Following the debut song from Bob Wills this Saturday night, SWING ON THIS will feature a number sung by one of his top Texas Playgirls of the ’40s and ’50s, Ramona Reed. Ramona passed away on Saturday, June 25, at the age of 91. Sadly, she was preceded in death by her son Jim Paul Blair, another gifted Oklahoma music figure you’ve heard on SWING ON THIS. Our friend Jim left us in February 2020.
Although she’s probably best known to western-swing fans for “Little Girl, Little Girl,” a duet with Bob Wills himself that MGM released in 1951, I decided to remember her with one from the 1995 TEXAS PLAYGIRLS WITH SOME OF THE BOYS disc, a reunion recording that shows Ramona still had plenty of vocal chops in her later years. Like her son, she was a kind and good human being — and a hell of a talent.
Also this time around, you’ll hear another operator-error gaffe, as I try to play an album cut at 45 rpm speed, plus a great little glass-lifter from the Sunshine Boys and a “Shellacked” segment featuring a fairly rare Hank Thompson 78 rpm single.
All that, and the usual much more, this Saturday at 7 p.m. on Tulsa NPR affiliate KWGS, live-streaming at publicradiotulsa.org. Join us!
1. “Little Girl, Go Ask Your Mama,” Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
2. “Out on the Texas Plains,” Bob Wills’ Texas Playgirls
(in memory of RAMONA REED)
3. “Gonna Get Tight,” Sunshine Boys
(for BRAD & ANN JAMES and the GLASS LIFTERS)
4. “I Can’t GIve You Anything But Love,” Tom Morrell and the Time-Warp Tophands
(for JACK & CAROLE BENDER)
5. “My Front Door is Open,” Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys
(for SHELLACKED)
6. “San Antonio Rose,” Ameritz Karaoke Entertainment
(for AP MCQUIDDY)
7. “Lose Your Blues and Laugh at Life,” Jimmie Revard and His Oklahoma Playboys
(for CAT & CHRIS BURTON)
8. “I Fall to Pieces,” Michael Nesmith
(for KEVAN JAMES)
9. “My Walking Stick,” the Bagsby Brothers
(for SE EGAN)
10. “Honolulu Rock-A Roll-A,” Moon Mullican
(for HAMILL TIME)
11. “Baby, That Would Sure Go Good,” Shelby Eicher w/Janet Rutland
(for SHARYN LEE)
12. “Panhandle Rag,” Rose Sinclair
13. “Who Said Love Was Fair,” Billy Parker w/Jimmy Payne
14. “Rattle Snakin’ Daddy,” Boots Woodall
15, “I Love Being Here with You,” Brazos Valley Boys
(for CINDY CLARK)