Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys: Back on the Saddle

Sept. 17, 2010 - PRLog -- O Pioneers! Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the preeminent prospectors of country dancehall music are coming up next in DMusic’s Classic Roots series, a retrospective string of releases that document the wildest twists and turns of the recent musical past.

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys: Classic Roots Western Swing showcases the frontier intersection of American radio and the rural Southeast. During the Jazz Age popular swing music drifted via radio airwaves into Texas and sidled up against the traditional country folk music. Bob, the precocious heir apparent to a long line of reputable fiddlers, seemed destined to master that incoming blend. And indeed, upon successfully ascending the Wills’ family throne, he drew popular swing into the most irresistibly hip musical act west of Appalachia.

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys was the top shelf band to book from the mid-1930s on through the 40s. Public demand was incessant and accordingly so was their touring schedule. Yet somehow, regardless of their endless concert calendar, Bob and the Boys wrote and recorded regularly for Columbia and Okeh Records in those years. Their singles, especially the drawling jaunt, “New San Antonio Rose,” became standard tunes for all country and rockabilly acts since. Tracks featured on Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys: Classic Roots Western Swing have been covered by subsequent giants of popular music like Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and Clint Eastwood.

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys: Classic Roots Western Swing showcases remastered, handpicked tracks from the 1935-45 sessions with Columbia and Okeh. DMusic is proud to reissue these outstanding gems of musical innovation and master craftsmanship in high-quality WAV and MP3 files available for digital download on Amazon, iTunes and other online music providers.