Swingin’ Out West

We’re going to take another journey through those dusty, neon-lit archives of Western swing, a genre that famously thumbed its nose at musical boundaries. While the “King” Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys rightly claim the throne, the true soul of the movement lives in the smaller, rowdier units that blurred the lines between Appalachian fiddling, big band jazz, and low-down blues. For our listeners, we’re looking past the “San Antonio Rose” to the grit of the lower Great Plains. We’ll be digging into the deep-cut recordings that highlight the genre’s technical audacity, exploring a sound that kept the dance halls jumping through the Depression proving that Western swing was always much more than just “hillbilly jazz”—it was a revolution you could dance to.

No.Artist Title Album
1Pee Wee King Birmingham Bounce Rompin' Stompin' Singin' Swingin'
2Moon Mullican Grandpa Stole My Baby Hillbilly Bop 'n' Boogie: King/Federal Roots of Rockabilly 1944 – 56
3Hank Penny Wildcat Mama The Western Swing: Doughboys Playboys and Cowboys – Oakie Boogie
4Bill Haley Rovin' Eyes From Western Swing to R-O-C-K (1): Rocket 88
5The Hi-Flyers Hi-Flyer Stomp Western Swing: Hot Hillbilly Jazz & Blues – 1935-1947
6Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies Right or Wrong Western Swing Chronicles Vol. 1: Milton Brown & His Musical Brownies
7Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys New San Antonio Rose The King Of Western Swing-25 Hits 1935-1945
8Hank Penny You Can't Pull The Wool Over My Eyes Stompin' Singers & Western Swingers ([Disc 4] Saturday Night Rag)
9Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys Snatchin' and Grabbin' Boot Heel Drag: The MGM Years [Disc 2]
10Johnny Lee Wills And His Boys Let Me Be More Ballroom Kings
11Tommy Duncan Who Drank The Beer (While I Was In The Rear) Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys: The West Coast Indies
12Skeets McDonald Scoot Git And Begone Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys
13Sons Of The West Sally's Got A Wooden Leg Steelin' It: The Steel Guitar Story
14Dickie McBride And The Villiage Boys Tulsa Twist Hillbilly Fever! Vol. 1: Legends Of Western Swing
15Roy Hogsed Cocaine Blues Swinging Hollywood Hillbilly Cowboys
16Johnny Lee Wills Rag Mop The History Of Country & Western Music – Vol. 16
17Bill Haley with the Saddlemen Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in Her Stocking) From Western Swing to R-O-C-K (2): Rock the Joint
18Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers Mama Don't Like No Music Saturday Night Rag 1934-1936 Vol. 1
19Wade Ray with Noel Boggs It's All Your Fault Heroes Of Country Music Vol 1: Legends Of Western Swing
20Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant Two Of A Kind Swingin' On The Strings: The Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant Collection Volume 2
21Hal Lone Pine & His Mountaineers Honey Honey Mine More Ballroom Kings
22Spade Cooley & His Orchestra feat. Tex Williams Detour That's What I Like About The West
23Spade Cooley & the Western Swing Dance Gang Feat. Tex Williams One Sweet Letter From You Shame On You
24Hank Penny & Jaye P. Morgan You Played On My Piano Crossroads In Cowtown
25Texas Jim Robertson & His Panhandle Punchers Jaw Jaw Yap Yap Yap More Ballroom Kings
26Tex Atchinson You Don't Do Right By Me Anymore Kings Of Western Swing Vol. 2
27Moon Mullican Bottom Of The Glass The Very Best Of
28Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band Troubles (Those Lonesome Kind) Hillbilly Fever! Vol. 1: Legends Of Western Swing
29Les Paul San Antonio Rose Swing West – vol 2 – Guitar Slingers
30Asleep at the Wheel Ida Red A Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills (Dance Versions)
31Asleep at the Wheel My Baby Thinks She's a Train Back to the Future Now Live at Arizona Charlie's Las Vegas
32Buddy Emmons; Ray Pennington; Swing Shift Band I Built a Wall Swingin' by Request
33Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys Music To Her Ears Swingin' West
34Kevin Russell Milk Cow Blues Country Swing
35Freddy Fender Please Mr. Sandman Voices of America

Heavenly Day

It’s a free form morning as Dave once again digs out some favorites and some deep tracks from the last century of America’s music. He’ll be paying his respects to Doug Sahm’s keyboard master, Augie Meyers, while at the same time picking on some thematic tones, including that of heaven, an early century legend by the name of Lulu, early rhythm and western from 1950 as well as a collection of soul tracks that glistened in the winds from 1967. Tune in for The Ink Spots, Jimmy Newman, John Prine, The Castaleers and Fats Waller…a sampler from the past one hundred years. Free form mornings here on KOWS occur only once in a blue moon so you’ll want to be tuning in for more music discovery from all genre corners. You’re invited to come on up to the house where we’re ready, willing and waiting to entertain, putting the madness of a wannabe king behind you for a two-hour joyful jaunt where you’ll find three chords and the truth.

