Catalogue: JASMCD 3526
Price Code: A
Release Date: 01/05/2002
Bar Code: 604988 35262 7
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Bob WILLSHe's A Ding Dong Daddy
 
This compilation, studio recordings from the later
1940s, reflects the romping, stomping sound of Bob Wills at his best, and the
range of his material. Tommy Duncan handles the vocal chores with consummate
ease, with and without the assistance of Wills himself. Included are versions of
his best known songs, "New Spanish Two-Step" and of course "San Antonio Rose".
"Steel Guitar Rag" gets an airing, with Roy Honeycutt substituting on steel for
Leon McAuliffe. Traditional fare is served up with the likes of "Little Betty
Brown", "Get Along Home, Cindy" and "Cotton-Eyed Joe", and given the time Wills
spent in Oklahoma, no surprise with Jack & Woody Guthrie’s "Oklahoma Hills",
Wills’ own tribute "Oklahoma Rag", and "Okie Boogie". Texas isn’t forgotten with
two of Stuart Hamblen’s Western songs, plus "Lone Star Rag". Johnny Bond’s "Ten
Years" had been a minor Wills hit in 1942, Cindy Walker wrote "Cherokee Maiden"
for Wills in 1942, and Wills himself had a hand in the bluesy "I’m Gonna Be Boss
From Now On".From the big band sound of Duke Ellington, no less, comes an
interesting version of Billy Strayhorn’s "Take The ‘A’ Train", whilst Count
Basie with singer Jimmy Rushing may have been the inspiration of "That’s Your
Red Wagon", although Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup had recorded it two years earlier
in 1945. No doubting that "Straighten Up And Fly Right" was a cover of Nat
"King" Cole’s 1944 hit when Cole was loosely in a Rhythm & Blues phase. "I’m
A Ding Dong Daddy" had been around awhile, performed by the likes of Louis
Armstrong and Benny Goodman, later revived by Phil Harris, "My Gal Sal" was as
old as Wills himself (he was born in 1905), and Louis Armstrong would have been
no stranger to those much-recorded stand-bys, "Dinah", "Four Or Five Times" and
"Sugar Blues". Echoes of Django Reinhardt in "Crazy Rhythm", who played guitar
on the classic recording of this 1928 show tune, made with Coleman Hawkins in
Paris during 1937. Who knows, perhaps the young "Little" Richard Penniman heard
Wills’ version of "Keep Knockin’" on the radio and put it to good use in 1957
with his own hit "Keep A Knockin’".
Price:
£5.99
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