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I started a quest to find terrific blues music and incredible musicianship when I was just a little kid. I also have a tremendous appreciation of fine musical instruments and equipment. One of my greatest joys all of my life was sharing my finds with my friends. I'm now publishing my journey. I hope that you come along!


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Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Goonzy Magoo Records artist: Jim Vegas - Soul Shattered Sister - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Soul Shattered Sister, from Jim Vegas and it's an interesting mix of rock, pop and soul. Opening with title track, Soul Shattered Sister, Jim Vegas leads on vocal and guitar backed by Sam Young on bass, Luke Young on sax and Philip Holmes on drums. One of my favorite tracks on the release is Till The Whole Thing Blows, an easy paced ballad with a nice melody, warm sax tones and comforting guitar riffs. Not That Strong is a solid boogie with a driving pace and sax overtones. Love Is Coming Back Around has a polished Steely Dan feel with it's tight, solid rhythm, Fagan like vocals and jazzy sax approach. Very nice.  Another lead track on the release is Lightning Hit The Box with warm sax, polished guitar riffs and soulful singing. Very nice. Closing track, Sun Is Gonna Smile, has a smooth sway and nice melody. This is an interesting release with plenty of easy paced melodies. 

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Friday, June 17, 2016

Jim Zeller - Circus - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Circus, from Jim Zeller, and it's a rock stew. Opening with Down To The River, a kind of bolero rocker with a taste of Midnight Rider and French Cafe twist on Old Man River, this release will keep you guessing. Wild Life has a more metal feel with vocal echo but with synthesized accordion sounds giving it a more euro sound. With Freddy Freedom and Jean Millaire on guitar, David Devine on drums and Marc Deschenes on bass, a nice harp solo sets it off. A light rocker, Bad Girl, has an interesting sound with harp and a jazzy beat. Possibly my favorite track on the release, overdriven guitar rhythm is very cool as is the howl of the harp and Richard Beamder on sax. Ballad, Ain't So Bad has a solid melody with traces of the Kinks and smooth harp work. Driving rocker with traces of All Along The Watchtower, Halloween in Hollywood With Johnny Depp is a cool track with some hints of Spanish guitar and cool guitar riffs. One Step Closer To Vegas has a Tex Mex/Jimmy Buffet mix feel. An appealing radio track, this is nicely written and performed. This Time stays the course with straight forward pop style track, complimented nicely by harp and interesting percussion work. Demetri Bel Alexandre adds some nicely crafted slide work giving the track additional texture. Sweet Nanoo is a cool shuffle track with classic blues rock guitar riffs a real nice harp blowout. Midnight Train is as pure a radio track as you are going to hear. Nicely done. Wrapping the release is Soul Of The Moon with a catchy melody and mellow backing.


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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

JANE LEE HOOKER TAKES NO B! CD OUT APRIL 15



JANE LEE HOOKER TAKES NO B!
CD Out On April 15

These ladies mash up the grit and attitude of NYC

And hold nothing back

"Blistering. Sweaty. Raw…” -  Tom Tom Magazine




On April 15th Ruf Records group, Jane Lee Hooker will release No B! a record filled with blues and rock covers as well as originals that stick like glue with grinding guitars backed by a pounding drum beat. Produced and recorded by Matt Chiaravalle at Mission Sound, Brooklyn, NY and Mercy Sound, NYC, it’s bound to shove new life into their fans.

"These women do more than just pay tribute… they mix in elements of punk and classic rock to give them such a distinct, hard-edged sound."   - Guitar Girl Magazine

Tearing out of their native New York these five rockers fuse the sticky thrills of golden-era punk and blues with a healthy slug of modern attitude. “Not a lot of bands can capture the excitement, sweat, and charisma of the ’70s bands we grew up listening to,” they say. “But we can, and we do.”
Who are these chicks?

Dana “Danger” Athens: Vocals
“Hightop”: Guitar
Tina “T-Bone” Gorin: Guitar
“Hail Mary” Z: Bass
Melissa “Cool Whip” Houston: Drums

Between the five members, they have decades of experience playing, recording, and touring both nationally and internationally. Individually, the members have performed for thousands of fans while sharing bills with the likes of Motörhead, MC5, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Deep Purple.
 
