I can't believe he said that!!!

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 21 Aug 2001 7:15 pm

I met a musician the other night, introduced by first names, and as the conversation progressed he started telling me of his musical career. He said that after he got out of the service, he came to Calif. where he played a job with Bob Wills. He quickly added, "I only did it for the money".

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Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 21 Aug 2001 7:21 pm

It's always a small world

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Pat Burns · Post by **Pat Burns** » 21 Aug 2001 8:24 pm

...Wie geht's, Dana...so, how did you respond?...

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 21 Aug 2001 11:39 pm

Pat,
I fell out of the chair...laughin'.
When I told her, Rosetta laughed too.
One of these days I may run across someone who thought Uncle Bob, personally speaking, was an S.O.B., but I haven't so far.

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Ernie Renn · Post by **Ernie Renn** » 22 Aug 2001 2:33 am

My dad said he saw Bob Wills in California when he was in the service in the early 50's. He said all he did was: smoke his cigar and holler and didn't play a lick on the fiddle, but carried it around the whole time. Go figure...

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My best,
Ernie

The Official Buddy Emmons Website
www.buddyemmons.com

Al Udeen · Post by **Al Udeen** » 22 Aug 2001 10:02 am

In 64 I was with a Photography Co.& living in Denver, We had a national sales meeting in Dallas at a Fancy Hotel & I walked by one of those big meeting rooms, And it was Bob Wills playing, Anyone know who the Steel Player was, I often wondered if it was Maurice? Also the Beatles were staying there & had the entire top floor, what a mess!A bunch of kids got pashed through the front window onto the lobby! Sorry for the war story! >au

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 22 Aug 2001 10:15 am

Might have been Tom Morrell

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 22 Aug 2001 12:19 pm

In 1964 it was probably Gene Crownover. I have a video of a Billy Gray TV show from that time period, with Wills and the band as guests. George Clayburn played fiddle, and Gene and Maurice played twin steels. Also, Joe Andrews, Luke, and Billy Jack were on the band.

Gene had a Fender 1000, Maurice had an 800.

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Herb's Steel Guitar Pages
Texas Steel Guitar Association

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 22 Aug 2001 2:14 pm

Herb is probably correct...... I left the Diamond Ballroom in Oklahoma City about the middle of 65 and Crownover replaced me there. He had been playing with Wills but Bob was not well and they were not booking out very much at that time. www.genejones.com [This message was edited by Gene Jones on 22 August 2001 at 03:46 PM.]

Jerry Horner · Post by **Jerry Horner** » 22 Aug 2001 2:34 pm

I can tell you for a fact it was Crownover.

Jerry

Craig A Davidson · Post by **Craig A Davidson** » 22 Aug 2001 4:03 pm

Dayna, I never met your Uncle Bob, but I have always admired him. To me, he was one of the big influences in music today. No matter who he had in his band they were top notch.

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1985 Emmons push-pull, Session 500, Nashville400, 65 re-issue Fender Twin, Fender Tele

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 22 Aug 2001 4:03 pm

Without a doubt it was Crownover and I have a picture with Billy Jack and Bob looking like they were pissed off at the world but this is a early Sacto vintage when I worked KCNW FM with BJ.

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CJC

Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 22 Aug 2001 5:24 pm

That's where I said that : Gene Crownover; Fastest Thumb in the West !!

Regards, Paul

Jerry Horner · Post by **Jerry Horner** » 22 Aug 2001 5:45 pm

DogGoneIt Paul. Gene told me I had the fastest thumb, but I believe he lied to me.

Jerry

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 22 Aug 2001 7:07 pm

Craig,
Yes, he surrounded himself with the best. When asked who was his best guitar, steel, horn player, ect. he'd always say "The guy I have now".

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Paul Graupp · Post by **Paul Graupp** » 23 Aug 2001 12:00 am

Nawww Jerry! Gene would not lie to you !! I thought I read somewhere that BE was playing with just a thumb pick and I went back to find it and I couldn't. I wanted to see if he was using only his thumb and no fingers or perhaps just no finger picks. I do remember that Johnny Cox's wife said he forgot his finger picks and when she got there with them, he was playing just as well without them. We may have us a new trend starting here. And lest we forget: Bobby Garrett !!!

Regards, Paul

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 23 Aug 2001 7:45 am

Maybe he just didn't care for Western Swing!

BTW, Dana, do you know how long Curley Fox played with Bob?

