• Track Listing

The King of Western Swing recorded nearly 400 songs for Tiffany Music, Inc. in ’46 and ’47. He and his band really stretched out on these performances recorded in between tours—these are generally regarded as the best recordings Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys ever made. But the 16-inch transcription discs, which were distributed only to radio stations, fell into obscurity when Tiffany folded in the late ’40s, and collectors could only hear these prized performances on poorly recorded reel-to-reel tapes or, later, cassettes. Vinyl and CD releases arrived in the ’80s and ’90s, but less than half of those songs have seen the light of day since the ’40s. Recently, though, a huge discovery was made, one of the biggest in American popular music this millennium: 49 tape reels packed with those long-lost Wills performances. All that leads to this: 50 of those rescued treasures (20 never even released on transcription disc), newly remastered and fully explained in the 20-page oversized booklet. These incredible performances of Western swing standards, blues and ballads were worth the wait: "No Letter Today," "El Rancho Grande," "Too Late," "A Year Ago Tonight," "Detour," "She’s Killing Me," "She’s Gone," "Margie," the instrumentals "Sally Johnson," "Soldier’s Joy," "Paradise Isle," "Liberty," "On the Alamo" and more! Real Gone Music.