• Track Listing

Bob Wills was one of the two country music personalities, along with Spade Cooley, who pioneered the style of Western Swing music during the 1930s and '40s, combining the standard approach of hillbilly country with jazz, blues and pop styles, and using expanded instrumental line-ups, to create a highly distinctive, sophisticated, infectious and entertaining strand of country music. Between 1935 and 1950, with a variety of different incarnations of his band The Texas Playboys, he recorded for Vocalion, Okeh, Columbia and MGM while establishing himself as a top radio star and successful 'live' attraction. This great-value 53-track 2-CD collection cherry-picks the highlights from the 300 or so recordings he made during the period, including, of course, the twenty or more Top 10 country hits he had after the establishing of the airplay chart for "Folk" records during the '40s, with biggies like "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke On The Water", "Stars And Stripes On Iwo Jima", "Sugar Moon" and "New Spanish Two Step". While he remained a popular figure over the next two decades, his career was blighted by ill-health, and this collection provides a marvellously entertaining look at the real golden era of western swing. Includes comprehensive booklet notes, with complete recording session and personnel details