featuringEldon ShamblinBilly DozierBob KiserJim BoydCameron HillJimmy WybleBenny GarciaArt GreenhawTommy Morrell“Junior” BarnardMuriel “Zeke” Campbell
Legends of
WesternSwingGuitar
Legends of
WesternSwingGuitar
featuringEldon ShamblinBilly DozierBob KiserJim BoydCameron HillJimmy WybleBenny GarciaArt GreenhawTommy Morrell“Junior” BarnardMuriel “Zeke” Campbell
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Legends ofWestern Swing Guitarby Gary Don Rhodes & Glenn P. White
THE MUSICAs with so many wonderful types of music, the roots
of Western Swing are not easy to trace. Most pinpointthe Light Crust Doughboys (formed circa 1931) of FortWorth, Texas as the first example of such a band. Play-ing over the radio to help promote the Burris Mills’ LightCrust Flour, the group became an immediate success.Its original members included vocalist Milton Brown, fid-dler Bob Wills, and guitarist Herman Arnspiger.
Before being killed in a 1935 automobile wreck,Milton Brown had formed his own Texas-based band,the Brownies. Unlike the initial Doughboys lineup, Browndid begin experimenting with horns and more jazzsounds.
After a clash with the band’s spokesperson W. Lee“Pappy” O’Daniel, Bob Wills also left. Though he tootried to form an orchestra in Texas, prolonged legalbattles with O’Daniel eventually led Wills to Tulsa, Okla-homa. On K-VOO radio, he and his Texas Playboys took
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the Southwest by storm. With famed cigar in hand and“a-ha” yell at his lips, Bob Wills became a hero to DustBowl Oklahomans.
Though he recorded as early as 1935, it was later inthe decade that his sound solidified. This came with theaddition of such musicians as Eldon Shamblin to a lineupthat already included vocalist Tommy Duncan and steelguitarist Leon McAuliffe. The Texas Playboys’ popular-ity extended beyond the region with numerous appear-ances in western films during the forties as well as astring of hit records like “San Antonio Rose.” Unlikemany major groups, Wills’s success lived beyond WorldWar II, striking gold with such postwar favorites as“Faded Love” and “Heart to Heart Talk.”
Wills performed throughout the sixties until his healthproblems mounted. His classic album “For the LastTime” came in 1973, though he suffered a stroke onenight during the recording session. Oklahoma and theworld of Western Swing mourned his death two yearslater in 1975.
The Texas Playboys themselves reorganized a fewyears after his death and began recording for Deltarecords. To this day, at least one Playboys band is gen-erally touring the country. Moreover, sixty-five yearsafter their inception, the Light Crust Doughboys are alsostill recording and performing to large crowds.
The success of Wills, Brown, and the Doughboysinspired and influenced a long line of Western Swingbands. These include such groups of the thirties as OcieStockard’s Wanderers, Leon McAuliffe’s own orchestrasof the forties, fifties, and sixties, and Hank Thompson’sphenomenally successful Brazos Valley Boys of the fif-ties. Along with the ongoing popularity of such groups,more modern bands like Asleep at the Wheel hit theairwaves with new versions of the old hits.
As a genre of music, Western Swing becomes aunique blend of jazz, blues, cowboy, western, gospel,and Spanish sounds. The repertory of any Western Swingband includes tunes associated with each of theseschools of music, but a consistent style flows through
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every performance. Such is apparent with the music inthis collection, which ranges from Wills’s favorites’“Amazing Grace” to “Rosetta” and the old JimmyRodgers tune “Miss the Mississippi and You.”
Some of this is due to the general instrumentationof Western Swing bands. Driving an essentially “swing”mode of performing is a combination of fiddles and steelguitars with piano and brass or reed instruments. A fewbands, like the Light Crust Doughboys, utilize a banjofor rhythm, but most rely more heavily on drums.
The guitar in Western Swing holds a particularly im-portant place. Many guitarists have made major contri-butions in the field, but the cornerstone remains EldonShamblin, whom Rolling Stone magazine once calledthe “World’s Best Rhythm Guitarist.” His sophisticated,swinging and moving chords forever impacted the mu-sic. Coupled with him were early lead players like Muriel“Zeke” Campbell, who performed dazzling single-stringsolos on records up to two years before Charlie Chris-tian joined the Benny Goodman Sextet.
