Disc 4 finds the band back in the Hollywood studios in 1946. “Bob Wills Boogie” with its boogie-woogie piano and electric guitar work is definitely early rock and roll. In October 1947, Wills began recording for MGM. He had had a drinking problem since the early ‘30s that intensified due to business pressures.
Country singers were usurping Western swing, a new invention known as television was shrinking his ballroom audiences, and rock and roll was on the horizon. Wills’ benders led to his firing of Duncan. Timmy Moore, Rusty McDonald, and Wills’ brother Billy Jack filled in at subsequent sessions. McDonald sang lead on Wills’ last big hit, 1950’s “Faded In Love.” His recording sessions in 1954 didn’t create the same magic and he went on a hiatus from the studio.
Duncan returned in 1960 for two years while Wills was signed to Liberty Records. Wills suffered two heart attacks in 1962 and 1964. After the second, he began working solo, playing with house bands. In 1965, Wills signed to Kapp Records and two tracks, “A Big Ball In Cowtown” sung by Leon Rausch in 1966 and an instrumental 1969 were recorded with Nashville studio musicians.
Wills was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968. The disc closes out with three tracks recorded in 1973 for a reunion album, prophetically titled For The Last Time. Wills led the band from his wheelchair and it’s readily apparent that he doesn’t have the same vivaciousness. A powerful stroke would eventually put him into a coma. On May 15, 1975, he succumbed to pneumonia and was laid to rest in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Bob Wills’ influence on American music is so vast that he is one of the few artists worthy of induction into both the Country Music and the Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. He might not be as well known as Johnny Cash or Elvis Presley, but he’s just as influential and integral to the current state of American music.
Article comments
1 - Vern Halen
Maybe it's a minor beef, but the all pervasive "a Haaa!" just kills any enjoyment this music could have for me. Remember when Bon Scott closed Highway to Hell with "Shazzbat - nanu nanu"? Same feeling, except more of it.
Hmmm.... bet you don't read Bon Scott & Bob Wills in the same post too often, do you?