Western Swing: June 2009 Archives

Men My Mother Dated (and Other Mostly True Tales) by Brett Leveridge: Bob Wills

Funny, plausible anecdote: "It wasn't long before Dad felt a tap-tap-tap upon his shoulder, signifying that someone was seeking to cut in, to take a turn around the floor with Mom. By now you must surely have guessed that it was Wills. Dad graciously stepped aside and Mom found herself firmly in Wills' clutches.

"Mom felt there was little she could do but make the best of the situation, grit her teeth, and behave in gracious fashion until song's end...."

Village Voice: New York Music - The Playboy Mansion

"Western-swing hype man-icon invents, uh, everything." From Anthony Mariani's review of the 2006 box set: "A four-disc box set of 105 remastered tracks, Legends of Country Music: Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, casts doubt on the notion that several allegedly original pop music developments emerged only in the past 50 years; Bob was an early originator in disciplines including but not limited to hollering, waxing ironic, and rocking out. As a fiddler, he leaves the singing to pros, but he verbally encourages his orchestra almost to a compulsive degree."