Best Of: Legends of Country Music (W/Book) [Box set, Original recording remastered]

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 29, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set, Original recording remastered
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000GRTR2E
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,773 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Sunbonnet Sue

2. Nancy Jane

3. Osage Stomp

4. Get with It

5. Spanish Two Step

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Steel Guitar Stomp

2. Rosetta

3. Blue Yodel #1

4. I'm a Ding Dong Daddy (From Dumas)

5. Oozlin' Daddy Blues

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. New San Antonio Rose

2. Liebestraum

3. Lyla Lou

4. Maiden's Prayer

5. The Girl I Left Behind Me

See all 27 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Sugar Moon

2. Brain Cloudy Blues

3. Bob Wills Boogie

4. Fat Boy Rag

5. The Kind of Love I Can't Forget

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

This collection includes 105 tracks in 4 CD's and is a breathtaking, in-depth overview of Willis' career in one package starting with his first recordings with the Fort Worth Doughboys in 1932. It explores the Playboys' epochal 1937-1947 ARC and Columbia recordings including "Steel Guitar Rad," "Twin Guitar Special," and his signature tune "New San Antonio Rose," as well as post-Columbia highlights like "Bubbles In My Beer" and the now-classic "Faded Love." It ends with selections from Wills' final session in 1973.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving tribute to a great musician !, September 22, 2006

By 

J. Ross "a-music_fan" (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Of: Legends of Country Music (W/Book) (Audio CD)

Born to a poor family in Limestone County, Texas, Bob Wills (the undisputed "King of Western Swing") has become synonymous with that style of music. In 2006, this 4-disc release in Columbia "Legends of Country Music" series is a great way to celebrate his centennial! Wills had learned to play the fiddle by age ten. By the late 1920s, he and Herman Arnspiger were performing in the Fort Worth area as The Wills Fiddle Band. In 1931, they were joined by Milton & Durwood Brown and called themselves Aladdin's Laddies. Disc #1 in this set begins in 1932 with recordings of The Light Crust Doughboys, the band formed after the Light Crust Flour Co. hired the band for radio broadcasts. Because of a trademark, Victor Records called them The Fort Worth Doughboys. By 1934, Wills had formed his own band, moved to Tulsa, and signed with Okeh Records. Disc #2 covers 1937-1940, and disc #3 spans 1941-45. Disc #4 begins with 1946 and ends with Bob Wills' final session (1973 in Dallas).

It's important for such compilations to include a musician's big hits, as well as a sampling of their entire repertoire and influential pieces. We hear many favorites like "Big Ball in Cowtown," "Bubbles In My Beer," "Roly Poly," "Take Me Back to Tulsa" and "Stay A Little Longer." "San Antonio Rose" and "New San Antonio Rose" are both included, the former written in just 30 minutes when Wills needed another number at a recording session. Pandhandle Rag was a top ten hit in 1949. We're given the 1969 version here. Leon McAuliffe's influential "Steel Guitar Rag" appears on disc #1. In the 1960, Wills made the charts with "Shape Up or Ship Out" and "I Don't Love Nobody." Unfortunately, these songs are not provided. And how in the heck could they not have included "Across the Alley from the Alamo"? Oh well ... can't have everything.

With 105 tracks in total, this compilation certainly tells the musical story with both old-time fiddling (e.g. Osage Stomp) and country-styled jazz (e.g. Trouble in Mind, Basin Street Blues) well represented. But don't forget about the times that Bob Wills lived and played his music in, just after the Depression. Many of his fans were poor, the working folks in need of a charismatic performer to look up to. Somewhat of a folk hero, Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys traveled the backroads to rural areas in a large bus with a big longhorn steer head on the front. With heavy emphasis on the backbeat and guitar chords played over a moving bass line, the music was infectious an designed for dancing. And then there were the great lyrics, often sung by the great Tommy Duncan. Excellent notes, in a booklet with many excellent historic photographs, are an added bonus in this legends series. All I can say, is that it's a moving tribute to a great musician. So, to quote Bob Wills, "Aaaaa-haaaa!" (Joe Ross, Roseburg, OR.)

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What makes Bob holler?, October 2, 2006

By 

A. W. Schott (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Of: Legends of Country Music (W/Book) (Audio CD)

I must own about 30 Bob Wills cd's and this has made many of them obsolete. If you are a Bob Wills fan there is no need for me to convince you of Will's and his band's virtuosity. For those of you who aren't familiar with Bob Wills and western swing music, I think you owe it a hearing. Wills mixed blues, jazz, big band, and western music and literally invented what we know as western swing. The list of great musicians who played with this band are impressive. Not many people realize that Rolling Stone magazine selected Eldon Shamblin as the greatest rhythm guitar player of all time.
The recording quality of this cd is so far above everything else I've heard that it must be stressed here.
What makes Bob Holler? If he were alive today this reproduction of his great music would!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Western Swing, June 7, 2007

By 

Doris Mcintosh - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Of: Legends of Country Music (W/Book) (Audio CD)

My husband and I have been a Bob Wills fan for many years. He is 80 and a collector of Bob Wills music. He was truly the "King of Western Swing" and this is a wonderful collection of his music.