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,… Read More »9 JULY 2022
This week, SWING ON THIS features some especially nice material from three of the four famous bandleading sons of Uncle John and Emma Wills. (No. 3 son Luther J. didn’t make the playlist this time around, but he’ll certainly be back soon.) I’ll start things… Read More »2 JULY 2022
NOTE: ALTHOUGH IT’S STILL NOT CLEAR WHETHER AN OPERATOR ERROR OR COMPUTER ERROR WAS TO BLAME, THE 18 JUNE BROADCAST WAS A REPEAT OF 11 JUNE. WE SHOULD BE BACK ON TRACK NOW. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE AND UNDERSTANDING. Bob Wills was never one to… Read More »25 JUNE 2022
The votes are in, and it looks like the new SWING ON THIS feature, “Shellacked,” is something you want to hear more of (and excuse me for ending a sentence with a preposition). So listen for the second in the series this Saturday; it’s one… Read More »11 JUNE 2022
This week’s SWING ON THIS marks the debut of a new feature. It’s called “Shellacked.”The name refers to the material that was used to make 78 rpm records, so you might logically deduce that it’ll be a song played from an authentic 78. If you did… Read More »4 JUNE 2022
I’m happy to announce that this Saturday on SWING ON THIS, I’ll have the broadcast premiere of a new Western swing number from Becky Hobbs, one of the most talented of our Oklahoma artists. Becky’s unique music first came to my attention when I went… Read More »28 MAY 2022
Word has it that Bob Wills’ favorite singer was Bessie Smith, which would go a long way toward explaining the strong Black blues influence in the Texas Playboys’ repertoire. I’ll start this Saturday’s SWING ON THIS with not only a blues tune, but a Bessie… Read More »21 MAY 2022
You may remember Lloyd Price’s big No. 1 rock ’n’ roll hit, “Stagger Lee,” which entered the BILLBOARD charts in December 1958 and hung around for nearly half a year. You may even know that it was based on a gambling/murder ballad called “Stack-O-Lee” that… Read More »14 MAY 2022
This week on SWING ON THIS, I’ve got two Moons. That’s Moon as in Mullican, who’s represented by a 1939 recording of a song he wrote and performed with Bob Dunn’s Vagabonds and a 1955 King Records single version of a naughty Memphis Minnie blues… Read More »7 MAY 2022
If you’re a regular listener to SWING ON THIS, you know I don’t play any songs several weeks in a row. In fact, a good percentage of the numbers heard on any given Saturday don’t ever show up on the playlist more than once. There’s… Read More »30 APRIL 2022