Eldon Shamblin — "Guitar Genius" (1981)

[slabboardsam]

I found a vinyl rip on YouTube of an out-of-print "solo" album of longtime Texas Playboys guitarist Eldon Shamblin. If you aren't familiar with him, the first track is about two minutes of him introducing himself and his history with Bob Wills and later work with Merle Haggard. It's interesting to hear him front and center instead of in a band setting; I'd also recommend listening to the Tiffany Transcriptions to get a sense of how he (and other guitarists with the Texas Playboys such as Junior Barnard and Jimmy Wyble) were playing in the late '40s.

[mickeybones]

I love this stuff, thanks for the post. Very rare to hear Shamblin so clearly -- in fact, I don't think I ever have.

"For the Last Time" album is great to hear the band setting clearly,

but your vinyl one is really something special.

Shamblin and Christian both from Oklahoma. I imagine they heard one another at some point.

[slabboardsam]

I love this stuff, thanks for the post. Very rare to hear Shamblin so clearly -- in fact, I don't think I ever have.

"For the Last Time" album is great to hear the band setting clearly,

but your vinyl one is really something special.

Shamblin and Christian both from Oklahoma. I imagine they heard one another at some point.

I've started working through some of the Hal Leonard books of transcribed Charlie Christian solos, and in one of them, the biographical information at the beginning mentions offhand that Charlie liked the Texas Playboys and cites an out-of-print biography from the '70s about him where the interviewed people he played with and knew in the '30s. I really want to track a copy down.