Release Date: 9/25/2001
Recording Date: 9/2001
Tracks: 20
Label: Catfish
Type: CD
- Genre/Styles
- Traditional Country, Western Swing
Album Tracks (20)
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What the Critics Say
Bob Wills may be the king of Western swing, but he's perhaps less well-known than other pivotal country music figures like Hank Williams or Jimmie Rodgers. Unlike Williams and Rodgers, he was a bandleader, not a front-and-center singer. The Texas Playboys were as likely to play an instrumental as a song, and when they did play a song, Tommy Duncan usually took over. Wills' association with the great state of Texas also put him outside of the Nashville loop. But one look at the long list of great songs -- among the greatest -- by Wills and company, and the listener recognizes that he or she knows this Western swinger better than he or she had imagined. For starters, there's "New San Antonio Rose," "Stay a Little Longer," and "Take Me Back to Tulsa," which are cornerstones in classic country repertoire. Add to this Duncan's silky-smooth vocals and a group of top-notch fiddlers, steel players, and guitarists, and Wills couldn't miss. The only possible complaint one might have against the king of Western swing is his -- dare one say it? -- irritating habit of shouting out, "Sing it Tommy!," among other things, in the middle of a song. Perhaps such outbursts were exciting when the group played live, but on record they're mostly interruptions. Faded Love serves as a good intro to the Texas swinger and his playboys. It lets the listener know that Bob Wills put the western in country & western, and that he, like Rodgers and Williams, belongs at the very top of country greats. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide
