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Western swing
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Western swing is a style of popular music that evolved in the 1920s in the American Southwest among the region's popular Western string bands. Fundamentally an outgrowth of jazz, much Western Swing is dance music with an up-tempo beat consisting of an eclectic combination of rural, cowboy, polka, and folk music, New Orleans jazz, or Dixieland, and blues blended with a jazzy "swing". and played by a hot string band often augmented with drums, saxophones, pianos and, notably, the steel guitar.
Later incarnations have also included overtones of bebop.
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Encyclopedia
Western swing is a style of popular music that evolved in the 1920s in the American Southwest among the region's popular Western string bands. Fundamentally an outgrowth of jazz, much Western Swing is dance music with an up-tempo beat consisting of an eclectic combination of rural, cowboy, polka, and folk music, New Orleans jazz, or Dixieland, and blues blended with a jazzy "swing". and played by a hot string band often augmented with drums, saxophones, pianos and, notably, the steel guitar.
Later incarnations have also included overtones of bebop. The similarities between Western Swing and Gypsy jazz are often noted.
History
Western Swing originated in the dance halls of small towns throughout the Lower Great Plains in the 1920s and 1930s evolving from the old house parties and ranch dances where fiddlers and guitarists entertained dancers. According to guitarist Merle Travis, "Western Swing is nothing more than a group of talented country boys, unchsooled in music, but playing the music they feel, beating a solid two-four rhythm to the harmonies that buzz around their brains. When it escapes in all it musical glory, my friend, you have Western Swing." During the early developmental phase an uncordinated but parallel progression occurred with scores of groups from San Antoinio to Shreveport to Oklahoma City playing different repetories with same basic sound."
Bob Wills and Milton Brown are considered to be the seminal band in this style when in the early 1930s they co-founded the stringband that became the Light Crust Doughboys, playing dancehalls and taking advantage of radio broadcasting.
Photographs of the Light Crust Doughboys taken as early as 1931 show two guitars along with fiddle player Bob Wills. On February 9,1932 the Fort Worth Doughboys: Milton Brown, Durwood Brown, Bob Wills, and C.G. "Sleepy" johnson were recorded by Victor Records at the Jefferson Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Brown played guitar and Johnson played tenor guitar. Both "Sunbonnet Sue" and "Nancy Jane" were recorded that day. This record was released by Victor (23653), Blue Bird (5257), Montgomery Ward (4416 & 4757), and (Canadian) Sunrise (3340). Montgomery Ward credited Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies.
When Milton Brown left the Doughboys in , he took his brother Durwood along with him to play rhythm guitar in what would be called the Musical Brownies. Photos from 1933 show three guitar players in the Doughboys.
Recording rosters show that from September 1935 on, Bob Wills utilized 2 fiddles, 2 guitars plus Leon McAuliffe playing steel guitar, banjo, drums, and other instruments during recording sessions.
In 1935 Milton Brown and the Musical Brownies recorded W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" (Decca 5070) using a shortened arrangement of what they did while playing at dances at the Crystal Palace outside of Fort Worth. In the dance hall arrangement the band would play at slow-drag tempo for as long as 10 - 15 minutes with an accompanying vocal. The tempo would then increase to presto for the final choruses. The crowds of dancers loved the arrangement and eagerly anticipated the change in tempo. Waltzes and ballads were interspersed among faster songs if the dancers, who would dance two-step or round dances at that time, became worn out after faster numbers.
1938 session rosters for Wills recordings show both "lead guitar" and "electric guitar" in addition to guitar and steel guitar. The "front line" of Wills' orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944.
That helped the style gain a much wider following through the music of Wills and his Texas Playboys in Tulsa, Brown in Fort Worth and the Light Crust Doughboys, also in Fort Worth.
Bob Wills recalled the early days of Western swing music in a 1949 interview. "Here's the way I figure it" he said, "We sure not tryin' to take credit for swingin' it." Speaking of Milt Brown and himself—working with popular songs done by Jimmie Davis, the Skillet Lickers, Jimmie Rodgers, songs he'd learned from his father and others—he said that "We'd ... pull these tunes down an set 'em in a dance category. ... They wouldn't be a runaway ... and just lay a real beat behind it an' the people would began 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."
By the mid-1930s, Fort Worth was a hub for western swing music, and
The Crystal Springs Dance Pavilion was at the center, and the pavilion continued to prosper as a country music venue until the 1950s. On New Year's Eve 1955, about 1,800 persons danced there.