Following Shamblin, Campbell, and a few other earlystylists is a long line of talented guitarists that have con-tinued to add their own voice to the music. WatchingShamblin and Tommy Morrell, a guitarist of a youngergeneration, highlights not just the passing of a flamebut new places in which the torch can be carried.
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THE GUITARISTS
ELDON SHAMBLINWithout a doubt, Eldon Shamblin is the best known
Western Swing guitarist in the music’s history. Beyondthat, however, is an unending stream of praise and ad-miration outside the confines of one style of music. In-deed, his rhythm work has thrilled Ray Brown, JoeVenuti, Shelley Manne, Chet Atkins, Herb Ellis, BuckyPizarrelli, and others. In recent years, he has recordedwith such superstars as Lyle Lovett, Garth Brooks,Brooks and Dunn, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, and others.He even received a Grammy for an instrumental tune(“Red Wing”) on Asleep at the Wheel’s 1993 album “ATribute to the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Play-boys.”
Shamblin was a self-taught guitarist first picking upthe instrument at the age of seventeen in Weatherford,Oklahoma. He later moved to Oklahoma City and be-gan working the club scene. In 1935, he landed a spoton the Alabama Boys’ band as both vocalist and guitar-ist. By the time he moved to Bob Wills’ Texas Playboyssome two years later, the instrument was his sole focus.
Wills’ suggestion for Shamblin’s guitar work was sim-ply, “put a lot of runs in it.” This transformed his style
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into a flowing, sophisticated sound with fluid arpeggios,complex bass runs, and driving chords that has becomecopied in and outside the field of Western Swing. In-deed, one big fan - Leo Fender - even gave Eldon aprototype guitar to play on the bandstand in the fifties.It was the original Stratocaster, which Eldon continuedto play for over four decades.
His work throughout the years with Wills, however,went beyond mere rhythm. At times Eldon not only actedas band manager; he also arranged such classic West-ern Swing standards as “Big Beaver.” Moreover, heplayed complex twin guitar work with steel men LeonMcAuliffe and Herb Remington. After years with Wills,Eldon worked stints with Leon McAuliffe, Hoyle Nix, anda lengthy tenure with Merle Haggard.
Nearly six decades after joining Wills, Eldon is stillat it. In 1996, an album under his own name (“There’llBe Some Changes Made”) hit the K-VOO airwaves onthe day of his eightieth birthday. He still just chuckleswhen reminded that Charlie Christian and Les Paul drovemiles and miles to hear him play back in the thirties.Though semi-retired outside of Tulsa, Eldon Shamblinremains the standard-bearer of Western Swing. And, interms of the guitar, Musician magazine pegged it rightin the nineties when the named him one of the top primemovers in the instrument’s history.
JIM BOYDThe late Jim Boyd spent time during the thirties and
forties between the Light Crust Doughboys and work-ing with his brother Bill Boyd’s Cowboy Ramblers. Boydwas born in Bonham, Texas, not too far from the birth-place of Charlie Christian. His earliest recordings camein 1934-35 with some twin guitar and vocal work withbrother Bill. Historians generally point to his phenom-enal work on “Under the Double Eagle” with the Cow-boy Ramblers (Bluebird, 1936) as a major recordingand prime illustration of Boyd’s guitar sound. From hisyears with the Doughboys, such cuts as “My Gal’s WithMy Best Pal Tonight” and “You’re the Only Star in MyBlue
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Blue Heaven” remain favorites of his many fans.His last years in the eighties were spent playing bass
and singing for the Light Crust Doughboys in Texas.Along with tremendous charm and a wonderful voice,Boyd possessed a huge talent for the guitar. Moreover,several historians and musicians including Les Paul,have cited Boyd as very possibly the first musician toever record in any genre with an electric guitar.
