The Essential Bob Wills: 1935-1947

This is a collection of recordings by the Texas Playboys band from around 1936 until around 1947, the years they recorded for Columbia and its various sub brands like Okeh.

As such it shows the enormous diversity of the playboys over the years. Until around 1945, Wills fronted what was really two bands. One was a Western Swing combo includings fiddles and guitars, steel and one or two horns and rhythm. The other was a full scale big band with reed and brass section along with the Western Swing instruments. The big band played originals and stock arrangements written for big bands for big band top hits like In the Mood.

Particularly during the mid 1930s, some Wills recordings were everything in between the full swing band and just fiddle and rhythm accompaniment. While he was quite faithful as long he recorded to the old ranch dance sounds he had grown up playing with his dad, Wills welcomed any kind of inovative music by his players. In the 1940s the band featured the...Read more

It was not until the mid-90's that I heard about Bob Wills and a certain country genre known as Western Swing. I liked the description about the music that I'd read on a book and soon found me trying to track this CD down - without any previous listening! Well, right after I listened to it for the first time, I became a crazy fan of both Wills and Western Swing. I think this CD is the best introduction to his early Columbia sides available nowadays. It features almost all of Wills' all-time classics, and the overall sound of the band is simply thrilling, both on smooth slow ballads and fast fiddle tunes. Just listen to Tommy Duncan's superb vocals on "A Maiden's Prayer" or the bluesy "Brain Cloudy Blues", or to Leon McAuliffe's splendid steel-guitar on "Steel Guitar Rag". Wills' fiddling is in great form here, showing how great a musician he was and throwing in some hollering and jive talk all thru Duncan's vocals, which makes the sessions even more...Read more

You have to love Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. The tough question is which CD(s) to buy of the many available, including many with titles that include words like "best of" or similar claims. This CD is one good answer to that question. It has 20 cuts, including a number of Wills classics. It showcases his big band sound with a larger horn section, in addition to the irresistible fiddle, piano and electric and steel guitars and smooth vocals by Tommy Duncan. You do not have to be a country and western fan to get a huge kick out of this music. (Another good answer is the Tiffany Transcriptions Volume 2, Best of the Tiffanys. It has fewer cuts, but some I like better. It features more of a live sound. There are some overlapping numbers, but I think both CDs are worth having.)