Bob Wills News

From the first time we ever heard The Singing Ranger, Hank Snow, we knew he was a man among men.

As with Tulsa's struggle over applying new fire codes to older buildings, Dallas is experiencing a battle between historic preservation and downtown revitalization on the one hand and strict enforcement of building codes on the other.

If Bob Wills were around today, the chances are good that he would be delighted with three teenage sisters from Burleson.

With Leo Rondeau. 9 p.m., Nov. 11. Caf Nine, 250 State St. $5. 203-789-8281, cafenine.com . Start with a western swing trio from Austin, Texas, featuring female vocals, fiddle and upright bass.

Singer-guitarist Leon Rausch of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys is 82. Critic Rex Reed is 71.

You'd never guess that the musicians in Austin's Shotgun Party don't originally hail from Texas.

On my recent trip to Illinois, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a band practice of Doc Watson's Boot Scootin' All American Country and Western Band .

Aftermath made it to Walter's just in time to catch the last gasp of News on the March's opening set, a hyperkinetic barbershop quartet vamp about a pretty lady.

It all started with "Maybellene." The song, a sort of alternate version of a country-western tune by Bob Wills called "Ida Red," was Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chuck Berry's first hit.

As a performer and a songwriter, Merle Haggard was the most important country artist to emerge in the 1960s.

Humboldt County is a rural sort of place and as such, there's a fair amount of country music hereabouts ... whatever that means.

After a few years of solo and side projects, including a formative stint in Bob Dylan's band, fiddle player extraordinaire Elana James decided to get the old band back together.

Carrie Underwood is one of three performers selected as this year's inductees into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

The late Texas songwriter Cindy Walker has left an unusual and generous gift to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum: Her catalog of about 500 songs, many of them pop and country classics.

Ray Benson co-wrote and stars in "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical." EL PASO -- Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson describes "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical" as "the conversation I never had with Bob Wills." One would think that Benson, the foremost purveyor of Wills' music today, and the King of Western Swing would have met.

Ray Benson co-wrote and stars in "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical." EL PASO -- Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson describes "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical" as "the conversation I never had with Bob Wills." One would think that Benson, the foremost purveyor of Wills' music today, and the King of Western Swing would have met.

Ray Benson co-wrote and stars in "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical." EL PASO -- Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson describes "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical" as "the conversation I never had with Bob Wills." One would think that Benson, the foremost purveyor of Wills' music today, and the King of Western Swing would have met.

Ray Benson co-wrote and stars in "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical." EL PASO -- Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson describes "A Ride with Bob: The Bob Wills Musical" as "the conversation I never had with Bob Wills." One would think that Benson, the foremost purveyor of Wills' music today, and the King of Western Swing would have met.

Hank Thompson was perhaps the most popular Western swing musician of the '50s and '60s, keeping the style alive with a top-notch band, tremendous showmanship, and a versatility that allowed him to expand his repertoire into romantic ballads and hardcore honky tonk numbers.

One of the new country singers to appear on the music scene in the early 1980s, George Strait crafted his style more in the traditional of honky tonk and western swing made popular by country greats Merle Haggard and Bob Wills.