There’s probably not an episode of SWING ON THIS that doesn’t have our friend Steve Ripley’s fingerprints on it in some way or another — as artist and/or producer and/or engineer. This time around, however, I realized I’d included three songs that showcase his other-side-of-the-mike talents.
We start off the show, for instance, with a cut from the 46 Star Records LP called LET’S PLAY, BOYS. Released in 2018 by the Oklahoma History Center, it consisted of rare tracks painstakingly reconstructed from ancient — and fragile — acetate records from the personal collection of Bob Wills. Steve was the one who restored and remastered those recordings, and he did a brilliant job.
Also on the show Saturday, two cuts from two more terrific albums produced by Steve: REUNION by Johnnie Lee Wills and LONE CHIMNEY by the Red Dirt Rangers.
Also casting their benign shadows over this week’s show are Ernest Tubb, with one of his greatest hits reinterpreted by Leon McAulff and another redone as a duet with Billy Parker; and O.W. Mayo, represented by his biggest song as a songwriter and heard in a spoken-word intro for the aforementioned Johnnie Lee Wills number.
All that and plenty more this week, and by now you probably know the drill: 7 p.m.Tulsa time on KWGS, 89.5 FM and live-streaming everywhere — including the jungles of Cambodia, where my brother just picked us up — at publicradiotulsa.org
1. “Blues for Dixie,” Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
2, “Mood Indigo,” Tom Morrell and the Time-Warp Tophands
(for JACK & CAROLE BENDER)
3. “Midnight/Brain Cloudy Blues,” Brazos Valley Boys w/Rex Allen Jr.
(for MOREY SULLIVAN and the GLASS LIFTERS)
4. “Tomorrow Never Comes,” Billy Parker w/Ernest Tubb
5. “Every Which-A-Way,” Quebe Sisters
6. “When It’s Sleepy Time Down South,” Monica Taylor
7. “Walkin’ the Floor over You,” Leon McAuliff
(for HAMILL TIME)
8. “Without My Baby,” Red Dirt Rangers
9. “Peroxide Blond,” Hank Penny and His Radio Cowboys
10. “Columbus Stockade Blues,” Jimmy Wakely
(for MICHAEL JAMESON)
11. “Rag Mop,” Johnnie Lee Wills
(for MARK WOOLEY)
12. “San Antonio Rose,” The Eastern Aces
(for AP MCQUIDDY)
13. “Can’t Shake the Sands of Texas from My Shoes,” Alvin Crow and the Pleasant Valley Boys
14. “Cow Town Boogie,” Ocie Stockard and His Wanderers