James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader.
Aside from his own family, he knew few other white children until he was seven or eight years old. ===New Mexico and Texas=== The family moved to Hall County in the Texas Panhandle in 1913, and in 1919 they bought a farm between the towns of Lakeview, Texas and Turkey, Texas.
Aside from his own family, he knew few other white children until he was seven or eight years old. ===New Mexico and Texas=== The family moved to Hall County in the Texas Panhandle in 1913, and in 1919 they bought a farm between the towns of Lakeview, Texas and Turkey, Texas.
Louis Blues" replicates Al Bernard's patter from the 1928 version of the song.
The article quotes Wills as saying "Rock and roll? Why, man, that's the same kind of music we've been playin' since 1928! ...
We didn't call it rock and roll back when we introduced it as our style back in 1928, and we don't call it rock and roll the way we play it now.
He alternated barbering and fiddling even when he moved to Fort Worth, Texas after leaving Hall County in 1929.
However, it was as Jim Rob Wills, paired with Herman Arnspiger, that he made his first commercial (though unissued) recordings in November 1929 for Brunswick/Vocalion.
In 1930 Milton Brown joined the group as lead vocalist and brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band, which became known as the Aladdin Laddies and then soon renamed itself the Light Crust Doughboys because of radio sponsorship by the makers of Light Crust Flour.
Wills hired the young, "modern-style musician" Smoky Dacus as a drummer to balance out the horns. He continued to expand the lineup through the mid to late 1930s.
The rhythm's what's important." The use of amplified guitars accentuates Wills's claim; some Bob Wills recordings from the 1930s and 1940s sound similar to rock and roll records of the 1950s. Even a 1958 return to KVOO, where his younger brother Johnnie Lee Wills had maintained the family's presence, did not produce the success he hoped.
In 1973, he participated in a final reunion session with members of some the Texas Playboys from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Brown left the band in 1932 to form the Musical Brownies, the first true Western swing band.
They left Waco in January 1934 for Oklahoma City.
His 1935 version of "St.
The addition of steel guitar whiz Leon McAuliffe in March 1935 added not only a formidable instrumentalist, but also a second engaging vocalist.
Wills and the Texas Playboys did their first recordings on September 23–25, 1935, in Dallas.
Session rosters from 1938 show both lead guitar and electric guitar in addition to guitar and steel guitar in the Texas Playboys recordings.
Hendrix almost surely referred to Nashville guitarists. Wills ranked #27 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men in Country Music in 2003. Wills' upbeat 1938 song Ida Red was Chuck Berry's primary inspiration for creating his first rock-and-roll hit "Maybellene". Fats Domino once remarked that he patterned his 1960 rhythm section after that of Bob Wills. During the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, Carrie Underwood performed his song "San Antonio Rose".
Wills favored jazz-like arrangements and the band found national popularity into the 1940s with such hits as "Steel Guitar Rag", "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke On The Water", "Stars And Stripes On Iwo Jima", and "New Spanish Two Step". Wills and the Texas Playboys recorded with several publishers and companies, including Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia, and MGM, frequently moving.
In 1940, "New San Antonio Rose" sold a million records and became the signature song of The Texas Playboys.
The "front line" of Wills' orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944. ===Film career=== In 1940, Wills, along with the Texas Playboys, co-starred with Tex Ritter in Take Me Back to Oklahoma.
We sure not tryin' to take credit for swingin' it." Still a binge drinker, Wills became increasingly unreliable in the late 1940s, causing a rift with Tommy Duncan (who bore the brunt of audience anger when Wills's binges prevented him from appearing).
The rhythm's what's important." The use of amplified guitars accentuates Wills's claim; some Bob Wills recordings from the 1930s and 1940s sound similar to rock and roll records of the 1950s. Even a 1958 return to KVOO, where his younger brother Johnnie Lee Wills had maintained the family's presence, did not produce the success he hoped.
Altogether, Wills appeared in nineteen films, including The Lone Prairie (1942), Riders Of The Northwest Mounted (1943), Saddles and Sagebrush (1943), The Vigilantes Ride (1943), The Last Horseman (1944), Rhythm Round-Up (1945), Blazing the Western Trail (1945), and Lawless Empire (1945). ===Swing era=== In December 1942, after several band members had left the group, and as World War II raged, Wills joined the army at the age of 37, but received a medical discharge in 1943.