Guitarists Hightop and T-Bone honed their love of blazing dual leads in Helldorado in the ’90s. From there, Hightop joined Nashville Pussy, T-Bone joined Bad Wizard, and both toured endlessly around the world. But when their time with those bands ended, they realized they missed the rush of trading guitar solos with one another, leaving audiences howling with joy. They quickly recruited Hail Mary, who played bass with Hightop in the punk band the Wives. Cool Whip sat behind the drum kit and got the nod before she even finished slamming out the first song of her audition.

And no other singer in NYC can bring a crowd to its knees harder or faster than Dana "Danger" Athens.


 “Black-clad New York blues revivalists Jane Lee Hooker ripped the balls out of Muddy Waters’ Mannish Boy." -
Evelyn McDonnell, Populism (live review)

When it came to tracking No B! last year in Brooklyn, the five-piece were equally clear in their mission statement. “We told our producer, Matt Chiaravalle, that we wanted it to sound exactly like the album “Hard Again” that Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter did in 1977,” recalls High Top (who coincidentally chose her nickname after Mud’s shout-outs to Pinetop Perkins on that record). “It’s the album that both Tina and myself played along to when we were kids, to learn how to solo. I still think it’s one of the greatest albums ever recorded and some of the finest from Muddy and Johnny.”
Ten of these tracks find the band digging back into the blues songbook, exhuming a fistful of standards including Muddy Waters’ “Champagne And Reefer,” Willie Dixon’s “Shake For Me” and Albert King’s “The Hunter.” In each case, Jane Lee Hooker claims ownership, pouring on the rocket fuel until even the dustiest standard becomes a stinging punk-blues thrill-ride, driven by jackhammer rhythms, twin lead guitars, and Dana’s scorched-earth vocals.

"…captures the nostalgic feeling of classic blues-rock, a ballsy punch in the face…This all-female ensemble of virtuosos knows when to step out of the pocket to balance the explosive driving force of Dana Danger Athens’ vocals." - Tom Tom Magazine

“We basically play songs we like, and they end up turning into something that has our own take on it,” says the band of their respectful-yet-rebellious approach. “Like Mean Town Blues”: it’s such an amazing song, and our version pays tribute to that. We feel the spirit of Johnny Winter is with us on the ride.”

No B! is a testament to the band’s own songwriting skills that original tune “In The Valley” stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the celebrated moments on the track listing. “We’ve been having a blast taking the spirit of these amazing classics we’ve been playing and developing a style to write our own original songs,” says the band. “There are thousands of masterpieces out there that so many people don’t even know about. And at the same time, there are enough shitty songs in the world – we’re not interested in adding to them.”

In the era of cut-and-paste, computer-driven recordings,  No B!’s production was as minimalist, and the results explode out of the speakers. “We played live,” continues High Top, “and we used no effects. We all played in the same room at the same time. Most songs were done on a first take. I don’t think we played anything more than twice!”

They drive the van at 100mph with their music. You can’t call them girls; you call them chicks. They are by no means new to the game. This five-headed punk-blues juggernaut is coming for your hearts and eardrums. 

Are they bleeding yet?




TOUR DATES:

02/27 - Tupper Lake, NY - Rock n Blues Review
03/03 - Kennett Square, PA - Kennett Flash
03/11 - Jim Thorpe, PA - Mauch Chunk Opera House
03/12 - Rehoboth, DE - Dogfish Head Brewery
03/24 - Harrisburg, PA - HMAC
03/25 - Cleveland, OH - Happy Dogs at Euclid Tavern
03/26 - Blawnox (Pittsburgh), PA - Moondog's
03/30 - New York, NY - Webster Hall (A Celebration of Adam Roth)
04/20 - Rochester, NY - Dinosaur BBQ
04/21 - Syracuse, NY - Dinosaur BBQ
04/23 - Albany, NY - Move Music Festival
04/30 - Orlando, FL - Moonstone Music Festival w/ Kiss, Def Leppard, Vintage Trouble
05/06 - Stillwater, OK - Willie's Saloon
05/08 - Tulsa, OK - Guthrie Green Concert Series
05/13 - Marlboro, NY - The Falcon
06/02-05 - Hunter, NY - Mountain Jam w/ Beck, Gov't Mule, Wilco, Chris Robinson's Brotherhood
08/21 - Long Branch, NJ - West End Park Summer Concert Series
09/08-09 - Las Vegas, NV - Big Blues Bender Festival w/ Beth Hart, Delbert McClinton, Tab Benoit
09/27-28 - Sayville, NY - 25th Annual Seafood Festival








