THE ESSENTIAL BOB WILLS & HIS TEXAS PLAY

THE ESSENTIAL BOB WILLIS 1935-1947 contains 6 previously unreleased tracks and includes track annotations and rare photos. Personnel includes: Bob Wills (fiddle); Tommy Duncan, Danny Alguire (vocals); Salatheil, Leon Huff, Jimmy Wyble, Cameron Hill, Junior Barnard (guitar); Noel Boggs, Herb Remington (steel guitar); Johnnie Lee Wills, Jimmy Widener, Ocie Stockard (banjo); Tiny Moore (electric mandolin); Louis Tierney (fiddle, saxophone); Jessie Ashlock, Joe Holley (fiddle); Ray DeGreer (tenor saxophone); Joe Ferguson (saxophone, bass); Zeb McNally, Tiny Mott, (saxophone); Everett Stover, Alex Brashear (trumpet); Art Haines (trombone); Al Stricklin (piano); Darrell Jones, Ted Adams, Billy Jack Wills (bass); Smokey Dacus, Gene Tomlins (drums). Producer: Art Satherley. Compilation producer: Bob Irwin. Includes liner notes by Rich Kienzle. Digitally remastered by Vic Anesini (1992, Sony Music Studios, New York). This is part of the Columbia Country Classics series. THE COMPLETE PUBLISHED SIDES VOLUME 1: 1935-1940 is one of the British budget reissue label JSP Records' trademark 4-disc, 100-track box sets, and it shows why this label has become one of the leading lights of the reissue scene. As the title indicates, THE COMPLETE PUBLISHED SIDES VOLUME 1: 1935-1940 features both sides of all 50 singles Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys released in their first five years. It's the birth of Western swing in precise chronological order, from Wills's first trademark "Ah-haaa!" yelp on "Sunbonnet Sue" to the band's swinging take on the ballad standard "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" a half-decade later. The remastering job is more than serviceable, as are the liner notes and packaging.