big bands were coming to an end. What happened? Was it Rock and Roll? Seems too early. Economics?

You are part of history!

I have the recording from Bear Family. One of my favorites, I play it a lot.
Still have some of the songs on the original 78 rpm
Capitol Records.
Billy, your steel guitar work is the main reason
I started buying the Ole Rasmussen recordings.
Blake

Hey Billy, Those old pictures were great. It seemed those times would never end. I started playing in a big band in Eugene OR in 1948 when I was 14. My dad would go to bed early so they expected me to do the same so I put my radio under the covers and listen to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Billy Jack Wills, Mattox Bros and Rose, and any other band I could learn some licks from So that would include you, Billy. If you have more pictures, they really bring back memories
Thanks Doc......

Hey Billy, shortly after I got out of the US Army in the early sixties I did some Moose Lodge gigs with with a steel player named Hedrick Franks and his cousin Larry on bass. Our male vocalist for those gigs was none other than Teddy Wilds. Teddy was an excellent vocalist and I've always thought he was vastly under appreciated as was Leon Huff with Johnny Lee Wills. My dad had an old recording of "Tuxedo Junction" by Ole's band. I think Teddy was the vocalist on this cut. Were you on steel?.......JH in Va.

Mark: The big Western Swing Bands started losing the young people to early Rock & Roll and then Elvis was the final blow. Whole families used to come out to the Dances but the kids left and the older people started staying home more. Where you could get two to three thousand people on a Saturday night you were lucky to get 500.

Jerry: I played on all of the recordings.
IMHO, Teddy Wilds was his own worst enemy. When I worked with him at the "Red Barn" and "Hitching Post" in So. Calif around 1957 and 1958 he had periodic drinking problems and became undependable.
Teddy was not only a great vocalist but also a great lead guitar player.
i had heard that at one time Bob Wills tried to hire him away from Ole but Teddy turned him down.

Names of Band Members:
Top Picture- left to right.
Joe Muto - Drums
Kenny Cannon - Trombone
Billy Tonnesen - Steel Guitar
Earl Finley - Lead Guitar
Teddy Wilds - Vocals
Ole Rasmussen - Leader and Promoter
Woody Applewhite - Fiddle
Rocky Stone - Fiddle
Jerry Carter - Accordian (Cajun Style)
Virgil Lee Stone - Stand up Bass
Austin Strode - Piano

Bottom Picture.
Top Row:
Earl Finley - Lead Guitar
Austin Strode - Piano
Joe Muto - Drums
Jerry Carter - Accordian
Jinmmy Simmons - Stand up Bass
Bottom Row:
Billy Tonnesen - Steel Guitar
Ole Rasmussen - Leader
Teddy Wilds - Vocals
Tex Atkinson - Fiddle
Rocky Stone - Fiddle

In prior years we had Bass Players:
Herman (the Hermit) Snyder
Ferlin Husky (Terry Preston)
Dicky McBride (also great vocalist)
Also (Spike) Tommmy Doss was a vocalist before he
replaced Bob Nolan with the Sons of the Pioneers.

As far as I know Myself, Billy Tonnesen and Earl Finley are the only surviving members of the Capitol
Records group.

Billy, was there another steel player for some 78 recordings with LaMarr's Star Records? Someone mentioned, it sounds like he's calling out a steel solo for 'Cicso' on the tune, "I Ain't Got a Nickel to my Name".

John: Ole started his band in the late 30's as an Old Tyme Dance Band. Square Dances, Polkas, and some Pop standards from the 20's and 30's. He had three Saxaphone players and a couple doubled on Fiddles.
He had a Steel Player in 1943 who I don't know who he was. I was playing in the local Maywood, Ca. Moose Lodge Band on Saturday nights. Ole was playing just on Saturday nights at the Maywood Legion. Somehow Ole contacted me to try out and I was hired. I was still in High School. The Moose job paid $5 dollars a night and Ole paid $15. Then we also started playing on a Friday night at the Southgate Ca. Eagles and I had more money than anyone else in School. Then in late 1945 we started getting the relief Monday night at the 97th Street Corral in So. Los Angeles which operated 7 nights a week and by the end of the year we were the house band. Ole hired Earl Finley on lead guitar and we started pushing Ole into Western Swing. Bob Wills and Spade Cooley were the rage and they greatly contributed to the direction the Band took. I didn't record with Ole until the "Crystal Records" and then the "Capitol" recordings. I have a copy of the Record you mentioned and it was pretty primative. Ole was singing and it never got any better. When we started Broadcasting on the Radio from the 97th Street Corral, Ole still wanted to sing. The Band caught him backstage and we all told him his singing was not going to cut it. He accepted it and just started doing more Bob Wills type talking during the songs which became his signature.

Cheers on Jersey Bounce, One of my all time favorite swing instrumentals, I need to track down the Bear family set, great west coast swing.

What a musician.
I had a great time listening and watching you play. Can't say enough about a very good musician.
Bill