Fred "Papa" Calhoun recalled that around 1930 he played in a band in Decatur, Texas that played "a lot of swing stuff like the Louisiana Five was playing back in those days. We also liked Red Nichols and Bix Beiderbecke."
Western swing differed in several ways from the music played by the nationally popular horn driven big swing bands of the same era. In Western bands—even the fully orchestrated bands—vocals and the other instruments followed the fiddle's lead. Additionally, most Western bands improvised freely, either by soloists or collectively. Popular horn bands tended to arrange and score their music.
The rhythm and the use of electrically amplified stringed instruments, especially the steel and guitar, also gave the music a distinctive sound. As early as 1934 or 1935 Bob Dunn electrified a Martin O-series acoustic guitar while playing with Milton Brown's Brownies.."
According to Jimmy Thomason "It happened when Dunn was working at Coney Island in New York... he ran into this black guy who was playing a steel guitar with a homemade pickup attached to it...hooked up to this old radio or something and was playing blues licks... and he got this guy to show him how he was doing it. I never knew this black musician's name but both Bob and Avis talked to me about him often."
Origin of the name
Western swing in its beginnings had no name—it was just dance music. Just the term "swing", meaning big band dance music, wasn't used until after the 1932 hit "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)". Recording companies came up with several names before World War II trying to market it—"Hillbilly", "Old Time Music", "Novelty Hot Dance", "Hot String Band", and even "Texas Swing" for music coming out of Texas and Louisiana. Most of the big Western dance bandleaders simply referred to themselves as Western bands and their music as Western dance music, many adamantly refusing the "hillbilly" label.
Bob Wills and others thought the term "western swing" was used for his music while he and his band were still in Tulsa, OK between 1939 and 1942. Circa 1942, Spade Cooley's promoter, Foreman Phillips, began using "Western Swing" to advertise his client. The first use in print was a 1944 Billboard item mentioning an forthcoming song book by Spade Cooley titled Western Swing. After that the music was "Western Swing".
Some credit Spade Cooley with coining the term 'Western swing' in the early 1940s, as a play on Benny Goodman's reputation as the "King of Swing." At least one historian and two web sites, however, credit Cooley’s then manager Bert “Foreman” Phillips with creating the term.
Height of popularity
Western Swing reached its "golden age" during the years preceding WWII, blossomed on the West Coast during the war, and was extremely popular throughout the West. In the 1940s the Light Crust Doughboys broadcasts went out over 170 radio stations in the South and Southwest, and were heard by millions of people. Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys played Western Swing nightly at the Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa from 1934 until 1943. Crowds at Cain's were as large as 6,000 people. Daily shows were broadcast on KVOO radio, which had a far reaching 50,000 watt signal. Regular shows continued until 1958 with Johnnie Lee Wills as the bandleader.
Burt (aka Bert) "Foreman" Phillips developed a circuit of dance halls and bands for each of them. Included in the venues beginning in 1942 were: the Los Angeles County Barn Dance at Venice Pier Ballroom, the Town Hall Ballroom in Compton, the Plantation in Culver City, the Baldwin Park Ballroom, and the Riverside Rancho. These "western" dances were a "huge" success.
According to Hank Penny, Phillips had said, "I don't want any of that Western Swing!" But that's what he got, and it got him huge eclectic crowds. Writer Gerald Vaughn wrote that , "a Dance band hopes to make people move, not stand and listen, so the emphasis has to be on beat, rhythm, syncopation."
One of the groups which played at the Venice Pier Ballroom was run by Jimmy Wakely with Spade Cooley on fiddle. Several thousand dancers would turn out on Saturday night to swing and hop. "The hoards of people and jitterbuggers loved him."
When Bob Wills played the Los Angeles Country Barn Dance at the Venice Pier for three nights shortly before he broke up his band to join the army during WWII, the attendance was beyond 15,000. Fearing that the dance floor would collapse, police stopped ticket sales at eleven o'clock. The line outside at that time was ten deep and stretched into Venice. Another source states that Will attracted 8,600 fans.
Riverside Rancho, operated by Marty Landau, had a dance floor, three bars, and a restaurant. According to Merle Travis, "At that time "Western Swing" was a household word. Al Dexter had had a million- seller on his "Pistol Packin' Mama" record. Bob Wills was heard on every jukebox with this "San Antonio Rose." T. Texas Tyler was doing well with his "Remember Me (When the Candlelights Are Gleaming)." It was practically impossible to wedge your way into the Palace Barn where Red Murrell and his band were playing. A mile down the hill was the Riverside Rancho. You were lucky to find a ticket on a Wednesday Night. Tex Williams and his Western Caravan were playing there."
