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Bob Wills is still the king
where he began playing music and performing in travelling vaudeville acts As he traveled, he learned more about other musical styles and steadily incorporated their influences into his music, including influences from Bessie Smith, an early African-American blues legend as well as early country artists Jimmie Davis and Jimmie Rodgers
Wills formed the Wills Fiddle Band in 1930, which became a hit on radio. With a new sponsorship, it was renamed the Light Crust Doughboys. Wills left the band in 1933 and formed the Texas Playboys the next year. By this time, Wills was among a group developing the “western swing” sound
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In 1940, he released perhaps his most popular song, “New San Antonio Rose ”
He started appearing in western movies, ultimately appearing in twenty altogether, in the 1940s In 1942, at the age of 37, he enlisted in the army However, he was quickly discharged Nevertheless, he wrote and performed several popular patriotic songs to support the troops during World War II.
He developed problems in the 1940s because of his increased drinking, but he continued to tour. In 1968, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame His health continued to decline In 1973, he had just started an album with country artist Merle Haggard when he suffered a massive stroke Wills never recovered and spent the next two years in a coma before his death on May 13, 1975
Bob Wills influenced a very diverse group of musicians, including such legendary acts as blues artist Fats Domino, rock stars Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones, and country artists such as Waylon Jennings as well as Haggard
Wills’s 1936 hit “Right or Wrong” was re-recorded by George Strait in 1984. “Sugar Moon,” a number one single from 1947 was later recorded by Willie Nelson and K. D. Lang in the 1980s. In 1950, Wills released “Faded Love,” a song that he had written with his father and brother
The popular tune was later sung by Conway Twitty, Elvis Presley, and eventually, Willie Nelson A multitude of artists perform other songs of his still to this day
After Wills’s death, tributes poured in from around the country He and the Texas Playboys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 for their contributions to the beginnings of rock and roll In 2011, the Texas House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring him by declaring western swing to be the official music of Texas. Waylon Jennings perhaps spoke for millions of Wills’s fans when he sang in his 1975 tribute, “I don’t care who’s in Austin, Bob Wills is still the king ”
Dr Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor He can be reached at drkenbridges@gmail com
