I like this live recording because it gives a sense of the style of the band at play.
An instrumental of a classic piece, with swing elements.
You may have heard of the Fallout television show, which has become a breakout hit. I think it derives a lot of its force from its use of this kind of classic American music -- including Western Swing -- which is just objectively better than what the kids are used to hearing. It's not even nostalgic for them, because they've never heard it before. The real trick is this: they've never heard anything like it.
I think it derives a lot of its force from its use of this kind of classic American music -- including Western Swing -- which is just objectively better than what the kids are used to hearing. It's not even nostalgic for them, because they've never heard it before. The real trick is this: they've never heard anything like it.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in New England, I had never heard of Western Swing, though as a child I played Kawliga over and over again. Didn't realize until decades later that Hank Williams was singing it. Lot of classical music and then folk music at home.
When I moved to TX, I found out about Western Swing. When I visited my mother for Christmas, all enthused about Western Swing, she said that she had danced to Bob Wills tunes etc. when she was growing up in Oklahoma.
The first Bob Wills video's first song is Yodel Mountain. Which reminds of another yodel singer- Bill Haley. Bill Haley & The Four Aces of Western Swing - Yodel Your Blues Away
ReplyDeleteAbout 15m into that first one they do a piece — “Sitting on top of the world” — that I had no idea was that old.
ReplyDeleteBear Family records. How appropriate.
A fair amount of jazz harmonies and rhythm in there. One wonders if a New Orleans critter wandered west and fertilized Western.
ReplyDeleteDad29, Western Swing is a mixture of all that there was around at the time: traditional folk, blues, pop, jazz. Bob Wills's father was a top-notch fiddler, so Bob was quite familiar with the traditional folk songs. Bob learned blues from his black neighbors.
ReplyDeleteA classmate of my sister turned her family farm into a place for visitors- petting zoo, whatever. Her husband built an open air enclosed area for country western dancing on weekends. (In the summer, obviously.) In rural New England.