Americana
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke - 1959
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke performed by Joe Maphis & wife Rose Lee, LIVE in 1959.
Maphis. known for the flatpicking style he developed in the 1930's, sings magnificent harmony with wife Rose in this 1950's crowd-pleaser.
Joe Maphis, born Otis W. Maphis (born May 12, 1921 Suffolk, Virginia – died June 27, 1986), was an American country music guitarist. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1948.
One of the flashiest country guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s, Joe Maphis was known as The King of the Strings. He was able to play many stringed instruments with great facility.
However, he specialized in dazzling guitar virtuosity. Working out of Bakersfield, California, he rose to prominence with his own hits such as "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music)" as well as playing with acts like Johnny Burnette, Doyle Holly, The Collins Kids, Wanda Jackson, Rose Maddox and Ricky Nelson.
ShareThisFoldin' Bed - Whistler & His Jug Band ca. 1930
Whistler & His Jug Band came up out of Louisville, Kentucky, and became the first recorded jug band, according to R Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz & Country. They recorded at least twenty-one songs between 1924 and 1931. The names of the musicians remain unknown.
A Jug band is a band employing a jug player and a mix of traditional and home-made instruments. These home-made instruments are ordinary objects adapted to or modified for making of sound, like the washtub bass, washboard, spoons, stovepipe and comb & tissue paper (kazoo). The term jug band is loosely used in referring to ensembles that also incorporate home-made instruments but that are more accurately called skiffle bands, spasm bands or juke (or jook) bands because they are missing the required jug player.
ShareThisBob Wills: Oklahoma - 1940
In this clip, from the B Western "Take Me Back to Oklahoma," Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys croon in perfect harmony 'Oklahoma we love you,' with Wills' signature backup calls.
Riding with Tex Ritter, they sing together 'Calamity Kate.'
But, clearly, the King of Western Swing makes Ritter pale in comparison, in our opinion.
ShareThisBob Wills: Lone Star Rag - 1940
In this clip, from a 1940's B Western, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, on stage to entertain the locals, are introduced by Tex Ritter. The King of Western Swing then launches into a rendition of his classic 'Lone Star Rag.'
"They're good, aren't they?"
Tex Ritter responds, "Best in the West."
Too right, too right.
Cinema buffs might recognize the Deep Focus photography at 0:47 through 0:55 where the pedal-steel guitar player is set in the foreground with Bob Wills swinging just as clearly in the background. Not bad technique for a lost B-Western from the 1930's.
Bob Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by many music authorities one of the fathers of Western swing and called the King of Western Swing by his fans.
After forming a new band, The Playboys, and relocating to Waco, Wills found enough popularity there to decide on a bigger market. They left Waco in January of 1934 for Oklahoma City. Wills soon settled the renamed Texas Playboys in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and began broadcasting noontime shows over the 50,000 watt KVOO radio station. Their 12:30-1:15 p.m. Monday–Friday broadcasts became a veritable institution in the region. Nearly all of the daily (except Sunday) shows originated from the stage of Cain's Ballroom. In addition, they played dances in the evenings, including regular ones at the ballroom on Thursdays and Saturdays. By 1935 Wills had added horn, reed players and drums to the Playboys. The addition of steel guitar whiz Leon McAuliffe in March, 1935 added not only a formidable instrumentalist but a second engaging vocalist. Wills himself largely sang blues and sentimental ballads.
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