"Hit it that time!" "Yeah!"
ewomack | MN USA | 07/21/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Yes. They wear cowboy hats. They play fiddles and ride horses and hail from Texas (Wills is from Turkey, Texas to be exact). They sing about "light folks" and "dark folks". They also have what is probably the most salient giveaway feature: lap-steel slide guitar. To modern musical stereotypes this means one thing: "country" music. Luckily the stereotypes will be greatly disappointed by the rich and almost eclectic mix on this CD (or any of the Tiffany Transcriptions CDs). Jazz lives here, cohabitating with blues and swing. Songs made famous by the giants of jazz (Ellington, etc.) pour out of the digital bits. Fiddle and slide guitar cozy up to electric blues and swing like lifelong lovers. This unlikely (in today's segmented music industry) combination exudes joy, spontaneous dancing and hollering. Wills himself does plenty of hollering before, after, and during songs. His gracious and often hilarious interactions with his band add a dimension to this music not often heard. During the guitar solo for "Milk Cow Blues" Wills shouts out proudly: "Ladies and Gentelemen that is Junior Barnard and his standard guitar... that is two more payments and it'll be his." On "I Never Knew" Tommy Duncan flubs a note in the verse and says "Missed that one" and laughs. When he hits the same note in the final verse, Wills says "Hit it that time!" Spontaneity of this caliber pervades the Tiffany recordings. Vocalists laugh out loud and speak off-the-cuff. Not typical stuff.
One major standout track, "Frankie Jean", features Tommy Duncan accompanied by only one guitar. Half spoken-word, half-whistling, this song adds another dimension to the band's repitoire.
This CD has an overall more bluesy feel than the more swing-coated previous two volumes. Still, the fiddles come out more than once to cure the blues on melodic danceable tunes like "Crazy Rhythm", "You Just Take Her", "Four Or Five Times", and "Take The 'A' Train". It's all undeniably Bob Wills, regardless of the twist."
Timeless Texas Perfection
Carl W. Block | In the Flow, Texas | 12/14/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I can't play this cd without dancing. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys show their chops, in this masterpiece.
Bad to the bone guitar, pedal steel, violin. Bob is all over it, even singing scat!
This recording is a must have for any fan of Real Texas music."