Women’s History Month

This week we celebrate Women’s History Month the way we know best — by following the music. For more than a century, women have shaped the sound of America’s story. They didn’t just sing the songs — they wrote them, bent them, electrified them, sanctified them, and sometimes had to fight just to be heard over them. From the tent shows and juke joints of the 1920s to arena stages and global spotlights, women have carried rhythm, blues, gospel, country, rock, pop — and the truth — on their shoulders. Tune in this coming Friday morning for a journey that begins at the foundation. Before rock and roll. Before crossover radio. When the blues was still carving its name into shellac and history. We’ll then make our way into the genres of jazz, country, rock, and gospel where women’ influenced the deeper roots of American music and you find their fingerprints everywhere — in the blues phrasing, in the gospel shout, in the country confession, in the pop hook, in the rock-and-roll roar.

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1Ma Rainey Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Ma Rainey Amazon
2Keb' Mo' Featuring Rosanne Cash Put A Woman In Charge Put A Woman In Charge Amazon
3Bessie Smith & Louis Armstrong St. Louis Blues I Heard It On NPR: Shake These Blues Amazon
4Memphis Minnie Me And My Chauffeur Blues Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey [Disc 2] Amazon
5Ethel Waters Heat Wave Ethel Waters 1929 -1939 (feat. Duke Ellington & Benny Goodman) Amazon
6Billie Holiday God Bless The Child Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia 1933-1944 [Disc 10] Amazon
7Ella Fitzgerald Goody, Goody 75th Birthday Celebration [Disc 2] Amazon
8Dinah Washington What a Diff'rence a Day Makes The Essential Dinah Washington: The Great Songs Amazon
9Jimmie Grier The Object Of My Affection 50 #1 Hits Of The '20s & '30s Amazon
10Ivie Anderson It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) An Introduction To Ivie Anderson Amazon
11Tommy Dorsey, The Pied Pipers, Jo Stafford Embraceable You I Got Rhythm: The Music of George Gershwin Amazon
12Sister Rosetta Tharpe Rock Me Oxford American 10th Anniversary Southern Music CD [Disc 2] "Past Masters" [2008] Amazon
13Mahalia Jackson Move On Up A Little Higher, Pt. 1 Good News (Vol 3) Get Away Jordan Amazon
14Nina Simone See Line Women The Ultimate Nina Simone Amazon
15Betty Carter Open the Door American Beauty Amazon
16Judy Garland Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart Your Hit Parade – 1943 Amazon
17Sarah Vaughan I Feel So Smoochie September Song Amazon
18Kay Starr Rock and Roll Waltz Your Hit Parade – 1956 Amazon
19Peggy Lee Sugar (That Sugar Baby O' Mine) The Capitol Collector's Series Amazon
20Katie Shore You're From Texas It's All Her Fault: A Tribute To Cindy Walker Amazon
21Mother Maybelle Carter Keep on the Sunny Side Ash Grove (Live April 20, 1963) Amazon
22Patsy Cline Why Can't He Be You The Patsy Cline Collection Amazon
23Kitty Wells It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels American Roots Music (Disc One-Country) Amazon
24Dolly Parton Jolene Country Music: A Film By Ken Burns – The Soundtrack [Disc 2] Amazon
25Loretta Lynn She's Got You Classic Country 1975-1979 [Disc 2] Amazon
26Wanda Jackson Funnel Of Love Queen Of Rockabilly Amazon
27Etta James Come What May The Complete Modern & Kent Recordings 1 Amazon
28Aretha Franklin Think 30 Greatest Hits [Disc 1] Amazon
29Ruth Brown Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean Ruth Brown: The Definitive Soul Collection [[Disc 1]] Amazon
30The Crystals Da Doo Ron Ron The Best Of The Crystals Amazon
31LaVern Baker Jim Dandy (Japan 2012 Remaster) Atlantic Rock & Roll Amazon
32Carole King I Feel the Earth Move A Natural Woman: The Ode Collection (1968-1976) (1 of 2) Amazon
33Joni Mitchell Chelsea Morning Hits Amazon
34Joan Baez Farewell, Angelina Baez Sings Dylan Amazon
35Emmylou Harris If I Could Only Win Your Love Fifty Years Of Hits – Vol 5 Amazon

