Best Of: Legends of Country Music
Though Bob Wills has long been heralded as a country-music icon (an inspiration for artists from Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson through Lyle Lovett and Asleep at the Wheel, and toasted by Waylon Jennings in "Bob Wills Is Still the King"), the Texas fiddler considered himself more of a jazz bandleader. The Texas Playboys' signature dance-floor style of Western swing encompassed blues, jazz, country, and pop standards, with a sophistication at odds with the era's image of "hillbilly music." This four-disc centennial anthology (a little late, as Wills was born in 1905 and died in 1975) documents the musical progression of the band and its music from regional phenomenon to national treasure. The 105 tracks (remastered, but all previously released) showcase the legendary "twin guitars" of Leon McAuliffe and Eldon Shamblin, the smooth crooning of Tommy Duncan, the irrepressible spirit of Wills himself, and a songbook of classics such as "New San Antonio Rose" (with lyrics added to the original instrumental), "Take Me Back to Tulsa," and "Faded Love." In jukeboxes and roadhouses throughout the Southwest, it is Bob Wills, not Benny Goodman, who remains the "King of Swing."--Don McLeese