Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band

Amazon.com
Bob Wills's youngest brother had assembled a top-quality band of his own in the early 1950s, and these 19 radio transcriptions (from KFBK) certainly attest to the group's brilliance. Spearheaded by Wills (on vocals and drums), Bob's former Playboy Tiny Moore (on electric mandolin and vocals), and young pedal steel whiz Vance Terry, this band dominated the Sacramento Western swing scene with a typically diverse repertoire, dynamic arrangements, and fierce drive. Material came from classic old blues standards, R&B, country, and jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman, as well as brother Bob's songbook. --Marc Greilsamer

Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band,Billy Jack Wills,Joaquin Records,Country,Country & Western,Pop,Rock,Western Swing

Average customer rating: ************************************************************

Crazy Man Crazy Billy Jack Wills Manufacturer: Joaquin Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Western Swing | Country | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music Western Swing | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band Brisbane Bop Band's A-Rockin' South Texas Swing Take It Away the Leon Way! ASIN: B00000I6KY Release Date: 1999-03-09

Tracks:

1. Cadillac In Model 'A' - Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band
2. For You, My Love - Billy Jack Wills
3. Jelly Roll Blues - Tiny Moore
4. Skiddle Dee Boo - Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band
5. Rock-A-Bye Baby Blues - Billy Jack Wills
6. Sugar Blues - Tiny Moore
7. Stardust - Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band
8. Slow Drive - Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band
9. Crazy, Man, Crazy - Tiny Moore
10. Milk Cow Blues - Billy Jack Wills
11. Sweet Georgia Brown - Tiny Moore
12. Kentucky Means Paradise - Cotton Roberts
13. Kissin' Bug Boogie - Tiny Moore
14. Jazz Me Blues - Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band
15. I Laugh How I Think How I Cried Over You - Tiny Moore
16. Take Me Back To Tulsa - Tiny Moore
17. Rock-A-Bye-Baby Blues (Instrumental Playout) - Billy Jack Wills/Tiny Moore/Vance Terry/Dick McComb/Kenny Lowrey/Cotton Roberts/Tommy Perkins

Amazon.com

Joaquin Records' second installment of Billy Jack Wills's KFBK radio transcriptions comes from the same early-1950s Sacramento sessions that spawned its predecessor. Here is further proof that Billy Jack had a unit that could challenge that of older brother Bob in terms of execution, if not popularity. Billy Jack's crew was more streamlined than Bob's and they focused more intently on jump blues and R&B, giving them a sound and a momentum that presaged rock & roll. That's not to say that the band wasn't capable of subtlety or sophistication; the complex, well-honed arrangements (by former Texas Playboy Tiny Moore) and the sparking improvisations of Moore, steel-guitar phenom Vance Terry, and Satchmo-inspired trumpeter Dick McComb say otherwise. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews:

************************************************************.......2004-12-14

*****Billy Jack Wills, the younger brother of Bob Wills, had a stylish and sophistocated little western swing combo. This cd is compiled of radio broadcasts from 1954, and finds the band in prime form, and the soloists taking heated jazz solos. Only the hillbilly style vocalsand seel guitar give it the "western sound". however Tiny Moore's arrangements and playing add the swing and jazz content as well as some hot trumpet solos! This might be some of the hottest small group swing of any kind to come out of 1954, with touches of jumpo blues. The band is even boppish to a degree. If you like Bob Wills, but thought he was a little too corny, try Billy Jack Wills, this might be called western jazz swing!

Average customer rating: personal note Tiny Moore a Master Musican Exciting Western Swing As good as it got! As good as it got!

Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band Billy Jack Wills Manufacturer: Joaquin Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music Western Swing | Country | Styles | Music General | Rock | Styles | Music General | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music Western Swing | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Crazy Man Crazy Brisbane Bop South Texas Swing Take It Away the Leon Way! Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers: More from the Golden Age of Western Swing ASIN: B0000009DP Release Date: 1996-11-12

Tracks:

1. Lonesome Hearted Blues
2. Dipsy Doodle
3. Johnson Rag
4. Mr. Cotton Picker
5. Air Mail Special
6. Basin Street Blues
7. I Don't Know
8. Woodchopper's Ball
9. Teardrops From My Eyes
10. Tuxedo Junction
11. Twin Guitar Special
12. St. Louis Blues
13. Blue Guitar Stomp
14. Summit Ridge Drive
15. Rock City Boogie
16. C Jam Blues
17. Get Along Home Cindy
18. Steel Guitar Stomp
19. Caravan