Friday, August 14, 2015

The Fab Faux celebrate JOHN ONO LENNON 75TH - 10/24 at The Beacon -






  • NYC, THE BEACON THEATRE
JOHN ONO LENNON 75TH - 10/24

"This show will feature music from John Lennon's entire career - both Beatles and Solo - including his best known greatest hits, as well as a couple of eclectic "deep cuts."   The Fab Faux will be augmented by the 4-piece Hogshead Horns, the Creme Tangerine Strings, guest musicians Jim Boggia and Erin Hill, and the 6-member Nutopia choir - allowing them to perform every facet of Lennon - from the most intimate numbers to full-out 19 piece Wall of Sound."


SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2015 - 8 p.m.
MANHATTAN, NY
THE BEACON THEATRE - 2124 BROADWAY
Fab Faux Celebrate A Life In Songs:
John Ono Lennon 75th
featuring The Hogshead Horns, The Crème Tangerine Strings,
Erin Hill, Jim Boggia and The Nutopia Choir
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D004EA6A6FA236A



The Wall Street Journal articulated what sets The Fab Faux apart: “The Fab Faux…are not interested in nostalgia – they are a musical ensemble, and, unlike any other Beatles recreation that I have seen, they play the Beatles canon like it was, well, music.  They don’t dress up in Beatles outfits or don fake mustaches and Sgt. Pepper suits – no more than Leonard Bernstein felt compelled to wear a powdered wig when he conducted Mozart.” Read the full story, here: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/26/the-fab-faux-go-beyond-beatlemania/ <http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2013/10/26/the-fab-faux-go-beyond-beatlemania/>


For those of us who never got to see The Beatles in concert, we're fortunate to have The Fab Faux dedicate themselves to faithfully recreating some of the most extraordinary music ever written. The band commemorated the 43rd Anniversary of The Beatles' performance on The Ed Sullivan Show with an appearance Late Show with David Letterman. Check out their fantastic recreation of ‘I Am The Walrus’ here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lknCpGbsJc <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lknCpGbsJc>





The Fab Faux brings together the talents of five of New York's most respected musicians: Will Lee of Late Show with David Letterman, who released a solo album last year which Rolling Stone Magazine praised as “hitting an intersection of the Average White Band and solo Paul McCartney,” Jimmy Vivino, band leader of the ‘Conan’ Show, Rich Pagano, who has performed with Rosanne Cash, Ray Davies and released a solo effort Blurt Magazine described as “one of the best albums of 2009,” Jack Petruzzelli, who has toured and recorded with Joan Osborne, Patti Smith and Rufus Wainwright (and co-wrote and co-produced Osborne's latest album, "Love and Hate," which came out in April,) and Frank Agnello, whose musical credits include Phoebe Snow, Marshall Crenshaw and Joey Molland of Badfinger.

Watch this live, in-studio performance of The Fab Faux recreating ‘Abbey Road’, side two: http://www.vimeo.com/11237479
<http://www.vimeo.com/11237479>

Watch The Fab Faux 60 Second Teaser (OFFICIAL VIDEO):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZoxzNkdhVY
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZoxzNkdhVY>

ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE named the band as #18 on a list of the “40 reasons to get excited about music.” Rolling Stone also praised: “sometimes a tribute band sounds better than the original.” In a live concert review, THE WASHINGTON POST’s John Kelly blogged that the band had tackled “the task of reverse engineering the Beatles' late catalogue, obsessively learning every guitar figure, every drum fill, every lush harmony, every tap of the cowbell and shake of the tambourine, until the songs could be played in concert.” THE HUFFINGTON POST raved: They do the one thing, no amount of officially sanctioned Beatles merchandise can do... bring The Beatles music back to life.”

