Serendipity: Bob Wills “King of Western Swing” took punches and got stronger. Early in his career he was with a country group Lightcrust Doughboys that played on radio—when the flour company dropped them, Bob formed the Texas Playboys and added blues and jazz to play at dances. He hired an announced who was a skilled trumpeter. Thinking Bob hired him for the band, he rehearsed with them. Bob found out and loved it, adding more horns until they could play Big Band music.
WW2 came and Bob and most of his band joined the army. In 1943, he received a medical discharge, and formed a new band, but with few horns, adding electric guitars, the band most people remember. He influenced early rock and roll stars like Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. Though time took a toll on him, one of my favorite Bob Wills songs was “Lily Dale,” released in 1956 as a B-side single, one of his last singles I believe. (1905-1975)
/Western swing pioneers The Light Crust Doughboys, featuring (l to r): Milton Brown, Durwood Brown, Truett Kinzey, Bob Wills, and Herman Arnspiger, 1931. Credit: Crossroads of Music Archive and Southwest Collection, Texas Tech University
C. T. Suddeth 
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