Other LA "country nightclubs", that is, places that weren't "dives", (and there were plenty of those) included The Painted Post ("Where the sidewalk ends and the West begins"), Willow Lake, Cowtown, Valley Ballroom, Cowshed Club, Dick Ross's Ballroom, and Dave Ming's 97th Street Corral. In 1950 Hank Penny and Armand Gautier opened the Palomino in North Hollywood, "one of country music's most fabled venues, the commercial and social focal point of Hollywood's coutnry set." "Western jazz" brought it its initial popularity.
According to one report crowds of ten thousand people were not uncommon at Western Swing dances in the Los Angeles area. Another eyewitness report describes the California crowds as "huge". Western Swing bandleader Hank Thompson, who was stationed in San Pedro during WWII, said that it was not uncommon to see "ten thaousand people at at the pier," referring to Redondo Beach.
Fred "Poppa" Calhoun, piano player for Milton Brown, vividly remembered how people in Texas and Oklahoma danced when Bob Wills played. "They were pretty simple couples dances, two steps and the Lindy Hop with a few western twirls added for good measure. By 1937 the Jitterbug hit big in the West and allowed much greater freedom of movement. But the Jitterbug was different in the West. It wasn't all out boogie woogie; it was 'swingier' - more smooth and subdued."
Another orchestra from this era was The Duece Spriggens Orchestra. They played nightly at the Western Palisades Ballroom, on Santa Monica Pier...then known as the largest ballroom on the West Coast. The music was broadcast as a radio show, The Cavalcade of Western Music, on station KFI. They also appeared on the Melody Roundup radio program.
Decline and lasting influence
In 1944, with the United States' continuing involvement in World War II, a 30 percent federal excise tax was levied against "dancing" night clubs. Although the tax was later reduced to 20 percent, "No Dancing Allowed" signs went up all over the country. Jazz drummer Max Roach argued that, "This tax is the real story why dancing...public dancing per se...were just out. Club owners, promotors, couldn't afford to pay the city tax, state tax, government tax.
The decline of Western Swing in the years following the war reflected the waxing and waning of the more mainstream big-band sound. Asleep at the Wheel band leader Ray Benson related his experiences with reintroducing Western Swing to Texans in an interview.
Moon Mullican, who had performed with Western Swing bands, later found more success as a solo artist and his 1940s and 1950s hits often were done with a more western swing than pure country feel.
Western swing was one of the many genres to influence rockabilly and rock 'n' roll. Bill Haley's music from the late 1940s and early 1950s is often referred to as Western Swing. Haley's band from 1948 and 1949 was named Bill Haley and The 4 Aces of Western Swing.
Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Asleep at the Wheel helped make Austin, Texas a major center of Western Swing beginning in the 1970s. The annual South by Southwest music festival and the Austin City Limits PBS TV show have contributed to this success. Western Swing Monthly, based in Austin, is a newsletter for musicians and fans.
Notable bands and artists from the early era
(See also :Category:Western swing musical groups and :Category:Western swing performers.)