Rolling Stone, Huffington Post, New Yorker ‘On the Horizon’, WFUV, The NY POST Fall Arts Preview, Time Out NY, RELIX Magazine, USA TODAY, Metro NY and other key outlets weighed in on The Fab Faux, as Radio City Music Hall became the setting for an epic three-hour concert --‘A Night In The Life - A John Lennon 70th Birthday Celebration.’ The 2010 event featured two sets of John Lennon’s greatest music from The Beatles and his solo career. A portion of the evening's proceeds benefited 'Spirit Foundation' - a charitable foundation set up by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Prior to the show, the band was honored to receive a personal note and bouquet of flowers from Yoko Ono.


>
NY POST: http://nypost.com/2013/12/29/the-fab-faux-is-the-ultimate-beatles-cover-band/ <http://nypost.com/2013/12/29/the-fab-faux-is-the-ultimate-beatles-cover-band/>
HUFFINGTON POST - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-cara-price/george-harrisons-musical_b_4142867.html <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-cara-price/george-harrisons-musical_b_4142867.html>
ELMORE PART 1 - http://www.elmoremagazine.com/2013/10/news/the-fab-faux-roll-out-george-harrison-tribute <http://www.elmoremagazine.com/2013/10/news/the-fab-faux-roll-out-george-harrison-tribute>
ELMORE PART 2 : http://www.elmoremagazine.com/2013/10/news/the-fab-faux-roll-out-george-harrison-tribute-part-2 <http://www.elmoremagazine.com/2013/10/news/the-fab-faux-roll-out-george-harrison-tribute-part-2>
SOMETHINGELSEREVIEWS: http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/10/16/a-mark-that-no-one-will-ever-make-again-the-fab-faux-return-with-tributes-to-the-beatles-george-harrison/ <http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/10/16/a-mark-that-no-one-will-ever-make-again-the-fab-faux-return-with-tributes-to-the-beatles-george-harrison/>
ROLLING STONE  - Concert Review
Alternate Take Blog
, by David Fricke, 9/27/10
Every Twist of Lennon: The Fab Faux Meet the Quarrymen at New York Tribute Show

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/david-fricke/blogs/DavidFricke_May2010/210806/38726 <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/david-fricke/blogs/DavidFricke_May2010/210806/38726>


THE HUFFINGTON POSTinterview feature   By Holly Cara Price, 9/16/10
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-cara-price/the-fab-faux-celebrate-jo_b_719296.html <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/holly-cara-price/the-fab-faux-celebrate-jo_b_719296.html>

THE WASHINGTON POST – ‘CLICK TRACK’ POP MUSIC BLOG – LIVE CONCERT REVIEW
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/05/in_concert_the_fab_faux_at_lis.html#more <http://blog.washingtonpost.com/clicktrack/2010/05/in_concert_the_fab_faux_at_lis.html#more>

Recent interviews: The Fab Faux keeps Beatlemania alive and prospering:
http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/movies/the-fab-faux-keeps-beatlemania-alive-and-prospering <http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/movies/the-fab-faux-keeps-beatlemania-alive-and-prospering>

Fab Faux bring Beatles tunes to New Brunswick
East Brunswick native Jack Petruzzelli plays keyboards & guitar
http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2009/0930/front_page/011.html <http://newstranscript.gmnews.com/news/2009/0930/front_page/011.html>
The Fab Faux’s Jack Petruzzelli appeared live on FOX-TV in Washington, D.C. to discuss the band’s approach to recreating the albums of The Beatles, note-for-note.

The John Lennon 70th Birthday concert, mentioned above, marked The Fab Faux’s return to Radio City Music Hall, following their sold-out 10th Anniversary event, during which they delivered a 36-song marathon performance that began with 'Magical Mystery Tour' and ended three hours later with 'Hey Jude' -- with the audience of more than 6,000 people on its feet. Their 10th Anniversary 'Psychedelia!' concert was The Fab Faux's largest headlining concert ever, their largest-ever sold out concert, and their largest NY concert-to-date as well.