CAMERON HILL AND JIMMY WYBLEThe names Hill and Wyble generally come in one
breath, as their best known work came as a pair. Withthe exception of his impressive twin guitar work on tuneslike “Perdido,” Hill generally played rhythm. Wyble,hailing from Port Arthur, Texas recorded his first soloswith Bill Mounce and His Sons of the South on Bluebird.Like so many Western Swing guitarists, Wyble had astrong feeling and love for jazz.
Together, they joined Bob Wills and His Texas Play-boys circa late ’43, playing with the King of WesternSwing on the road, on records, and in a few westernfilms. In particular, fans remember their tremendouswork on the Wills’s tunes “Smoke on the Water” in 1945and “Roly Poly” in 1946. By 1947, the duo shifted tothe Spade Cooley orchestra, offering impressive solos
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on such Victor records as “Texas Playboy Rag.” Onlytwo years later, they were together in an ill-fated or-chestra started by Wills’s vocalist Tommy Duncan.Though promised they wouldn’t hit the road too much,the duo had to do just that in Duncan’s band. Shortlythereafter, Wyble alone returned to Spade Cooley’s band.Today, he is retired in California.
BILLY DOZIER Though he has workedwith bands l ike theSouthernaires and suchsuperstars of country asJim Reeves and PatsyCline, most WesternSwing fans know BillyDozier best for his yearswith Leon McAuliffe. Be-tween 1952-1962, Dozierplayed standard guitar forwhat was always one ofWestern Swing’s most in-teresting bands. Unfortu-nately, as with Bob Kiser,Dozier found limited op-portunities to display histalent because of the
dominant presence of steel guitarist McAuliffe. More-over, the fifties offered fewer chances for the McAuliffegroup to record at all.
Yet, Dozier’s rhythm, somewhat inspired byShamblin, can be felt on all of his records. Beyond thatis a solo and lead style uniquely his own. One of thebest examples of this remains his work on “Steel GuitarPolka” with McAuliffe for the Dot label. Dozier contin-ues to perform with Western Swing groups and is nowliving in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At a major 1996 jazz guitarconcert his often thrilling lead work highly impressedcrowds and fellow musicians like Pat Martino and HerbEllis
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MURIEL “ZEKE” CAMPBELLMuriel “Zeke” Campbell began playing guitar at an
early age, but it was with the Light Crust Doughboys inthe mid-thirties that his professional career took to flight.By 1936, he appeared in such films with the Doughboysas Oh Susannah and The Big Show. Along with fiddlerKenneth Pitts, banjoist Smokey Montgomery, bassistBert Dodson, pianist Knocky Parker, and others,Campbell helped move the Doughboys to an era of hotstring instrumentals and highly jazz flavored sound.
By 1937, Campbell was using an electric guitar onthe Doughboy’s Vocalion recordings. Such tunes from1937-38 as “Blue Guitars,” “Green Valley Trot,” “South,”and “Waitin’ on the Robert E. Lee” highlight Zeke’s awe-inspiring talent. Beyond his mere use of an electrifiedinstrument was a highly advanced, single-string stylecaptured on disc prior to most jazz guitarists playing ina similar fashion. If Shamblin was Western Swing’s firstgreat rhythm guitarist, much the same can be said ofCampbell’s lead and solo playing. Though now retired,he holds an incredibly important place not just in West-ern Swing but in electric guitar history.
“JUNIOR” BARNARDHailing from Oklahoma, “Junior” Barnard proved im-
portant in moving Western Swing guitar in a directionbegun by jazzman Charlie Christian. His first work in amajor orchestra came as guitarist for the first edition ofthe Johnnie Lee Wills band for some six months in 1938.When Johnnie Lee reorganized in late 1940 as “JohnnieLee Wills and His Boys,” Barnard resumed the samerole. The band’s Decca recordings of April 1941 fea-ture several of his strong and striking electric solos. Inparticular, “Memories of You Dear” highlights the hot,jazzy sounds of his guitar.
