How the West was Swung

[BFrench]

Loves me some jazzed up Western Swing, someone might dig it. Been a huge Tom Morell admirer for years and such a nice bonus he has Clint Strong doing some ourstanding playing here

but for a sample here's Tom and his Tophands live

Pterodactyl Ptales

[ThatRhythmMan]

For some reason I thought Tom Morello at first. I couldn’t wait to hear him try his hand at Western swing.


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[MarkRhodes]

Yeah, I love that stuff.

[Irishmuso]

I used to play a bit of steel but only on a single neck three pedal model which IIRC was tuned to E9 chromatic. The real juice would have been in the other tuning which was C6 based and was used by the jazzers. I don't know who originated those tunings. It would be nice to find out.

[AndyV]

C6th tuning was pioneered by Jerry Byrd on lap steel circa 1939 and later expanded to an 8-string C6th (used to great effect by Joaquin Murphey as a C13th). The standard Western Swing tunings were often A6th and E13th (Leon McAuliffe, Noel Boggs and others) in several different voicings, depending on the player. Buddy Emmons was most responsible for working out what became the modern E9th 10-string pedal steel tuning. There is a ton of info available for the curious at www.steelguitarforum.com.

Steve Fishell write an excellent bio of Buddy that includes all the info on his various pedal setups: https://www.amazon.com/Buddy-Emmons-...s%2C126&sr=8-1

Clint Strong was on fire on those sessions with Tom Morrell. Tom was probably the tersest musician I ever interviewed but man, could he be loquacious on his instrument!

[mr. beaumont]

So much Charlie Christian in those solos...who of course was born in Texas and grew up in Oklahoma!

I love when the country/western/jazz line gets real blurry.

[AllanAllen]

If you guys like this check out the Bob Wills Tiffany Transcriptions

[ThatRhythmMan]

If you guys like this check out the Bob Wills Tiffany Transcriptions

Here’s a whole playlist of them I keep going back to.

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys | The Complete Tiffany Transcriptions - YouTube


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[AllanAllen]

Here’s a whole playlist of them I keep going back to.

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys | The Complete Tiffany Transcriptions - YouTube


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There's a playlist on spotify that's just the ones with guitar solos. That's the one I listen to.

[SierraTango]

Also check out Bruce Forman's Cow Bop group.
It would make Bob hollar!

[AndyV]

This is a holy grail recording among Western Swing guitarists and steel players as well as swing guitar players. Jimmie Rivers and Vance Terry were monster players.

Brisbane Bop - YouTube

[AllanAllen]

This is a holy grail recording among Western Swing guitarists and steel players as well as swing guitar players. Jimmie Rivers and Vance Terry were monster players.

Brisbane Bop - YouTube

It's like the prototype for the Gatton/Emmonds Redneck Jazz Explosion

[MarkRhodes]

Also check out Bruce Forman's Cow Bop group.
It would make Bob hollar!

Cow Bop doing "Chinatown." Bruce is a phenomenal player.

[sgosnell]

The Tiffany Transcriptions are great, and I own all of them on CD from long ago. But for guitar solos I prefer the recordings with Jimmy Wyble, IMO the best solo guitar player ever in the Texas Playboys. Eldon was as good as they come as a rhythm guitarist, but by his own admission he wasn't a "solo man". Lots of guitarists came and went over the years, but Wyble is my favorite by a long shot. His solos on Roly Poly and Fat Boy Rag are sublime.

[AllanAllen]

The Tiffany Transcriptions are great, and I own all of them on CD from long ago. But for guitar solos I prefer the recordings with Jimmy Wyble, IMO the best solo guitar player ever in the Texas Playboys. Eldon was as good as they come as a rhythm guitarist, but by his own admission he wasn't a "solo man". Lots of guitarists came and went over the years, but Wyble is my favorite by a long shot. His solos on Roly Poly and Fat Boy Rag are sublime.

I think you are mistaken, Fat Boy Rag is Jr Barnard's signature song. Jr was typically the lead player on the Tiffany Transcriptions with Eldon playing rhythm.

[wintermoon]

So many great Wills tunes but I think this take on Goodman's Mission to Moscow might be my favorite, well at least of the Tiffany transcriptions

[wintermoon]

I once read an interview w a western swing player that said something like 'when Bob Wills hollered out your name during your solo you knew you had arrived'

[sgosnell]

Wyble didn't play on the Tiffany Transcriptions, but he did play on at least one recording of Fat Boy Rag, which was recorded many times. It was Barnard's tune, but he was far from the only one who played it.

Tiny Moore's solo on Mission To Moscow had a lot to do with convincing me to build solid-body 5-string mandolins. Take The A Train was another that killed me.