It’s a special time in T-Town, as the far-flung group of music lovers known as the LeonLifers have gathered in Tulsa for a weekend full of events, centered around Leon Russell’s famous — and newly refurbished — Church Studio. In acknowledgement of their visit, this… Read More »2 APRIL 2022
I’ve written in this space before about “Uncle” Art Satherley, the British-born A&R man for Columbia Records in the ‘30s and ‘40s, and how he thought that the Bob Wills audience preferred countrified fiddle and string-band tunes to the more sophisticated big-band sound Bob was… Read More »26 MARCH 2022
If you like swingin’ covers of big-band and Great American Songbook hits, you’ll especially enjoy this week’s edition of SWING ON THIS, coming your way Saturday night at 7 p.m. on Tulsa’s NPR affiliate KWGS, 89.5 FM, and live-streaming everywhere at publicradiotulsa.org. I’ve got not… Read More »19 MARCH 2022
Bob Wills was never averse to a little experimentation with his Texas Playboys, whether it was adding reeds and horns to the band, hiring female vocalists and instrumentalists, or going deep into the well for material to play and record. It’s unlikely he ever went… Read More »MARCH 12 2022
This week, I’ve got a trio of songs FROM Tulsa ABOUT Tulsa — that is, T-town tunes by Tulsa artists the Round Up Boys, James Robert Webb, and Luigi Balletto. Plus, as a bonus, a number by Tulsa icon Billy Parker that was recorded at… Read More »MARCH 5 2022
Houston-born Leon McAuliffe was still a teenager in 1935, when he toted his steel guitar to Tulsa and joined up with Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Although Leon was, and is, best known for his groundbreaking prowess on that instrument, he was also a… Read More »26 FEBRUARY 2022
As I’ve long noted in the introduction to SWING ON THIS, Tulsa is the place where Western swing grew up, so it’s only logical that each show would feature a lot of music with T-town connections. Sometimes, though, one of the broadcasts contains even more Tulsa… Read More »19 FEBRUARY 2022
I guess my frequent use of “Western swing, cowboy jazz, and maybe a surprise or two” as a way of describing the content of SWING ON THIS constitutes some sort of tagline. But as I look over this week’s playlist, I see the description is… Read More »12 FEBRUARY 2022
Here’s a one-question music quiz for you: What’s the only song ever recorded by Billy Parker, Tom T. Hall — and legendary crooner Rudy Vallee? Hint: As you might imagine, it’s an American classic. You’ll hear Billy’s version if you tune in to… Read More »5 FEBRUARY 2022
I’ve done a pretty good amount of research on Bob Wills over the years, and one of the more interesting things I’ve unearthed was his apparent attitude toward rock ’n’ roll music in the late 1950s. Of course, this was when he and brother Johnnie… Read More »29 JANUARY 2022