During the war, he assumed Eldon Shamblin’s spotin the Bob Wills band. Along with appearing with Bob inseveral 1942 western films, Barnard worked on a spe-cial version of “San Antonio Rose” that Bing Crosby andBob Wills recorded in Oklahoma. After some brief work
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in a California shipyard, Barnard rejoined the JohnnieLee Wills group, and then went back again to Bob’sgroup circa late 1944. One of his best-loved solos cameon the classic Columbia recording of “Brain CloudyBlues” in 1946.
The World War II era thus found him shuffling in andout of the Bob Wills group, almost taking turns in thatspot with the guitar duo of Cameron Hill and JimmyWyble. When Eldon Shamblin rejoined the Wills groupin 1946, he initially acted as band manager, with Barnardstaying on guitar until approximately 1948. His Fresno-based band (“Johnnie Barnard and His Radio Gang”)never really took off, perhaps due to his untimely deathat the end of the decade in a car wreck.
Eldon Shamblin once deemed Barnard the “best off-the-cuff guitarist Wills ever had.” Despite his unfortu-nate death, many fans still cite him as one of WesternSwing’s hottest players.
BENNY GARCIA At a young age inthe late forties, BennyGarcia joined TexWilliams’s band on theWest Coast. His best re-membered recordingwith that group remains“Ar tistr y in WesternSwing.” Benny alsoworked with SpadeCooley on various re-cordings for StandardTranscriptions beforeheading back to Okla-homa and the JohnnieLee Wills band. WhenJohnnie Lee and
brother Bob Wills combined their bands in 1957, Bennystayed on guitar.
As an Oklahoma guitarist with a great feel for jazz,
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Benny is part of a lineage that began with Charlie Chris-tian. In fact, after Charlie’s death Benny met thejazzman’s mother, Willie Mae Christian. He still keeps aguitar pick given to him by the Christian family. Suchinterest in the jazz field led him to record on Capitol inthe sixties with Benny Goodman, as well as working withnames like Herb Jeffries. Garcia still straddles bothgenres, performing with both an Oklahoma City-basedjazz band called “Talk of the Town,” as well as variouseditions of the former Texas Playboys.
BOB KISERBob Kiser joined Herb Goddards and His Oklahoma
Wanderers in 1941, but is best remembered for his inte-gral role in the sound of Leon McAuliffe’s band. He joinedthat orchestra in May 1948, remaining for some fouryears. He appeared on most of the bands major Colum-bia recordings, offering impressive solos on such tunesas “Jelly Bean Rag,” Hear Me Now,” and “No One ForMe.” Kiser worked out various arrangements for thegroup, and even wrote the Western Swing standard “Pan-handle Rag.”
Unfortunately, McAuliffe’s emphasis on his own steelguitar work kept Kiser’s solos to a minimum. Yet, hisimpressive and very jazz inspired guitar forever etchedhim a place in Western Swing history. It was this repu-tation that landed him a job with the first edition of theofficial “Former Texas Playboys” band that recorded forDelta in the early eighties. Though now retired, Kiserstill occasionally performs with former Bob Wills’sidemen.
TOMMY MORRELLStemming from a younger age group than many of
his coworkers, Morrell is renowned in the world of West-ern Swing not merely for his standard guitar work, butalso as a steel guitarist of major importance. Along withplaying in a multitude of bands and recording with morerecent editions of the Texas Playboys, Morrell leads andrecords his own group. The Time Warp Tophands have
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released numerous CDs and feature such musicians asfiddler Bob Boatright of the Texas Playboys. His workwith Eldon Shamblin on this video highlights a delicateand tasteful lead guitar sound.
ART GREENHAWGreenhaw, who plays rhythm guitar for Zeke
Campbell on the included tunes, is of course of a youngergeneration than many of his colleagues. Yet, he is aprime example of a musician leading Western Swing ina new direction. Along with playing bass for the LightCrust Doughboys, he acts as co-manager of the band.Through his vision, the Doughboys are still expandingthe parameters of Western Swing with their recent CDs.
