For the Last Time
In 1973, 40 years after founding the Texas Playboys, Bob Wills gathered many of his Playboy stars from the past in a Dallas studio for a final hurrah. On December 2 the Playboy alumni enjoyed a homecoming meal at the Wills house, and the following day they entered the studio as Wills guided the session from his wheelchair (put there by a debilitating stroke in 1969). Among the musicians were three vital contributors to the very first Playboy session in Dallas in 1935--pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey Dacus, and steel player Leon McAuliffe--as well as guitar great Eldon Shamblin (who joined in 1937) and discipleMerle Haggard, who'd waxed his ownWills tributein 1970. With Wills mustering only the meekest of hollers, the Playboys joyously rolled through an assortment of Wills favorites, not knowing they would never see their leader again. Tired from the session, Wills left after only six songs and was unable to return for the next day's session. With Hoyle Nix filling in for Wills, the musicians completed the record with tears in their eyes. Wills had a second stroke the next day, lapsed into a coma, and never regained consciousness, perhaps content in his final long sleep for having heard his distinctive music one last time.--Marc Greilsamer