Bob Wills

The 100 Best Texas Songs: The Complete List

100. Tripping Daisy, "Sonic Bloom" Before this album, the band had a grunge-pop affectation, but this song, from 1998's Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb, was more heartfelt than anything they'd done before. - Daniel Hopkins 99. Pleasant Grove, "The Plaque at 16ft" Bret Egner wrote "The Plaque at 16ft, ... More >>

The Best Texas Songs of All Time: #39-20

Best Texas songs, #100-80 Best Texas songs, #79-60 Best Texas songs, #59-40 The Spotify playlist for songs #39-20 39. Billy Joe Shaver, "Live Forever" "Live Forever" is an emotional experience. The line, "Don't let the darkness take them" is tear-inducing, given that his own son, Eddy, was take ... More >>

Why "For Sale" Sign In Front of Downtown Masonic Temple Came Down This Week

Via Baylor Lodge 1235​For some -- local preservationists, say, or music fans -- one of the biggest stories of 2011 was First Presbyterian Church's purchase of 508 Park Avenue; at last, the long-ago Brunswick Records regional office in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and possibly Charlie Parker rec ... More >>

Tim DeLaughter's First Ever Solo Show, A Ride With Bob Returns & Dennis Gonzalez Announces New Record

​Tim DeLaughter has never played a solo show. Not one anybody can remember, anyway. But last week, the Kessler Theater added his name as the opening act for YES lead singer Jon Anderson on Tuesday, February 28. The show is part of the venue's "Storytellers" series, which has already featured legen ... More >>

Thirty Years Later, The History of Western Swing in 26 Minutes as Told by Johnny Gimble

Via.Johnny Gimble and Bob Wills, circa '64​What you'll find after the jump was posted to Vimeo only a few hours ago: a cleaned-up version version of Ken Harrison's 1981 doc on Western Swing fiddle-playing legend Johnny Gimble titled, simply, Gimble's Swing. The film, made for the Tennessee Folklor ... More >>

As First Presbyterian Closes on 508 Park Ave., A Closer Look at Its Plans for Landmark Location

Click to embiggen​Late last summer we caught wind of First Presbyterian's plans to purchase 508 Park Avenue, the former Brunswick Records regional office near Dallas City Hall in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and others once recorded. Yesterday, after myriad stops in front of the Landmark Commis ... More >>

Since You'll Probably Never Get to Go Inside 508 Park Ave., David Dennard Tours It For You

Photos courtesy David DennardThe makeshift studio in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and the Light Crust Doughboys, among others, recorded in the mid-1930s​It would seem 508 Park Avenue's been heavy on my mind of late, even more than usual, what with Robert Johnson's just-pa ... More >>

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Bob Wills, Who Died 36 Years Ago Today

This photo of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys was taken at the Ranch House and comes from the MySpace page of former Playboys vocalist Ramona Reed, who joined the band in 1951​Kosse, down in Limestone County, is known as the "Little Town With a Big Heart" -- and as the birthplace of Bob Wills, wh ... More >>

Made a Playlist, Now Checkin' it Twice: By Request, Last Night's Christmas Music Show

​Many thanks to the many folks who tuned in and called in during last night's late-night Christmas-music spectacular, which gets a replay on KTCK-AM (1310, The Ticket) beginning, why, right this very moment. (That'll be just the three-hour yuletunes special, not the two hours of pirate-radio non-h ... More >>

For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Misery and Gin and Merle Haggard at the Longhorn

​A couple of years back, in his Echoes & Reverberations piece about the Longhorn, Jeff Liles ran the picture you see here -- good God, that must have been quite the back-to-back. But that's from January 1978. This week's offering comes later, in February 1982, when Merle Haggard and the Strang ... More >>

Staff Trax: Jasper TX, Randy Rogers Band, Freddie King and The Walker Brothers

Welcome to Staff Trax, the weekly feature here on DC9 where we shed some light on the music we've been enjoying of late, regardless of the touring or album release schedules that tend to bear the focus of most of our coverage. Consider it a chance for you readers to get some more insight into our o ... More >>

Big Balls In...Richardson?

Shoot Low Sheriff

The Mockingbird Sessions (Self-released)

One More Try at Razing 508 Park Avenue, Even As Miss. Officials to Turn Robert Johnson's Birthplace Into Tourist Destination

Justin Terveen​On Thursday, the owners of 508 Park Avenue will ask the City Plan Commission for permission to demolish the building in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, and Charlie Parker once recorded. Two months ago, the Landmark Commission denied the application, upholding ... More >>

Wayne "The Train" Hancock

Friday, September 4, at the Granada Theater

A Photo Tour: 508 Park Ave and Its Downtown Dallas Neighbors

Justin Terveen​In the fight over the fate of 508 Park Ave., this week saw the opening salvos at City Hall between the Glazers, who own the old Warner Bros. Pictures storage building where Robert Johnson and Bob Wills once recorded, and preservationists who want to keep it standing.Along with worri ... More >>

Touring 508 Park Ave., But Is It Love in Vain?

Photos by Dan FinnellThe third-floor recording studio at 508 Park Avenue in which Robert Johnson recordedAt this late date you're surely aware of the plight of 508 Park Avenue, the site of the makeshift studio in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and perhaps even Charlie Parker ... More >>

Big Bad Bob

See the life of Wills live onstage

Not a Moment Too Soon, the Dallas Downtown Historic District Is Now a Little Bigger

City of DallasFirst Presbyterian Church on S. Harwood StreetThe Texas Historical Commission sends word that the Dallas Downtown Historic District is now a little bit bigger than when first established in 2006 by the National Register of Historic Places. Says the THC, the district -- which encompass ... More >>

Yuletide Fiddlin'

The Light Crust Doughboys ring in the Holidays

Still the King

Bass Hall salutes Bob Wills

Dusk Dance

Elledanceworks hosts a garden hoedown

A Hoot of a Holler

There never was a tear in Bob Wills' beer

Conducting Bob

Dallas Decides

Local musicians put the mikes down and pick up the pens to choose their favorite albums

South Austin Jug Band

South Austin Jug Band (Jug Band Records)

Speedtrucker

January 22

Flour Power

The Light Crust Doughboys spread some old-time commercial radio

Do The Evolution

Merle Haggard makes a triumphant return. Wait -- he never went away.

Texas weakly

The Monthly's music issue strikes a bum note

Ray Price

Taking the Wheel

For the second time this decade, Ray Benson pays tribute to Bob Wills

Ride with Ray

The best friend Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys ever had

Night & Day

June 3 - 9, 1999

Out Here

Country and Midwestern

The best of the alt-country lot salute the majesty of the past--while defining the future

You're not from Texas

Deep in the heart of western swing with a Scot on a mission

Swingin' west

Scottish author waltzes across Texas in pursuit of the music he loves

Events for the week

Batter up

In the midst of a silver age, the Light Crust Doughboys are swinging for the bleachers

To be or not to bop

Texan Jazz unveils the Lone Star contribution to jazz

Reviews

Junior or joke?

Bob Wills' family disowns man claiming to be prince of Western Swing

Mekons, you Rhett

A rock great lends his support to the Old 97's

Ghosts in the machine

When the vinyl jukebox dies, so will a little piece of the music it played

Reviews

1995 Dallas Observer Music Awards (Part I)

Buzz

Home of the range

Randy Erwin belatedly releases an astounding, varied work

Down at the Ranchhouse

Tom Morrell keeps Western swing alive on the best set of records you've never heard