The Fab Faux are now in a league of their own, consistently performing music that The Beatles themselves never played live. Beginning with a pair of concerts at Webster Hall in late ‘07, the band has reached a new level of fan support as well as media awareness, with growing coverage including ABC-TV World News Tonight with Charles Gibson, NPR, Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Reuters Newswire, NY-1 News, The New York Times, NY Post, New Yorker, NY Sun, Hollywood Reporter, Time Out NY, The Nation and much more. An NPR Morning Edition segment
(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18342562
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18342562> ) praised the group as a "Collective that's about attention to detail." A Front Page feature in The Hollywood Reporter noted: “After nearly 10 years together, (they) find themselves in the midst of a surprising leap from club fringe to center stage...” Critics have weighed in, and have described the band as nothing less than "Brilliant" (AP).  A live concert review in THE NATION.com described their show as “Almost magical.” Read Will Lee’s interview with GLIDE MAGAZINE here:
http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/interview-will-lee-of-the-fab-faux/
<http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/interview-will-lee-of-the-fab-faux/>


ABOUT THE FAB FAUX:
With a commitment to the accurate reproduction of The Beatles' repertoire, The Fab Faux treat the seminal music with unwavering respect, and are known for their painstaking recreations of the songs (with emphasis on the later works never performed live by the Beatles).  Far beyond a cover band, they play the music of The Beatles so impeccably that one must experience it to believe it. Imagine hearing complex material like "Strawberry Fields Forever" or "I Am the Walrus" performed in complete part-perfect renditions; or such harmony-driven songs as "Because", "Nowhere Man", and "Paperback Writer", reproduced not only note-for-note, but with extra vocalists to achieve a double-tracked effect.

The musical virtuosity of The Fab Faux – in actuality five of the hardest working musicians in NYC – completely up-ends the concept of a Beatles tribute band. Far beyond being extended sets of cover versions, their astounding shows are an inspired re-discovery of the Beatles’ musical magic, as The Fab Faux tackles the group’s most demanding material live onstage in a way that has to be experienced to be believed.

Calling them, “the greatest Beatles cover band – without the wigs,” Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke wrote, “the Faux invigorate the artistry of even the Beatles’ most intricate studio masterpieces with top chops and Beatlemaniac glee.” Approaching the songs with the intent of playing them live as accurately in musical reading and in spirit as possible, The Faux’s breathtaking performances tend to dispel all concertgoers’ previous notions of a Beatles tribute act.

The Fab Faux are a labor of love that was born in 1998 when neighbors Jimmy Vivino,
bandleader/guitarist for Conan O’Brien's new show, 'Conan,' and Will Lee (who’s played with all 4 Beatles), bassist for Paul Shaffer’s CBS Orchestra on the Late Show With
David Letterman kicked around the idea during an elevator ride in their NYC building. Rounding out the line-up are lead-singing drummer/producer Rich Pagano (Rosanne Cash, Patti Smith, sugarCane cups, etc.), guitarist Frank Agnello (Marshall Crenshaw, Phoebe Snow, etc.) and ace keyboardist/guitarist Jack Petruzzelli (Joan Osborne Band, Rufus Wainwright). All five principals contribute vocals, making the Faux’s soaring harmonies as resonant as their multi-instrumental chops, which are further enhanced by the four-piece Hogshead Horns (with Blues Brothers, Blood, Sweat & Tears and SNL band alums) and Creme Tangerine Strings.

The Faux’s high energy shows have generated serious buzz not only at top NYC venues including The Beacon Theater, Hammerstein Ballroom, and Webster Hall – with Beatles fans, movie stars and world class musicians in attendance – but at major dates in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Park City, Utah (Sundance), Philadelphia and Toronto, among other locales. They’ve headlined 4 of the last 5 years at Liverpool’s annual Beatle Week, playing before 35,000 Beatle fanatics – while in England, they had the rare honor of recording an original song at Abbey Road Studios – and also delighted the masses performing live on the Howard Stern Show. Benefit and corporate dates have included events for JVC, the N.B.A. and the Michael J. Fox Parkinsons Research Foundation.