Amazon.com

Bob Wills's youngest brother had assembled a top-quality band of his own in the early 1950s, and these 19 radio transcriptions (from KFBK) certainly attest to the group's brilliance. Spearheaded by Wills (on vocals and drums), Bob's former Playboy Tiny Moore (on electric mandolin and vocals), and young pedal steel whiz Vance Terry, this band dominated the Sacramento Western swing scene with a typically diverse repertoire, dynamic arrangements, and fierce drive. Material came from classic old blues standards, R&B, country, and jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman, as well as brother Bob's songbook. --Marc Greilsamer

Customer Reviews:

personal note.......2006-09-10

I had the privelege to know Billy Jack Wills personally, during the 1980's. He was a "parts runner" for a plumbing company some family members owned near Shawnee, Oklahoma; I was working in a local plumbing supply house. He didn't talk about music unless you brought the subject up, and was humble about it when you did. During the last couple of years of his life, I made a few visits out to his house and got to hear him play some, usually just himself & an old acoustic guitar, or sometimes another picker would be there too. He was always glad to have the company and an audience. I never asked exactly how he ended up where he was, doing what he was doing; it was odd that the man who co-wrote "Faded Love" was shuttling plumbing supplies to job sites & keeping the shop in order.
I know this isn't a review of his music, but still may be an interesting personal note on the man that produced it.

Tiny Moore a Master Musican.......2003-09-15

This band was one of the very good second ranked Western Swing Bands going strong in the 1950s. It started when Bob Wills who based himself in Sacremento with his Music Ranch Wills Point decided to leave the area, leaving his brother Billy Jack there with the usual brother's farm team band. The real light of the band was Tiny Moore, fiddler and probably together with Jethro Burns the greatest electric mandolin player ever.
Tiny plays electric mandolin on these cuts and sings a lot of the better vocals. He does the announcing--this band never made any records; these tunes come recordings of their radio show.
Tiny stayed on becoming a major TV personality in Sacreto with a kids show and then a weather show I believe until Merle Haggard picked him up in the 1970 and made him a member of his band until his death.
Tiny plays with amazing musical fluidity. There are a lot of pure bop passages on this and its companion record. There is also a lot of stuff that's part of the turn to Rock and Roll, including a version of Billy Haley's Crazy Man Crazy. Of Course Haley had started out with a Western Swing band too!
The other players on these records are OK and spirited but nowhere near where Tiny was. What probably makes this easier or seem more evolved to more recent ears is that there is a lot here than is already gotten to or is at least on its way to rock and roll.
If you like Tiny check out the duet albums he did with Jethro Burns, with Eldon Shamblin doing the honors on rhythm guitar, and the great Ray Brown playing bass!

Exciting Western Swing.......2001-12-08

Billy Jack Wills was heavily influenced by the burgeoning 'bop' jazz scene in Chicago, and it's evident on this fine compilation of radio transcripts from Sacramento's KFBK 'Evening Swing Show.' Wills swings (and sings) exhuberantly through standards like "Lonesome-Hearted Blues." Boasting the rapid-fire musicianship of teen-aged steel guitar virtuoso Vance Terry (who unearthed the original master tapes from his attic which made this release possible) and fiddle/electric mandolin innovator Tiny Moore's toe-tapping instrumental breaks, this exciting 'bop' variation of western swing created a bushfire of attention in Sacramento's young music lovers, but was short-lived--by 1958, the dance hall craze fizzled as folks began watching television at home, but the seed had been planted. Wills' pumping, driving hybrid of bop and western swing produced Bay-area guitar whiz Jimmy Rivers and got the attention of teen-agers Buck Owens and Merle Haggard who made a beeline to the Sacramento/Bakersfield area. George Jones would follow a few years later. While not as commercially successful as his older brother, Billy Jack Wills must be given credit as the missing link between western swing and west coast mainstream country music.

As good as it got!.......1999-08-13

The peak of evolution in western swing. This is an astoundingly tight, tasteful swinging outfit. Just to think that the genre would devolve into the mega-schmaltz of Spade Cooley and his mates! It makes me want to cry!

The featured instruments here are Tiny Moore's electric mandolin & fiddle, Dick McCombs trumpet, Cotton Thomson's fiddle (when he's not on bass) and Vance Terry's steel. Kenneth Lowry (guitar) seems to stick to rhythm, although I believe he featured at live gigs, on straight country numbers.

