This Saturday, SWING ON THIS features a few Bob Wills classics interpreted by others, including Ida Red (from that group’s brand-new album), the Nashville Seven, Billly Parker, and Bob’s brother Johnnie Lee. In addition, the Great American Songbook is once again represented with swingin’ versions… Read More »10 JULY 2021
— “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby.” — “As Time Goes By” — “Some of These Days” — “Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me.” Call ‘em standards, evergreens, classic pop tunes, entries from the Great American Songbook — whatever you want to… Read More »2 JULY 2021
Let’s open with a question this time: Does anyone know if the Frank Sims who announced for the Johnnie Lee Wills radio broadcasts in the early ‘50s is the same Frank Sims who went on to become, in the next decade, an announcer for TV… Read More »26 JUNE 2021
One of the most famous classic pop tunes was written on the University of Oklahoma campus by a guy who was trying to impress a girl. Of course, there’s always been a lot of that going around, but few tunes with that sort of origin… Read More »19 JUNE 2021
You probably didn’t figure I’d be starting this week’s SWING ON THIS blog with a quote from Noel Coward’s 1930 play PRIVATE LIVES. I didn’t, either. But the first song on the playlist this Saturday got me thinking about it, and specifically about a line… Read More »12 June 2020
In the June issue of OKLAHOMA Magazine, I devote my column to one of my favorite Tulsa-based artists, the immensely talented and creatively ingenious composer and pianist, Barron Ryan. Whatever he turns his hand to never fails to intrigue, and that includes his current projects,… Read More »DEFYING EXPECTATIONS
James Robert Webb is a rare guy indeed. Not only does he own athriving Tulsa-based medical practice; he’s also an up-and-comingcountry singer-songwriter — known for, among other things, hiswestern-swing reimagining of the classic “Tulsa Time.”Webb and his juggling of two very different careers take center… Read More »THREE CHORDS AND THE TRUTH
I don’t want to break my arm patting myself on the back, as my mother used to say, but it strikes me that there may only be one radio show in the world that’ll start out with a one-two punch of Bob WILLS and Bob… Read More »5 JUNE 2021
I don’t want to break my arm patting myself on the back, as my mother used to say, but it strikes me that there may only be one radio show in the world that’ll start out with a one-two punch of Bob WILLS and Bob… Read More »29 May 2021
Given the nature of western-swing music, there’s always going to be a significant amount of steel-guitar playing on SWING ON THIS. But for the latest installment, I’ve put a little more of an emphasis on the instrument and some of its stellar practitioners, past and… Read More »22 May 2021