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THE TUNES
1. “The Kind of Love I Can’t Forget”Eldon, Billy Dozier, and Bob Kiser
2. “Oh Susannah/Tiger Rag”Light Crust Doughboys(Muriel “Zeke” Campbell, guitar)
3. “Milk Cow Blues”Eldon Shamblin and Benny Garcia(with Tommy Perkins on drums and Norm Cochran on bass)
4. “Amazing Grace”Eldon Shamblin and Tommy Morrell
5. “Stay A Little Longer”Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys(with Cameron Hill, rhythm guitar andJimmy Wyble, lead guitar)
6. “Stardust”Eldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, and Bob Kiser
7. “If the World Keeps on Turning”Muriel “Zeke” Campbell,with Art Greenhaw on rhythm guitar
8. “Tennessee Waltz”Eldon Shamblin and Tommy Morrell
9. “San Antonio Rose”Eldon Shamblin and Benny Garcia(with Tommy Perkins on drums and Norm Cochran on bass)
10. “It Had To Be”Eldon Shamblin and Tommy Morrell
11. “Hubbin’ It”Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys(with Junior Barnard on guitar)
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12. “Faded Love”Eldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, and Bob Kiser
13. “Back Home Again in Indiana”Eldon Shamblin and Tommy Morrell
14. “Rosetta”Eldon Shamblin and Benny Garcia(with Tommy Perkins on drums and Norm Cochran on bass)
15. “Maiden’s Prayer”Eldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, and Bob Kiser
16. “Ridin’ on Down”Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys(with Junior Barnard on guitar)
17. “Miss the Mississippi and You”Muriel “Zeke” Campbell(with Art Greenhaw on rhythm guitar)
18. “There’ll Never Be Another You”Eldon Shamblin and Tommy Morrell
19. “Time Changes Everything”Eldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, and Bob Kiser
20. “Now or Never”Jim Boyd and His Men of the West
21. “Panhandle Rag”Eldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, and Bob Kiser
22. “I Hear You Talkin’”Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys(with Junior Barnard on guitar)
23. “San Antonio Rose”Eldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, and Bob Kiser
Photo Credits:Front Cover: Jim Boyd and his Men Of The West.Page 2: Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys in the late thirtieswith Eldon Shamblin on rhythm guitar.Page 4: Leon Mc Auliffe and his Cimarron Boys.Page 5: Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, 1953, featuringEldon Shamblin on rhythm guitar.Page 7: Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, 1948, withCameron Hill and Jimmy Wyble on guitars.Page 8: Billy DozierPage 10: Benny GarciaPage 12: Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, 1948.Page 13: Bob Wills’ Original Texas Playboys, 1980 with BobKiser (third from left).
The guitar in Western Swing holds a particularly important place.Many guitarists have made major contributions in the field, but thecornerstone remains Eldon Shamblin, whom Rolling Stonemagazine once called the “World’s Best Rhythm Guitarist.” Hissophisticated, swinging and moving chords forever impacted themusic. Coupled with him were early lead players like Muriel“Zeke” Campbell, who performed dazzling single-string solos onrecords up to two years before Charlie Christian joined the BennyGoodman Sextet.
As a genre of music, Western Swing is a unique blend of jazz,blues, cowboy, western, gospel, and Spanish sounds. Therepertory of any Western Swing band includes tunes associatedwith each of these schools of music, but a consistent style flowsthrough every performance. The roots of Western Swing are noteasy to trace. Most pinpoint the Light Crust Doughboys (formedcirca 1931) of Fort Worth, Texas as the first example.
LEGENDS OF WESTERN SWING GUITAR presents the playing ofEldon Shamblin, Billy Dozier, Bob Kiser, Muriel "Zeke" Campbell,Benny Garcia, Cameron Hill, Jimmy Wyble and Junior Barnard inrare black & white archival films from the 1940s to recent perform-ances recorded in color from the last decade. As well TommyMorrell, a guitarist of a younger generation, is also included. Hisplaying high-lights not just the passing of a flame but new placesthe torch can be carried.
Eldon S
hamblin
Running Time: 60 minutes • Color and B&WCompiled by Gary Don Rhodes
Front photo cover of Jim Boyd and his Men Of The WestNationally distributed by Rounder Records,One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
Representation to Music Stores by Mel Bay Publications© 2003 Vestapol Productions
A division of Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, Inc.
Vestapol 13062ISBN: 1-57940-978-4
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