Oklahoma Hills

05-3-10... Didn't stay away too long, did I? Guess you could say I kind of missed posting old twangy music, and the pone parts are therapy for me. Helps me to keep in check my temptations to feel resentment, anger, indignation and other self-damaging emotions when things don't go my way... or at least the way I think they should go. With my own explanation of my own reasons for resuming the Corn Pone, I just gave a daily dose of it.




A few months ago I played Jack Guthrie's recording of his own song, Oklahoma Hills, and mentioned that somewhere I had stowed away a rather rare version of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys doing the song western swing-style. This was done as one of the Tiffany Transcriptions recordings from 1945-47. I'll talk more about all of this later, because this entire month will be more of the same. Highlight of this one, other than Bob and lead vocalist Tommy Duncan cracking jokes, is the electric guitar break of Junior Barnard. Oklahoma Hills




05-5-10... This month (and probably next) I'll be featuring the music of Bob Wills, the man known as the King of Western Swing. My posts are not history lessons (you can read about him for days on end if you Google his name), but exposure for both those who have never heard his music and those who have heard his music but perhaps not these particular songs.



The first thing you should know is that Mr. Wills usually spouted spoken comments during the music, most often his falsetto "Ah, Ha!" and musician-named cues for one of them to take a solo break. It might take you awhile to get used to hearing him do this, but the reason he did it should be clear. The talented musicians popping their dance-hall beats excited him. His band members were always top-notch musicians, and his goal was to put together ensembles that were every bit as hot as the swinging jazz bands of the 1930's and 40's, but with the inclusion of fiddles, steel guitars, acoustic and electric guitars.




Today's selection is one of his biggest hits, thanks to Patsy Cline who recorded it in 1963, several years after this recording performed by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1947. The melody is a fiddle tune conceived by his father, John Wills, back when Bob was a child and he and his family played for dances held in individuals' homes. Took him over 30 years before he finally decided to write lyrics for the melody and create a full-blown song. As for who actually wrote the lyrics, the matter of royalties created a rift between Bob and some of his band members, most notably his long-time lead singer, Tommy Duncan. More history if you care to investigate further.



Regardless, end result is a beautiful melody with classically-memorable lyrics. And, this is one of the rare occasions when Mr. Wills didn't interject his shout-outs into the recording. He lets the musicians, melody, lyrics and mesmerizing harmonies do his talking for him. Faded Love







05-7-10... The Judgment" is not some great trial that takes place at the end of our lives. It is a process that goes on in our minds all the time. Judgment is deciding upon the truth or falsity of any thought. What we accept as truth and what we reject as false determines our character.



From 1945 to 1947, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys recorded what were known as transcriptions for Tiffany Music, Inc. These 16-inch discs were sold in packages to radio stations across the nation, a system similar to today's syndicated programs, where each radio station could sell their own advertising for the program's broadcast. In all, around 220 (known) songs were recorded, and no collection better exemplifies the versatility of the post-World War II Playboy bands, the variety of music they could play whether traditional or original, and the talented songwriting of Bob and his various band members.



As usual, I won't play the whole song, and for this one I cut out the piano break. Still, there's a steel guitar solo, electric guitar, and lastly, one of the most talented fiddle players ever put to record will take his turn. His name is Joe Holley. Bob Wills called him Jody. He played left handed. He was a jazz man who could play any style Bob asked him to play, and in the 1940's no country music fans had ever heard a fiddle treated this way. If you're not impressed, just wait. There will be even hotter licks in days ahead. I Had a Little Mule

The mp3 audio samples are HERE