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 23 Aug 2001 8:41 pm

The general census is that Bob actually disbanded the Texas Playboys in late 1964.
Assuming that this was the case and that Gene was supposedly a Playboy righ to the end of that run, then I suppose that Tom Morrell would have been one of the Playboy temps that Bob used through the rest of the 1960s, for example:

Tag Lambert was his regular vocalist as early as 1966, Billy Jack Wills works with Bob for a brief period in 1967, while I have heard that Bobby Garrett worked with Wills for a short time in 1968.

On April 26th, 1969 at the Dell City Civic Centre in Texas, Bob Wills performs his last proper live appearence. The group included Tag Lambert (guitar, vocals), Bobby Penton (steel), Burt Parker (guitar, vocals), Bill Ramsey (bass) and David Bost (drums).

In 1969 Bob continued to record for Kapp Records with Walter Haynes producing the sessions. Walter recalls: “He didn't use any members of his band on the recording except Tag Lambert, we used Nashville musicians but they just didn't have the same feel as Bob's players.”

On 30 May 1969, Wills suffered a stroke and was rushed to hospital where he underwent two operations. Afterwards the stroke left him paralysed on the right side and he was hospitalised for some months.
In March 1970, further sessions were held to finish off Bob’s Kapp (MCA) album. It was basically a studio crew finishing off the songs as Wills was still unable to attend or perform while slowly recovering.
I believe you guys know the rest.

Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 24 Aug 2001 1:40 pm

Good info Jason, there is so much Wills lore and fact mixed together that sometimes it's difficult to separate them.

But, as for the music, my favorite albums of all time are those three recorded on LIBERTY around 1960 (1)Mr Words & Mr. Music (2)Together Again and (3)A Living Legend.

The pure, three-part harmony and traditional arrangements by Gene Crownover, Glen Reece & Jack Lloyd (on steel, sax and clarinet), were some of the best representations of Wills music ever recorded. Tag Lambert and Joe Holly on guitar and fiddle filled in the few places left to play.

Crownover played it simple, but had the "soul" of the Wills genre completely in hand, and the sax & clarinet solo's would be just as modern and inspiring today as they were 40 years ago.

If you can find any of these three LIBERTY albums anywhere today, you are in for a treat. www.genejones.com

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 24 August 2001 at 04:57 PM.]

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 24 Aug 2001 5:13 pm

Gene, as far as I know the Liberty albums are still deleted, unless Bear Family have another Wills reissue I don't know about, but I'm sure it won't be too long before they're issued in some form again.
Tommy Allsup would have produced those sets, a good series of recordings.

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 24 Aug 2001 5:46 pm

Tommy Allsup did a 50 song box set with Leon Rausch and Morrell. Bear Family does have a Box set available. It's real nice. It's real expensive.

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Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 24 Aug 2001 6:45 pm

Hi Dana....been missing you everywhere this year! Hope we manage to cross tracks more often in the coming year.

I could repeat some of my comments about the musicians in the above post in describing your backup musicians on your album,"Inside Out". The product turned out by Tom Morrell, Benny Garcia, Billy Briggs, along with Tommy, Curly, Mark & Randy was outstanding.

And I would have to add the name of one of my former employers, the late Amos Hedrick, who played on one of your earlier albums.

You did a lot of original material along with some traditional Wills, but the western-swing "soul" was present in all the material from the first song to the last. www.genejones.com

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 24 Aug 2001 10:47 pm

Why Gene,
You sweet thang. Thanks for the plug. I had Amos Hedrick JR on my first two albums, not SR. I did have the late Bobby McBay playing bass on the first two.
The two surviving McBay Bros. were inducted into the Pioneers of Western Swing (P.O.W.S.) a couple of weeks ago. Love those guys.
Maybe we'll catch up with each other next summer.
Did I tell you that I am doing another project with Rod Moag? It's a Tribute to Texas Artists. Floyd Tillman is on it and a host of others.

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Gene Jones · Post by **Gene Jones** » 25 Aug 2001 3:43 am

Dana, boy am I embarrassed...I knew that Amos Sr. played on George Straits "Something Special", and when I mentioned to Amos Lee what a great job "his dad" did on your albums he just smiled and never said a word.

He is not only modest, but he loved his dad and they were inseparable until the brain tumor took him away. I'll have to call him and apologize for my mistake. GENE

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 25 Aug 2001 9:47 am

Working with Floyd Tillman you lucky gal