Bob Wills clips
Here is a minute-long clip of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys playing "Ida Red." (That's Bob playing fiddle -- anyone know who the guitarist and vocalist were?)
You can watch the trailer of the documentary film "Faded Love". The clip includes reminiscences by fans who saw him play and remember it as if it were yesterday and by musicians who worked with him.
UPDATE (4/29/2006): That "Ida Red" clip is one of a series that were filmed in 1951 for television filler. Some were issued as "Snader Transcriptions." There's a bunch of these shorts included with the 100th Birthday Special Edition of "Still Swingin'", a DVD documentary about Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. The band was Joe Holley on fiddle (left-handed!), Cotton Whittington on standard guitar (another lefty!), Bobby Koefer on steel guitar (he still plays the same way 55 years later!), Joe Frank Ferguson on bass, Skeeter Elkin on piano, Paul McGhee on drums, and Joe Andrews doing the vocal. On a couple of the shorts, yodeler Carolina Cotton sings with Bob, and on one (Blue Prelude) Joe Ferguson sings and Joe Andrews plays bass.
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Eldon Shamblin? The guess and my spelling may be off.
Spelling is correct, but I'm not sure if that's Eldon. It sure sounds like him.
And for all of you unrepentant rock and rollers out there who don't understand the relevance of Western swing, keep in mind that "Ida Red" is the template from which Chuck Berry devised "Maybelline."
Keeping track of Wills' revolving door of personnel, you almost need a scorecard or even an accountant's ledger. I'm pretty sure Tommy Duncan had already left by this time (this fellow singing doesn't sound much like him). I think it is Eldon Shamblin on guitar, though.
I'm glad the bobwills.com site is legit now. The last time I checked it a few years ago, this fellow who made the dubious claim of being Bob's son held the site, and there was little about Bob himself. The site was mostly there to further this fellow's career.
Micheal that is Eldon on guitar and the singer is Leon Rausch.
Thanks, James! Any guess as to the year?
I'm just guessing, some where around 1959 and 1960.