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.

Recorded in March, 1928 in San Antonio, Texas for the OKeh label. Hunt was a hard-living man who was dead within three years of this recording. According to his biography on the excellent site, Texas Music History Online, Hunt’s interest in another man’s wife did him in:

It was in Dallas on March 21, 1931, at 11:45 p.m. that Prince Albert Hunt was shot and fatally wounded outside of the Confederate Hall at 421 North Harwood Street. The Dallas Morning News reported that his assailant, William M. Douglas, was a former city fireman and the husband of a woman that Hunt had accompanied to a dance. Douglas later told police that “he [Hunt] broke up my home…He took my wife clear away from me. He had her at the dance with him and I followed them downstairs,” in front of the hall where, from close-range, he shot Hunt in the chest under the left arm with a .25 caliber automatic pistol. Hunt was then rushed to Parkland Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

I’ve heard this song hundreds of times, and it never ceases to amaze. Hunt’s voice is pure grit.

Blues in the Bottle (MP3)

Courtesy of Archive.org

Big thanks to Cornmeal for having us on the bill at Martyrs’ last night. We had a great time playing and appreciated the warm response. Here’s our set list:

• Draggin’ The Bow (trad)
• Katy Kline (trad)
• Little Sadie (trad)
• High on a Mountain (Reed)
• Till the End of the World Roll ‘Round (Flatt/Scruggs)
• Sir Lucas / Musical Priest / Whisky Before Breakfast (Tangleweed/trad/trad)
• Ginseng Blues (trad)
• With a Bottle in My Hand / Farewell Blues (Tangleweed / trad)
• Hard Times (Tangleweed)
• I’m Troubled (trad)
• Where You Been? (Tangleweed)
• Angeline the Baker / Soldiers Joy (trad)
• South Australia (trad)
• California (Tangleweed)
• Short Life of Trouble (trad)
• Train 45 (trad)
• Heroin (Velvet Undergound)
• Orange Blossom Special (trad)

We look forward to playing WAKARUSA with Cornmeal this summer. Thanks again for a fun night.

There’s some very nice mandolin in this old recording, made in September, 1927 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The tune is called ‘High Sheriff’, and the playing on this is absolutely first-rate across the board.

High Sheriff (MP3)

Courtesy of Archive.org

Johnny Cash’s historic Tennessee home burned to the ground while being renovated at the behest of it’s new owner, former Bee Gee Barry Gibb.

Apparently the crew put a highly flammable preservative on the home’s wooden exterior not long before the fire started, causing the blaze to spread very quickly.  No word yet on what caused the fire in the first place.

This is just too weird for words.

http://www.soundgenerator.com/news/showarticle.cfm?articleid=9227

This is a very handy little tool. You tap a key on your computer keyboard, and it calculates the beats per minute (BPM):

Beats Per Minute Calculator

On April 7th my opinion about the Copyright Royalty Board Hearings in Congress was expressed on the Nationally Syndicated Rock & Roll radio show “Sound Opinions”, hosted by Chicago locals Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. www.soundopinions.org

Below is a transcript of my abounding insightfulness.

Hello, this is Paul from Chicago, and this is my Sound Opinion. I’m calling about the March 31st show, where you discussed the Copyright Royalty Board Hearings. I am a member of the Chicago bluegrass band Tangleweed, who has directly benefited from the growth of Internet radio. Earlier this year, the booking agent for Wakarusa (www.wakarusa.com), a major U.S. festival, found us online at www.Pandora.com. He liked what he heard, and after doing a little more research, hired us to play their 2007 festival. For a band like ours that played local and regional festivals last year, the equalizing elements of internet radio have given us a great boost into bigger and better opportunities.

Here’s the latest fiddle off my workbench. I just finished it last week and it’s already picking up some interest from players around the city. This violin has a dark and sweet sound, with an homage to the early makers in Venice.

To find out more about the violins available at my shop drop by and send me a note.
www.wargaskiviolins.com