Altogether, Wills appeared in nineteen films, including The Lone Prairie (1942), Riders Of The Northwest Mounted (1943), Saddles and Sagebrush (1943), The Vigilantes Ride (1943), The Last Horseman (1944), Rhythm Round-Up (1945), Blazing the Western Trail (1945), and Lawless Empire (1945). ===Swing era=== In December 1942, after several band members had left the group, and as World War II raged, Wills joined the army at the age of 37, but received a medical discharge in 1943.
After leaving the Army in 1943, Wills moved to Hollywood and began to reorganize the Texas Playboys.
The "front line" of Wills' orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944. ===Film career=== In 1940, Wills, along with the Texas Playboys, co-starred with Tex Ritter in Take Me Back to Oklahoma.
For a very brief period in 1944, the Wills band included 23 members, and around mid-year he toured Northern California and the Pacific Northwest with 21 pieces in the orchestra.
Billboard reported that Wills out-grossed Harry James, Benny Goodman, "both Dorseys, et al." at Civic Auditorium in Oakland, California in January 1944. Wills and His Texas Playboys began their first cross-country tour in November 1944, and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry on December 30, 1944.
They used to have some pretty heavy cats, some heavy guitar players." In fact, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys only performed on the Opry twice: in 1944 and 1948.
An attempt to compromise by keeping Mountjoy behind a curtain collapsed when Wills had his drums placed front and center onstage at the last minute. In 1945, Wills' dances were drawing larger crowds than dances put on by Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman.
In 1947, he opened the Wills Point nightclub in Sacramento, California and continued touring the Southwest and Pacific Northwest from Texas to Washington State.
On April 3, 1948, Wills and the Texas Playboys appeared for the inaugural broadcast of the Louisiana Hayride on KWKH, broadcasting from the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana. Wills and the Texas Playboys played dances throughout the West to more than 10,000 people every week.
It ended when he fired Duncan in the fall of 1948. ===Later years=== Having lived a lavish lifestyle in California, Wills moved back to Oklahoma City in 1949, then went back on the road to maintain his payroll and Wills Point.
They used to have some pretty heavy cats, some heavy guitar players." In fact, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys only performed on the Opry twice: in 1944 and 1948.
Wills recalled the early days of what became known as Western swing music in a 1949 interview: "Here's the way I figure it.
It ended when he fired Duncan in the fall of 1948. ===Later years=== Having lived a lavish lifestyle in California, Wills moved back to Oklahoma City in 1949, then went back on the road to maintain his payroll and Wills Point.
In 1950, he had two top 10 hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love", which were his last hits for a decade.
Throughout the 1950s, he struggled with poor health and tenuous finances, but continued to perform frequently despite the decline in popularity of his earlier music as rock and roll took over.
It wrecked him financially. In 1950, Wills had two top 10 hits, "Ida Red Likes the Boogie" and "Faded Love".
After 1950, radio stations began to increasingly specialize in one form or another of commercially popular music.
Neither did he fit into the conventional sound of pop stations, although he played a good deal of pop music. Wills continued to appear at the Bostonia Ballroom in San Diego throughout the 1950s.
He continued to tour and record through the 1950s into the early 1960s despite the fact that Western Swing's popularity, even in the Southwest, had greatly diminished.
Townsend described his drop in popularity: Bob could draw "a thousand people on Monday night between 1950 and 1952, but he could not do that by 1956.
The rhythm's what's important." The use of amplified guitars accentuates Wills's claim; some Bob Wills recordings from the 1930s and 1940s sound similar to rock and roll records of the 1950s. Even a 1958 return to KVOO, where his younger brother Johnnie Lee Wills had maintained the family's presence, did not produce the success he hoped.
Townsend described his drop in popularity: Bob could draw "a thousand people on Monday night between 1950 and 1952, but he could not do that by 1956.
Townsend described his drop in popularity: Bob could draw "a thousand people on Monday night between 1950 and 1952, but he could not do that by 1956.
Entertainment habits had changed." On Wills' return to Tulsa late in 1957, Jim Downing of the Tulsa Tribune wrote an article headlined "Wills Brothers Together Again: Bob Back with Heavy Beat".
The rhythm's what's important." The use of amplified guitars accentuates Wills's claim; some Bob Wills recordings from the 1930s and 1940s sound similar to rock and roll records of the 1950s. Even a 1958 return to KVOO, where his younger brother Johnnie Lee Wills had maintained the family's presence, did not produce the success he hoped.
He continued to tour and record through the 1950s into the early 1960s despite the fact that Western Swing's popularity, even in the Southwest, had greatly diminished.
He appeared twice on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA and kept the band on the road into the 1960s.
