Last week, SWING ON THIS featured a little bit of Bach, courtesy of a weirdly compelling LP called CLASSICAL COUNTRY, one of two discs that came out from the producer Snuff Garrett’s Texas Opera Company in the ‘70s. Because I’ve received so many comments on that particular cut, I figured I’d include another classical piece on the show this week. It’s one that you’ll know, with this version recorded by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys back in 1938 — although it didn’t get released until 1979, more than 40 years after it was cut.
If you like classics of a different sort, you can look forward to a beautiful reading of the jazz standard “Out of Nowhere,” done by mandolinists Tiny Moore and Jethro Burns (with a big assist from Eldon Shamblin), along with a remake of Johnnie Lee Wills’ greatest hit, done by Johnnie Lee himself, duetting with Billy Parker.
Also, by request, a song I wish would become a classic, since I wrote a little piece of it: “Gone Away,” the Bill Anderson-Oak Ridge Boys version of the lead song on Steve Ripley’s 2004 solo album.
All that, plus the usual lineup of western swing, cowboy jazz, and a surprise or two, comes your way Saturday night at 7 p.m. Tulsa time. If you’re around T-Town, pick it up on KWGS, 89.5 FM; anywhere else, get the live stream over publicradiotulsa.org. And thanks.