“It's not just a cover band,” says the Faux’s Pagano. “This is the greatest Pop music ever written, and we're such freaks for it.” Imagine the instrumental complexities of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “A Day in the Life” performed part-perfect with an orchestra. The lush, multi-layered harmonies of “Because,” and “Eleanor Rigby” sung note-for-note. The adrenaline rush of “Helter Skelter” and “Paperback Writer,” delivered spot on…
 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

SITTIN' ON TOP OF THE WORLD - BOB WILLS

James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975), better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western swing, he was universally known as the King of Western Swing. Wills formed several bands and played radio stations around the South and West until he formed the Texas Playboys in 1934 with Wills on fiddle, Tommy Duncan on piano and vocals, rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit Whalin, who played steel guitar and bass. The band played regularly on a Tulsa, Oklahoma radio station, and added Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar, pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey Dacus, and a horn section that expanded the band's sound. 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 1950, he had two top ten 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. 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. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted Wills and the Texas Playboys in 1999. He was born on a farm near Kosse, Texas, in Limestone County near Groesbeck, to Emma Lee Foley and John Tompkins Wills. His father was a statewide champion fiddle player and the Wills family was either playing music, or someone was "always wanting us to play for them", in addition to raising cotton on their farm. In addition to picking cotton, the young Jim Bob learned to play the fiddle and the mandolin. Both a sister and several brothers played musical instruments, while another sister played piano. The Wills family frequently held country dances in their home, and there was dancing in all four rooms. While living in Hall County, Texas, they also played at 'ranch dances' which were popular in both North Texas and eastern New Mexico. Wills not only learned traditional music from his family, he learned some Negro songs directly from African Americans in the cotton fields near Lakeview, Texas and said that he did not play with many white children other than his siblings, until he was seven or eight years old. African Americans were his playmates, and his father enjoyed watching him jig dance with black children. "I don't know whether they made them up as they moved down the cotton rows or not," Wills once told Charles Townsend, author of San Antonio Rose: The Life and Times of Bob Wills, "but they sang blues you never heard before. The family moved to Hall County in the Texas Panhandle in 1913, and in 1919 they bought a farm between the towns of Lakeview and Turkey. At the age of 16, Wills left the family and hopped a freight train. "Jim Rob", as he became known, drifted for several years, traveling from town to town to try to earn a living, at one point almost losing his life when he nearly fell from a moving train, and later being chased by railroad police. In his 20s he attended barber school, got married, and moved first to Roy, New Mexico, then returned to Turkey in Hall County (now considered his home town) to work as a barber at Hamm's Barber Shop. He alternated barbering and fiddling even when he moved to Fort Worth after leaving Hall County in 1929. There he played in minstrel and medicine shows, and, as with other Texas musicians such as Ocie Stockard, continued to earn money as a barber. He wore blackface makeup to appear in comedy routines, something that was common at the time. "He was playing his violin and singing." There were two guitars and a banjo player with him. "Bob was in blackface and was the comic; he cracked jokes, sang, and did an amazing jig dance."[15] Since there was already a "Jim" on the show, the manager began calling him "Bob". 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. Wills was known for his hollering and wisecracking. One source for this was when, as a very young boy, he would hear his father, grandfather, and cowboys give out loud cries when the music moved them. When asked if his wisecracking and talking on the bandstand came from his medicine show experience, he said it did not. Rather, he said that it came directly from playing and living close to Negroes, and that he never did it necessarily as show, but more as a way to express his feelings. While in Fort Worth, Wills added the "rowdy city blues" of Bessie Smith and Emmett Miller to a repertoire of mainly waltzes and breakdowns he had learned from his father, and patterned his vocal style after that of Miller and other performers such as Al Bernard. Wills acknowledged that he idolized Miller. Furthermore, his 1935 version of "St. Louis Blues" is nearly a word-for-word copy of Al Bernard's patter on his 1928 recording of the same song. The fact that Wills made his professional debut in blackface was commented on by Wills' daughter, Rosetta: "He had a lot of respect for the musicians and music of his black friends," Rosetta is quoted as saying on the Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys