Anthology 1935-1973

by

Bob Wills

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I agree with all the reviewers who rave about the music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. This is irresistable western swing that has to leave you smiling. When the Anthology was released, it was by far the most complete collection available on disc and was worth the price for that reason. Now, however, more recent discs offer nearly as complete a sampling at a single-disc price, basically omitting only the very late works which, while of historical interest, simply aren't as good as during the peak of Bob's career. I now consider this collection to be only for the fan who wants to own it all and certainly not the best introduction for new fans. Indeed, neither disc in the set is as good as the two better (in my opinion) single-disc collections: "King of Lonestar Swing" and "The Essential Bob Wills", the first one of which has 28 tracks, versus 32 on the two-disc Anthology.

When I was much younger, I heard a Bob Wills record. I don't recall which one it was, but it was a fairly conventional fiddle and steel guitar mix, no trumpets, saxes or jazz bass. Then, decades later, I heard this set and was both delighted and surprised by the truly excellent music that Wills presented to his audiences, which included a fair dose of real jazz, blues and Mexican rhythms. Among my favorite tracks on this set are "Cherokee Maiden" (in my view, one of the standout recordings of the entire Swing Era), "Big Beaver," "Stay a Little Longer," "Fat Boy Rag" and "Basin Street Blues." Also very good are "Three Guitar Special," "Corrinne Corrina," "New San Antonio Rose," "Roly Poly" and "South." But for me, personally, there are still too many steel guitar solos that just don't grab me.

Wills' best band, judging from aural evidence, was probably his postwar group of 1946-48 with the superb Junior Barnard on guitar and Millard Kelso, his finest pianist and a real jazz swinger. Without having heard the complete set, then, I would probably recommend the Tiffany transcriptions as aural highlights of a great country band that could provide some truly unexpected jazz thrills. As an overview of his complete career, however, this Rhino set is probably quite accurate in showing the real mix of jazz to fiddle band music the Wills group played.

Your willingness to buy this set will probably depend on your interest in Texas fiddle music in general and Wills in particular. I personally find that the 17 tracks I really like give me constant enjoyment, however. Wills' band was a truly happy one, with an esprit de corps that didn't always exist in more polished and sophisticated groups of the time, and I do believe that both the least and most sophisticated musical listeners will find something here of high quality and lasting pleasure.