Early groups (includes leaders)
- Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys
- Jimmy Heap and the Melody Masters
- Bill Boyd and the Cowboy Ramblers
- Doug Bine and his Dixie Ramblers
- The Flinthill Boys
- The Fort Worth Doughboys
- Pee Wee King and His Golden West Cowboys
- The Hi-Flyers
- W. Lee O'Daniel and his Hillbilly Boys
- The Light Crust Doughboys
- "Texas" Jim Lewis and His Lone Star Cowboys
- Ole Rasmussen and his Nebraska Cornhuskers
- Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies
- Jimmie Revard and his Oklahoma Playboys
- Herb Goddard and his Oklahoma Wanderers
- Deuce Spriggens and His Orchestra
- Spade Cooley and His Orchestra
- The Port Arthur Jubileers (Jimmie Hart & His Merrymakers)
- Dude Martin and His Roundup Gang
- Bill Haley and the Saddlemen (later - Bill Haley & His Comets)
- Adolph Hofner and his San Antonians
- The Southernaires
- The Southern Melody Boys
- Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys
- The Texas Swingsters
- Cliff Bruner and The Texas Wanderers
- Al Dexter and His Troopers
- Ocie Stockard and the Wanderers
- The Tune Wranglers
- T.J. "Red" Arnall and His Western Aces
- W.A. "Bill" "Slumber" Nichols and His Western Aces
- Tex Williams and the Western Caravan
- Billy Gray and His Western Okies
- Dave Stogner and The Western Rythmnaires
- The Washboard Wonders
- Smokey Wood and the Wood Chips
- The Maddox Brothers & Sister Rose
Early performers
Later bands and artists of the genre (or influenced by it)
Groups
The River Road Boys(http://www,riverroadboys.com)
Individuals
See also
Bibliography
- Boyd, Jean Ann. Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998. ISBN 0-292-70859-9
- Boyd, Jean A. "Western Swing: Working-Class Southwestern Jazz of the 1930s and 1940s". Perspectives on American Music, 1900-1950 (ch. 7, pp. 193-214), edited by Michael Saffle. Routledge, 2000. ISBN 0-8153-2145-7
- Brink, Pamela H. "Western Swing". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, David J. Wishart (ed.), p. 550. University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8032-4787-7
- Carney, George O. "Country Music". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, David J. Wishart (ed.), pp. 535-537. University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8032-4787-7
- Coffey, Kevin. Merl Lindsay and his Oklahoma Nite Riders; 1946-1952. (Krazy Kat KKCD 33, 2004) booklet.
- Ginell, Cary. Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994. ISBN 0-252-02041-3
- Ginell, Cary; Kevin Coffey. Discography of western swing and hot string bands, 1928-1942. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2001. ISBN 0-313-31116-1
- Kienzle, Rich. Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz. New York: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-94102-4
- Komorowski, Adam. Spade Cooley: Swingin' The Devil's Dream. (Proper PVCD 127, 2003) booklet.
- Lange, Jeffrey J.Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly: Country Music's Struggle for Respectability, 1939-1954. ISBN 0-8203-2623-2
- Logsdon, Guy. "The Cowboy's Bawdy Music". The Cowboy: Six-Shooters, Songs, and Sex (pp. 127-138) edited by Charles W. Harris and Buck Rainey. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8061-1341-3
- Logsdon, Guy. "Folk Songs". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, David J. Wishart (ed.), pp. 298-299. University of Nebraska Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8032-4787-7
- Malone, Bill C.; Judith McCulloh (eds.) Stars of Country Music: Uncle Dave Macon to Johnny Rodriguez. University of Illinois Press, 1975. ISBN 0-252-00527-9
- Marble, Manning; John McMillian; Nishani Frazier (eds.). Freedom on My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience. Columbia University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-231-10890-7
- Price, Michael H. "Jazz Guitar and Western Swing". pp. 81-88 The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology, James Sallis (ed.). University of Nebraska Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8032-4250-6
- Townsend, Charles. San Antonio Rose: The Life and Music of Bob wills. University of Illinois Press, 1986. ISBN 0-252-01362-X
- Wetlock, E. Clyde; Richard Drake Saunders (eds.). Music and dance in Texas, Oklahoma, and the Southwest. Hollywood, CA: Bureau of Musical Research, 1950.
- Wills, Bob. 1949 interview from , first broadcast by NPR July-September 2003. Written by Kathie Farnell, Margaret Moos Pick, Steve Rathe.
- Wolff, Kurt; Orla Duane. Country Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides, 2000. ISBN 1-85828-534-8
- Zolten, Jerry. Western Swingtime Music: A Cool Breeze in the American Desert. Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine. Volume 23/Number 2, 1974.
External links
Associations
Periodicals
Public Radio programs
- —Western Swing and Other Things, Allen Bailey, Saturdays, 10:00 AM–1:00 PM Central Time (US).
- —Big Fresno Barn Dance, Don Fischer & Steve Barile, Sundays, 2:00–4:00 Pacific Time (US).
- —Swing On This, John Wooley, Saturdays, 7:00–8:00 PM Central Time (US).
- —The Heyride, John Schmitz, Fridays, 7:30–9:00 PM Central Time (US).
- —Swingin' West, Mike Gross, Fridays, 1:00–4:00 PM Eastern Time (US) (Seasonal–May thru November).
General
Listen
- Mike Gross-Fairfield University Student Radio 1-4pm EST Friday afternoons.
- - — Hosted by ; available 24 hours-requires RealPlayer (two minute commercial introduction).
- - — Hosted by ; requires RealPlayer (two minute commercial introduction).
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