More music from the Archive… Bob Skyles and his Skyrockets were a family band from Pecos, Texas, that split the difference between the Western Swing dance bands like the Texas Playboys and novelty groups like the Hoosier Hotshots. They recorded for Bluebird in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Like many bands of the day (see my previous Luke Wills entry, for example), the band’s recorded output differed from what they played at their dance gigs. Jim Lowe’s informative page on the band reprints portions of a 1995 interview band member Cliff Kendrick did with researcher Duncan McLean. Kendrick’s sentiments about the material were unambiguous:

We thought all that stuff was terrible. Corny as hell. The record company, they wanted a comedy band, see, like Bluebird’s answer to the Hoosier Hotshots. We hated it. But we went along with it - fooled around, played that stupid whoopie-whistle. Bob came up with all those dumb songs - we never played them in the clubs, you know; we played straight dance stuff, and jazz, then. But hell, who were we to complain? Those records sold well, earned us a bit of money. And that’s what it was all about.

I suppose you never imagined anyone would be listening to them sixty years later?

Hell, I wouldn’t've imagined anyone listening to them sixty days later. We sure never did.

Despite the band’s reservations, the material has aged surprisingly well, largely due to the solid musicianship of the Skyrockets and some very likeable vocals.

Bob Skyles and his Skyrockets: All Night Long (MP3)

Courtesy of the North Albany Archive of Recorded Sound.