Web site. She remembers that her father was such a fan of Bessie Smith, "he once rode 50 miles on horseback just to see her perform live." (Wills is quoted as saying, "I rode horeseback from the place between the rivers to Childress to see Bessie Smith...She was about the greatest thing I had ever heard. In fact, there was no doubt about it. She was the greatest thing I ever heard." In Fort Worth, Wills met Herman Arnspinger and formed The Wills Fiddle Band. In 1930 Milton Brown joined the group as lead vocalist and brought a sense of innovation and experimentation to the band, now called the Light Crust Doughboys due to radio sponsorship by the makers of Light Crust Flour. Brown left the band in 1932 to form the Musical Brownies, the first true Western swing band. Brown added twin fiddles, tenor banjo and slap bass, pointing the music in the direction of swing, which they played on local radio and at dancehalls.[22] Wills remained with the Doughboys and replaced Brown with new singer Tommy Duncan in 1932. He found himself unable to get along with future Texas Governor W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel, the authoritarian host of the Light Crust Doughboy radio show. O'Daniel had parlayed the show's popularity into growing power within Light Crust Flour's parent company, Burrus Mill and Elevator Company, and wound up as General Manager, though he despised what he considered "hillbilly music". Wills and Duncan left the Doughboys in 1933 after Wills had missed one show too many due to his sporadic drinking. Wills recalled the early days of what became known as Western swing music in a 1949 interview. "Here's the way I figure it. We sure not tryin' to take credit for swingin' it." Speaking of Milt Brown and himself working with songs done by Jimmie Davis, the Skillet Lickers, Jimmie Rodgers, and others, and songs he'd learned from his father, he said that "We'd pull these tunes down an set 'em in a dance category. It wouldn't be a runaway, and just lay a real nice beat behind it an the people would get to really like it. It was nobody intended to start anything in the world. We was just tryin' to find enough tunes to keep 'em dancin' to not have to repeat so much." Wills is also quoted as saying, "You can change the name of an old song, rearrange it and make it a swing." "One Star Rag," "Rat Cheese under the Hill," "Take Me Back to Tulsa," "Basin Street Blues," "Steel Guitar Rag," and "Trouble in Mind" were some of the songs in his extensive repertory After forming a new band, The Playboys, and relocating to Waco, Wills found enough popularity there to decide on a bigger market. They left Waco in January of 1934 for Oklahoma City. Wills soon settled the renamed Texas Playboys in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and began broadcasting noontime shows over the 50,000 watt KVOO radio station. Their 12:30-1:15 p.m. Monday–Friday broadcasts became a veritable institution in the region. Nearly all of the daily (except Sunday) shows originated from the stage of Cain's Ballroom. In addition, they played dances in the evenings, including regular ones at the ballroom on Thursdays and Saturdays. Wills added a trumpet to the band inadvertently when he hired Everet Stover as an announcer, not knowing that he had played with the New Orleans symphony and had directed the governor's band in Austin. Stover, thinking he had been hired as a trumpeter, began playing with the band with no comment from Wills. Young sax player Zeb McNally was allowed to play with the band, although Wills initially discouraged it. With two horns in the band, Wills realized he would have to add a drummer to balance things and create a fuller sound. He hired the young, "modern style musician" Smokey Ducas. By 1935, Wills had added horn and reed players as well as drums to the Playboys. The addition of steel guitar whiz Leon McAuliffe in March 1935 added not only a formidable instrumentalist but a second engaging vocalist. Wills himself largely sang blues and sentimental ballads. With its jazz sophistication, pop music and blues influence, plus improvised scats and wisecrack commentary by Wills, the band became the first superstars of the genre. Milton Brown's death in 1936 had cleared the way for the Playboys. Session rosters from 1938 show both "lead guitar" and "electric guitar" in addition to guitar and steel guitar in the Texas Playboys recordings. Wills' 1938 recording of "Ida Red" served as a model for Chuck Berry's decades later version of the same song - "Maybellene". About this time, Wills purchased and performed with an old Guadagnini violin that had once fetched $7,600 for $1,600, the equivalent of about $24,000 in 2009. In 1940, "New San Antonio Rose" sold a million records and became the signature song of The Texas Playboys. The song's title referred to the fact that Wills had recorded it as a fiddle instrumental in 1938 as "San Antonio Rose". By then, the Texas Playboys were virtually two bands: one a fiddle-guitar-steel band with rhythm section and the second a first-rate big band able to play the day's swing and pop hits as well as Dixieland. The "front line" of Wills' orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944 After leaving the Army in 1943, Wills moved to Hollywood, moving into a rented house in September, and began to reorganize the Texas Playboys. He became an enormous draw in Los Angeles, where many of his Texas, Oklahoma and regional fans had also relocated during the Great Depression and World War II in search of jobs. Monday through Friday, the band broadcast from 12:01 to 1:00 p.m. PT over KMTR-AM (now KLAC) in Los Angeles. They also played regularly every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night at the Mission Beach Ballroom in San Diego. He commanded enormous[clarification needed] fees playing dances there, and began to make more creative use of electric guitars to replace the big horn sections the Tulsa band had boasted. 