These recordings display a balance of beatifully arranged section work (with voicings would have been approved of by Duke Ellington!) yet with plenty of room for solo after brilliant solo, as well as what appears to be spontaneous collective improvisation, as in a New Orleans style jazz group, with the steel playing the trombone's role, the trumpet similarly playing its accustomed role, and the mandolin that of the clarinet.

The selection of material is a fair balance of 40s/50s R'n'B tunes and pre-war show tunes/jazz standards, as well as some instrumentals of the bands own making.

Top all this off with the hip, driving vocals of Billy Jack, and you have an unbeatable record. This appears to be the twilight years of when jazz still had a strong influence on popular music at large, instead of being relegated to "ART".

Nobody will ever play music quite like this again.

As good as it got!.......1999-08-13

The peak of evolution in western swing. This is an astoundingly tight, tasteful swinging outfit. Just to think that the genre would devolve into the mega-schmaltz of Spade Cooley and his mates! It makes me want to cry!

The featured instruments here are Tiny Moore's electric mandolin & fiddle, Dick McCombs trumpet, Cotton Roberts' fiddle (when he's not on bass) and Vance Terry's steel. Kenneth Lowry (guitar) seems to stick to rhythm, although I believe he featured at live gigs, on straight country numbers.

These recordings display a balance of beatifully arranged section work (with voicings would have been approved of by Duke Ellington!) yet with plenty of room for solo after brilliant solo, as well as what appears to be spontaneous collective improvisation, as in a New Orleans style jazz group, with the steel playing the trombone's role, the trumpet similarly playing its accustomed role, and the mandolin that of the clarinet.

The selection of material is a fair balance of 40s/50s R'n'B tunes and pre-war show tunes/jazz standards, as well as some instrumentals of the bands own making.

Top all this off with the hip, driving vocals of Billy Jack, and you have an unbeatable record. This appears to be the twilight years of when jazz still had a strong influence on popular music at large, instead of being relegated to "ART".

Nobody will ever play music quite like this again.

Average customer rating:

Saturday Night Rag - Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers - More From the Golden Years of Western Swing Al Dexter , Benny Leaders , Billy Briggs , Hank Penny & J.P. Morgan , Jesse James & All the Boys , Cliff Burner & Texas Wanderers , Tex Williams , Leon McAuliffe , Western Wonders & Walt McCoy , and Billy Jack Wills Manufacturer: Proper Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Country | Styles | Music General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music ASIN: B000JIIHJO

Product Description

Saturday Night Rag - Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers - More From The Golden Years Of Western Swing // 1. Hi-De-Ho Boogie on a Saturday Night - Al Dexter 2. Clean Town Blues - Benny Leaders 3. Dip Snuff Stomp - Billy Briggs 4. B. Bowman Hop - Bob Wills 5. That's My Weakness Now - Hank Penny & J.P. Morgan 6. Mule Boogie - Jimmy Boyd 7. Joaquin Special - Jesse James & All the Boys 8. Catch Me Cheatin' - Smokey Rogers 9. Wild Card - Tex Williams 10. I Was a Gambler in Texas - Cliff Burner & Texas Wanderers 11. Hot Foot Shuffle - Al Dexter 12. Amarillo Rose - Billy Briggs 13. Hubbin' It - Bob Wills 14. Blue Guitar Stomp - Leon McAuliffe 15. You Got the Right Number - Rusty McDonald 16. Saturday Night Rag - Curley Williams 17. Tomato Can - Tommy Duncan 18. Snatchin' and Grabbin' - Bob Wills 19. The Spider and the Fly - Jimmy Thomason 20. It's All Your Fault - Wade Ray 21. I'm a Lover Not a Fighter - Western Wonders & Walt McCoy 22. This Side of Town - Leon McAuliffe 23. Roped and Tied - Billy Jack Wills 24. You Can't Pull the Wool Over My Eyes - Hank Penny 25. Nancy Jane - Tommy Duncan

Music Album:

1. Bitter Sweet
2. Blue Moons and Broken Hearts: The Anthology 1979-1996
3. Blue Ridge Mountain Music "Old Time Banjo"
4. Box of Photographs
5. Brian McComas [Enhanced]
6. Burning Daylight
7. Capitol Years: 1965-1977 [Import]
8. Change
9. Chock Full of Country Goodness
10. Christmasville

Music Album