Bob Wills was one of the two country music personalities, along with Spade Cooley, who pioneered the style of Western Swing music during the 1930s and '40s, combining the standard approach of hillbilly country with jazz, blues and pop styles, and using expanded instrumental line-ups, to create a highly distinctive, sophisticated, infectious and entertaining strand of country music. Between 1935 and 1950, with a variety of different incarnations of his band The Texas Playboys, he recorded for Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia and MGM while establishing himself as a top radio star and successful 'live' attraction. This great-value 53-track 2-CD collection cherry-picks the highlights from the 300 or so recordings he made during the period, including, of course, the twenty or more Top 10 country hits he had after the establishing of the airplay chart for "Folk" records during the '40s, with biggies like "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke On The Water", "Stars And Stripes On Iwo Jima", "Sugar Moon" and "New Spanish Two Step". While he remained a popular figure over the next two decades, his career was blighted by ill-health, and this collection provides a marvellously entertaining look at the real golden era of western swing. Includes comprehensive booklet notes, with complete recording session and personnel details
1 Good Old Oklahoma (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
2 Osage Stomp (Rukus Juice Shuffle)
3 I'm Sitting on Top of the World (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
4 Wang Wang Blues (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
5 Spanish Two Step (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
6 Trouble in Mind (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
7 Steel Guitar Rag (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
8 Right or Wrong (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
9 Back Home Again in Indiana (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
10 I'm a Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
11 Playboy Stomp (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
12 Maiden's Prayer
13 San Antonio Rose (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
14 Liza, Pull Down the Shades (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
15 Beaumont Rag (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
16 Ida Red (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
17 Medley of Spanish Waltzes (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
18 New San Antonio Rose (Bob Wills & His Texas Cowboys)
19 Bob Wills' Special
20 Big Beaver (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
21 Big Beaver
22 Take Me Back to Tulsa
23 Corrine Corrina (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
24 Cherokee Maiden (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
25 Cherokee Maiden
26 Dusty Skies
- Disc 2 -
1 Home in San Antone (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
2 Home in San Antone
3 We Might As Well Forget It (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
4 Hang Your Head in Shame (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
5 Hang Your Head in Shame
6 Smoke on the Water
7 Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima
8 Bob Wills' Special (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
9 Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight (Bob Wills' Texas Playboys)
10 Texas Playboy Rag (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
11 White Cross on Okinawa (Bob Wills' Texas Playboys)
12 New Spanish Two Step (Bob Wills' Texas Playboys)
13 Roly Poly (Bob Wills' Texas Playboys)
14 I Can't Go on This Way (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
15 Stay a Little Longer (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
16 I'm Gonna Be Boss from Now on (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
17 Brain Cloudy Blues (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
18 Sugar Moon (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
19 Bob Wills' Boogie (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
20 This Is Southland (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
21 Bubbles in My Beer
22 Bubbles in My Beer (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
23 Keeper of My Heart (Bob Wills' Texas Playboys)
24 Thorn in My Heart (Bob Wills' Texas Playboys)
25 Don't Be Ashamed of Your Age (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
26 Ida Red Likes the Boogie (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
27 Faded Love (Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys)
Bob Wills was one of the two country music personalities, along with Spade Cooley, who pioneered the style of Western Swing music during the 1930s and '40s, combining the standard approach of hillbilly country with jazz, blues and pop styles, and using expanded instrumental line-ups, to create a highly distinctive, sophisticated, infectious and entertaining strand of country music. Between 1935 and 1950, with a variety of different incarnations of his band The Texas Playboys, he recorded for Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia and MGM while establishing himself as a top radio star and successful 'live' attraction. This great-value 53-track 2-CD collection cherry-picks the highlights from the 300 or so recordings he made during the period, including, of course, the twenty or more Top 10 country hits he had after the establishing of the airplay chart for "Folk" records during the '40s, with biggies like "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke On The Water", "Stars And Stripes On Iwo Jima", "Sugar Moon" and "New Spanish Two Step". While he remained a popular figure over the next two decades, his career was blighted by ill-health, and this collection provides a marvellously entertaining look at the real golden era of western swing. Includes comprehensive booklet notes, with complete recording session and personnel details