In 1973, he participated in a final reunion session with members of some the Texas Playboys from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Hendrix almost surely referred to Nashville guitarists. Wills ranked #27 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men in Country Music in 2003. Wills' upbeat 1938 song Ida Red was Chuck Berry's primary inspiration for creating his first rock-and-roll hit "Maybellene". Fats Domino once remarked that he patterned his 1960 rhythm section after that of Bob Wills. During the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, Carrie Underwood performed his song "San Antonio Rose".
Wills had a heart attack in 1962 and a second one the next year, which forced him to disband the Playboys, although Wills continued to perform solo. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Wills in 1968 and the Texas State Legislature honored him for his contribution to American music. In 1972, Wills accepted a citation from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in Nashville.
After two heart attacks, in 1965 he dissolved the Texas Playboys (who briefly continued as an independent unit) to perform solo with house bands.
Wills had a heart attack in 1962 and a second one the next year, which forced him to disband the Playboys, although Wills continued to perform solo. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Wills in 1968 and the Texas State Legislature honored him for his contribution to American music. In 1972, Wills accepted a citation from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in Nashville.
While he did well in Las Vegas and other areas, and made records for the Kapp Records label, he was largely a forgotten figure—even though inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968.
In a 1968 issue of Guitar Player, rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix said of Wills and the Playboys: "I dig them.
A 1969 stroke left his right side paralyzed, ending his active career.
He did, however, recover sufficiently to appear in a wheelchair at various Wills tributes held in the early 1970s.
A revival of interest in his music, spurred by Merle Haggard's 1970 album A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World, led to a 1973 reunion album, teaming Wills, who spoke with difficulty, with key members of the early band, as well as Haggard. Wills died in Fort Worth of pneumonia on May 13, 1975. ==Personal life== Bob Wills was married six times and divorced five times.
A 1970 tribute album by Haggard, A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills) directed a wider audience to Wills' music, as did the appearance of younger "revival" bands like Asleep at the Wheel and Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen plus the growing popularity of longtime Wills disciple and fan Willie Nelson.
By 1971, Wills recovered sufficiently to travel occasionally and appear at tribute concerts.
Wills had a heart attack in 1962 and a second one the next year, which forced him to disband the Playboys, although Wills continued to perform solo. The Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Wills in 1968 and the Texas State Legislature honored him for his contribution to American music. In 1972, Wills accepted a citation from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in Nashville.
He was recording an album with fan Merle Haggard in 1973 when a stroke left him comatose until his death in 1975.
A revival of interest in his music, spurred by Merle Haggard's 1970 album A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World, led to a 1973 reunion album, teaming Wills, who spoke with difficulty, with key members of the early band, as well as Haggard. Wills died in Fort Worth of pneumonia on May 13, 1975. ==Personal life== Bob Wills was married six times and divorced five times.
In 1973, he participated in a final reunion session with members of some the Texas Playboys from the 1930s to the 1960s.
The session, scheduled for two days, took place in December 1973, with the album to be titled For the Last Time.
James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader.
He was recording an album with fan Merle Haggard in 1973 when a stroke left him comatose until his death in 1975.
A revival of interest in his music, spurred by Merle Haggard's 1970 album A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World, led to a 1973 reunion album, teaming Wills, who spoke with difficulty, with key members of the early band, as well as Haggard. Wills died in Fort Worth of pneumonia on May 13, 1975. ==Personal life== Bob Wills was married six times and divorced five times.
He lingered until his death on May 13, 1975. Reviewing For the Last Time in Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau wrote: "This double-LP doesn't represent the band at its peak.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1999. ==Biography== ===Early years=== He was born on a cotton farm in Kosse, Limestone County, Texas to Emma Lee Foley and John Tompkins Wills.
Hendrix almost surely referred to Nashville guitarists. Wills ranked #27 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men in Country Music in 2003. Wills' upbeat 1938 song Ida Red was Chuck Berry's primary inspiration for creating his first rock-and-roll hit "Maybellene". Fats Domino once remarked that he patterned his 1960 rhythm section after that of Bob Wills. During the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, Carrie Underwood performed his song "San Antonio Rose".
University of Oklahoma Press, 2005.
Billboard Books, 2006.
Hendrix almost surely referred to Nashville guitarists. Wills ranked #27 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men in Country Music in 2003. Wills' upbeat 1938 song Ida Red was Chuck Berry's primary inspiration for creating his first rock-and-roll hit "Maybellene". Fats Domino once remarked that he patterned his 1960 rhythm section after that of Bob Wills. During the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, Carrie Underwood performed his song "San Antonio Rose".
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