The Hijacked Jukebox

Join Dave Stroud for a look at a fascinating, if somewhat cringey, slice of music history, where white cover versions of black R&B nuggets were whitewashed across the pop charts in the 1950s. While the ‘cover version’ was a standard industry practice, so were the ‘sanitized’ versions of R&B hits by black artists that made them more ‘palatable’ for white radio audiences, spotlighting white artists while the original creators stayed in the shadows. It’s certainly something that could be the topic of numerous Deeper Roots episodes but we’ll limit our scope to a two hour exploration, measuring the original against the cover. On one side of the house we’ll hear from Fats Domino (a popular source for the practic), Big Joe Turner, The Moonglows and a handful of others. The other side of the house has the names of Pat Boone, Art Mooney, The Fontane Sisters and others among the dubious roster ‘favorites’. Radio and media helped to democratize the landscape but today’s parallels with the frothing ‘look over thereness’ of right wing hate is unmistakable and hard to ignore. It was George Santayana who observed that “those who do not learn from history, are bound to repeat it.“

No.Artist Title Album Buy
1The Fontane Sisters Hearts Of Stone Vintage Music " Vols 3 & 4 Amazon
2The Jewels Hearts of Stone Doo Wop Box Disc 1 Amazon
3The Fontane Sisters Rock Love They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
4Lula Reed Rock Love Rhythm & Western Volume 4 – I Hang My Head and Cry Amazon
5Eileen Barton Fujiyama Mama They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
6Annisteen Allen Fujiyama Mama From the Ghetto Amazon
7The Crew Cuts Sh-Boom (Life Could Be A Dream) Magic Moments: Best Of 50's Pop (Disc 2) Amazon
8The Chords Sh-Boom Glory Days Of Rock 'N' Roll: Doo-Wop [Disc 1] Amazon
9The McGuire Sisters Sincerely Magic Moments: Best Of 50's Pop (Disc 2) Amazon
10The Moonglows Sincerely Pure R&B: Vol. 1- Got My Mojo Workin [Disc 2] Amazon
11The Crew Cuts Don't Be Angry High School Favorites Amazon
12Nappy Brown Don't Be Angry [1955 Version] Down In The Alley – The Complete Savoy Singles A's & B's Amazon
13The Fontane Sisters Please Don't Leave Me They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.3 Amazon
14Fats Domino Please Don't Leave Me Rock And Rollin Amazon
15Pat Boone The Fat Man They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
16Fats Domino The Fat Man Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: Piano Blues – A Film By Clint Eastwood Amazon
17Pat Boone Long Tall Sally The London American Story Disc 1 Amazon
18Little Richard Long Tall Sally Specialty Profiles: Larry Williams Amazon
19Art Mooney Tutti Frutti They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
20Little Richard Tutti Frutti Loud, Fast & Out of Control: The Wild Sounds of the '50s [Box] Disc 3 Amazon
21Johnnie Ray Flip Flop And Fly They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
22Big Joe Turner Flip Flop And Fly Big Joe Turner: The Definitive Blues Collection [[Disc 2]] Amazon
23Bill Haley & His Comets Shake, Rattle and Roll From The Original Master Tapes Amazon
24Big Joe Turner Shake, Rattle & Roll Loud, Fast & Out of Control: The Wild Sounds of the '50s [Box] Disc 1 Amazon
25Teresa Brewer Tweedle Dee The Best Of Teresa Brewer Amazon
26LaVern Baker Tweedlee Dee Pure R&B: Vol. 5- Pioneers [Disc 2] Amazon
27Gale Storm Why Do Fools Fall in Love The London American Story Disc 1 Amazon
28Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers Why Do Fools Fall in Love Gems from the Columbia Vaults, Pt. 1 Amazon
29Georgia Gibbs Dance With Me Henry Georgia Gibbs Greatest Hits Amazon
30Etta James The Wallflower The Best of Etta James [EMI-Capitol Special Markets] Amazon
31Jean Dinning Bo Diddley They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
32Bo Diddley Bo Diddley Pure R&B: Vol. 2- Somethings Got a Hold on Me [Disc 2] Amazon
33The Hilltoppers Teardrops From My Eyes They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
34Ruth Brown Teardrops From My Eyes Ruth Brown: The Definitive Soul Collection [[Disc 1]] Amazon
35Jaye P Morgan Baby Don't Do It They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.3 Amazon
36The 5 Royales Baby Don't Do It The Complete Singles 1952-1962 Amazon
37Perry Como Ko Ko Mo They Tried To Rock – The Popsters Vol.4 Amazon
38The Flamingos Ko Ko Mo The Best Of The Flamingos Amazon
39Ricky Nelson I'm Walkin' Legacy [Disc 1] Amazon