By the 1940s, Texas Playboy Bob Wills was such a hot property that his brothers and his father were also leading their own western swing groups. Some historians (notably Wills biographer Charles Townsend) dismiss these groups out of hand as being little more than minor league farm teams for Wills’ big league club. This is an unfair characterization. Johnnie Lee Wills had a band that held down a regular gig at Cain’s in Tulsa after Wills left for the west coast, and they were a rock solid group. In the years after the war, kid brother Billy Jack Wills led an astonishingly hot band that featured former Texas playboy and electric mandolin pioneer Tiny Moore as well as the brilliant steel guitarist Vance Terry. Frequently overlooked, though, are the sides recorded by Luke Wills.

Wills cut some sides for RCA that are painful listening. Backing vocalist Johnny Tyler, the tunes are irritating novelty throwaways, and Tyler’s singing is as enjoyable as a painful bowel movement. In Wills’ defense,the band chose neither the singer nor the songs for that session — both were chosen by the RCA Victor A&R man. On the sides the band cut for the Cincinnatti-based King label, they get a chance to show what they could do.

Bring it on Down to My House was a blues standard, with a variety of different versions on record by the end of the 1920s. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys cut an excellent version in a Chicago session for the Vocalion label back in 1936. This version by Luke Wills and his Rhythm Busters for King is one of the finest I’ve heard. The vocal harmony on the refrain is pretty hot, and there are some solid solos, including one by Texas Playboy Joe Holly.

Bring it on Down (MP3)

For more information on the North Albany Archive of Recorded Sound, see this post.