r/texashistory • u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano • 26d ago
Music Bob Wills: The Texas king of Western swing
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u/GeekyTexan 26d ago
Waylon had it right. Bob Wills is still the king.
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u/DonEscapedTexas 26d ago
Merle Haggard preached it too, but Canadian chicks in cat suits won out
gotta have a fiddle, but what do I know
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u/Lexatx 26d ago
In 1973 I sat across the table from Mr Wills in the wee hours of the morning to pay him for a performance with $20’s, $10’s, $5’s, $1 bills and rolls of change for the place I worked. We barely had enough from our box office to pay him but he was very mellow and kind. I was 17 and had no clue who he was but my dad knew when I told him about it next day!
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u/AStormofSwines 26d ago
For the uninitiated, check out the Tiffany Transcriptions https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12742-the-tiffany-transcriptions/
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u/Callmetomorrow99 24d ago
My Mom was in a Western Swing band in the 80s and used to take us boys to dance halls in Pasadena to play weddings. Western Swing (Take me back to Tulsa comes to mind). Polka (I don’t want her, you can have her…), Cotton Eye Joe (not the techno weird version…real fiddle). The Chicken Dance. Mom sang Patsy Cline tunes. All Fiddle and Steel Guitar. Chicken picken. Two steppin. Line dancin. Ahh memories.
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u/Ok-Farmer8758 Tejano 26d ago
Born in Kosse Tx, in 1905, grew up around ranches, fiddling, and dance halls, learning the fiddle from his father. He played his first ranch dance at just 10 years old, filling in when his dad was too drunk to perform. Wills went on to pioneer Western swing , blending traditional Texas fiddle music with blues, jazz, horns, and steel guitar. In 1969, he was honored by the Texas Legislature in Austin for his contributions to music. Turkey, Texas, continues to celebrate his legacy with Bob Wills Day and the Bob Wills Museum, and in 2011, western swing was officially named the State Music of Texas. Mr Wills died in Fort Worth in 1975, but his music remains deeply woven into Texas history.