Saturday Night Electro-Swing

Apparently, 20-somethings are listening to a lot of this hybrid swing these days. Youngsters these days. (You'll have to imagine the eye roll there.)


The next would have been good for Halloween.




It's kinda catchy, though ...

10 comments:

Grim said...

I always liked Western Swing.

Do you remember the brief Seing craze of the mid-90s? I knew a bunch of people in college who were into it.

Tom said...

Yeah, me too. Asleep at the Wheel is really good, though of course Bob Wills is still the king.

Loved that swing craze back in the 90s. Had a lot of fun on the floor.

Grim said...

Glad to hear that it went well for you. I just remember it as a thing.

I take inordinate pleasure in not having to care what the cool people and youngsters are doing. It’s one of the genuine goods of getting older.

Gringo said...

I was going to comment on the swing craze of the '90s, but it's already been done. I have a CD of Indigo Swing from that era.

Mention of Bob Wills and the Wheel connects me with the 3rd video- In the Middle of Nowhere. I found the bass guitar in The Middle of Nowhere too loud, too heavy. This year I went to listen to a western swing band. I found its bass (guitar) too loud. I am accustomed to the softer bass as found in most of Bob Wills recordings. Bob tended to use a stand-up acoustic bass instead of an electric bass guitar, though he did pioneer use of electric guitars.

Coincidentally, I was in the Middle of Nowhere this week when my sister and I took a road trip to my cousin's ranch, which fronts a dirt road. Hamburgers from his own cattle- delicious.

The second video, with the Halloween cartoon, reminded me of cartoons on Saturday morning TV during my childhood. With digital imaging today, cartoons are easier to make. Don't need to make a whole bunch of drawings by hand.

E Hines said...

My daughter just introduced me to Cissie Redgwick, Cara Emerald, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy in the swing and jazz genres (slightly modified, despite the retro look of their videos).

They're worth exploring based on the samples she showed.

Eric Hines

Tom said...

Yeah, Grim, I don't have to care, but I think it's interesting just to hear what's hot and what's not. Most of it I then proceed to completely ignore, but sometimes I get introduced to something good I wouldn't have otherwise discovered.

Eric, good stuff. BBVD was part of the 90s craze, the others are new-ish (compared to the 90s). I did a lot of dancing to BBVB, along with Squirrel Nut Zippers, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Speak Easy Spies, bunch of 90s swing bands back then. The Brian Setzer Orchestra is great, too. Most of you probably know Setzer was the lead singer for the Stray Cats. When that band fizzled he went into big band & swing. On the newish side with Caro Emerald, etc., Caravan Palace has good music, but bizarre (absurdist? nihilist?) music videos.

I did think it was weird how this older music style was adopted by punk / goth types, and then millennials or whatever the generation is called. There's more vulgarity (& vulgar themes even when there's no cursing), band names like Cherry Poppin' Daddies, tats and piercings, mixed with clothing styles, dance steps, and music from the 20s through 50s. Strange sub-culture, but I like the music, and the people seem to be nice.

Anonymous said...

When I worked in Garden City, KS, the (very odd) NPR station had "Western Swing and Other Things" on Saturday morning. They had a lot of western swing, both old and new, ballads, old country, oddities (the Austin Lounge Lizards), and whatever caught the DJ's ear. I always tuned in if I could, because even if I didn't like a particular song, the show would be fun to listen to.

LittleRed1

E Hines said...

LR1, and the rest of you: LR's cite got me curious, so I searched via Startpage, and found this Web site for "Western Swing and Other Things:" https://www.westernswingandotherthings.com/ .

They're still going (in reruns? I couldn't tell) on some radios; scroll down some. Glasgow, Scotland, and a couple mainland European networks, among others.

Eric Hines

Tom said...

Cool. Looks like this Saturday's post will be on Western swing.

douglas said...

Has a touch of the French Chanson in it too.