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 Dorsies, et al." at Civic Auditorium in Oakland, California, in January 1944. While on his first cross-country tour in 1945, he appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, where drums and horns were not considered to be part of country music. Wills' band at the time consisted of two fiddlers, two bass fiddles, two electric guitars, an amplified electric steel guitar, and a trumpet, as well the noted drums, which belonged to Wills' then drummer, who had played in the Dixieland style. In 1945, Wills' dances were outdrawing those of Tommy Dorsey and Benny Goodman, and he had moved to Fresno, California. Then in 1947 he opened the Wills Point nightclub in Sacramento and continued touring the Southwest and Pacific Northwest from Texas to Washington State. While based in Sacramento, his radio broadcasts over 50,000-watt KFBK were heard all over the West. Famous swing orchestras in California realized that many of their followers were leaving to dance to Bob Will's Western swing. Because he was in such demand, some places booked Wills any time he had an opening, regardless of how undesirable the date. The manager of a popular auditorium in the LA Basin town of Wilmington, California: "Although Monday night dancing is frankly an experiment it was the only night of the week on which this outstanding band could be secured." During the postwar period, KGO radio in San Francisco syndicated a Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys show recorded at the Fairmont Hotel. Many of these recordings survive today as the Tiffany Transcriptions, and are available on CD. They show off the band's strengths significantly, in part because the group was not confined to the three-minute limits of 78 RPM discs. They featured superb instrumental work[according to whom?] from fiddlers Joe Holley and Louis Tierney, steel guitarists Noel Boggs and Herb Remington, guitarists Eldon Shamblin and Junior Barnard and electric mandolinist-fiddler Tiny Moore. The original recorded version of Wills' "Faded Love" appeared on the Tiffanys as a fairly swinging instrumental unlike the ballad it became when lyrics were added in 1950. 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. They held dance attendance records at Jantzen Beach in Portland, Oregon; in Santa Monica, California, and at the Oakland (California) Auditorium, where they drew 19,000 people in two nights. Wills also broke an attendance record of 2,100 previously held by Jan Garber at the Armory in Klamath Falls, Oregon, by attracting 2,514 dancers. Wills and the Playboys also played small towns on the West Coast. Actor Clint Eastwood recalled seeing Wills when he was 18 or 19 (1948 or 1949) and working at a pulp mill in Springfield, Oregon. Appearances at the Bostonia Ballroom in San Diego continued throughout the 1950s. 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). It ended when he fired Duncan in the fall of 1948. 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. He opened a second club, the Bob Wills Ranch House in Dallas, Texas. Turning the club over to managers later revealed to be dishonest left Wills in desperate financial straits with heavy debts to the IRS for back taxes that caused him to sell many assets including, mistakenly, the rights to "New San Antonio Rose". It wrecked him financially. In 1950, Wills had two Top Ten 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. Wills did not fit into the popular Nashville country and western stations, although he was usually labeled "country and western". Neither did he fit into the pop or middle of the road stations, although he played a good deal of pop music, and was not accepted in the pop music world. 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. 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 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. But it's just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time. It's the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments. 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 for. He appeared twice on ABC-TV's Jubilee USA and kept the band on the road into the 1960s. After two heart attacks, in 1965 he dissolved the Texas Playboys (who briefly continued as an independent unit) to perform solo with house bands. 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. A 1969 stroke left his right side paralyzed, ending his active career. The May 26, 1975, issue of TIME (Milestones section) read: "Died. Bob Wills, 70, "Western Swing" bandleader-composer; of pneumonia; in Fort Worth. Wills turned out dance tunes that are now called country rock, introducing with his Texas Playboys such C & W classics as Take Me Back to Tulsa and New San Antonio Rose"


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