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Bob
Wills
(on
writing "San Antonio Rose" while in the studio) "Now,
'San Antonio Rose' is one instance of a mistake. We just did it!
Nobody knew what we were doing. We just did something to get out of there."
Birth
Name: James Robert Wills
Induction
Year: 1970
Date
of Birth: 3/6/1905
Place
of Birth: Limestone County, TX
Date
of Death: 5/13/1975
Place
of Death: Fort Worth, TX
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Former Occupations:
cotton
field worker
construction
shoe
shine
insurance
salesman
carpenter
barber
farmer
farm
worker
truck
driver |
Career Milestones:
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1915--first
public performance on fiddle at a ranch dance |
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1923--radio
performance debut on KGRS and WDAG (Amarillo) |
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1927-1928--first
song written, "Spanish Two Step" (in the 1930s, song was
rearranged and retitled "San Antonio Rose") |
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1929--first
time traveling with a medicine show |
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1929--formed
his own band, the Wills Fiddle Band (later became the Light Crust Doughboys) |
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1929--first
recording session (cut two sides) with the Brunswick Record
Corporation on November 1 |
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1930--landed
radio show job at KTAT (Fort Worth) which made him decide to stay in
the music business |
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1931--went
on the airwaves with the Light Crust Doughboys on station KFJZ in
January; became one of the most popular radio shows in the history of
the medium in the Southwest and was broadcast until the mid 1950s |
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1932--recorded
for Victor Records with the Light Crust Doughboys |
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1933--left
the Light Crust Doughboys; formed new band |
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1934-1958--performed
on his own radio show on Tulsa's KVOO |
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1934--Wills'
band first billed as The Texas Playboys; performed as Bob Wills and
His Texas Playboys |
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1935--brought
steel guitar player into The Texas Playboys (credited with being the
first string band at the time to do so; also incorporated brass,
drums and reed instruments) |
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1935--signed
record contract with Brunswick Record Corporation |
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1935--recorded
20 sides with Brunswick from September 21-24 |
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1938--recorded
"San Antonio Rose" (instrumental version) |
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1940--signed
first publishing contract with Irving Berlin, Inc., for "San
Antonio Rose" |
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1940--made
first feature film ("Take Me Back to Oklahoma") with the
Texas Playboys for Monogram Pictures |
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1944--signed
booking contract with MCA |
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1955--first
recording session with Decca |
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1956--first
major recording session in Nashville, TN |
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1969--final
recording session for Kapp Records in Nashville from February 19-21 |
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1969--last
public appearance on May 30 before stroke, at tribute by Governor
Preston Smith and the State of Texas |
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1971--reunited
at recording session with 10 former Texas Playboys at Merle
Haggard's ranch in California |
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1972--first
public appearance on March 6, after stroke in Fort Worth to
celebrate his 67th birthday |
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1988--song
"Faded Love" adopted by the Oklahoma State Legislature as
the state's official country and western song |
Awards:
1968--Country
Music Hall of Fame induction
Catalog
Highlights
Stay
a Little Longer (The Hoe Down Fiddle Song)
-
Co-writer:
Tommy Duncan
- Artists:
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Dean
San
Antonio Rose
New
San Antonio Rose
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Artists:
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (1944), Bing Crosby, Ventures,
Asleep at the Wheel, Commander Cody, Merle Haggard,
Faded
Love
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Co-writer:
J. Wills
- Artists:
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, Patsy Cline, Leon McAuliff,
Tompall & the Glaser Brothers, Willie Nelson & Ray Price,
Gary Burton, Mickey Gilley, Loretta Lynn, Elvis Presley, Johnny Rodriguez
Take
Me Back to Tulsa
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Co-writer:
Tommy Duncan
- Artists:
Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys
Bubbles
in My Beer
My
Shoes Keep Walking Back to You
Cotton-Eyed
Joe
Big
Beaver
You
Can't Break a Heart
Spanish
Two-Step
New
Spanish Two-Step
Texas
Two-Step
Comments:
Appeared
in many western films
Known
as "The King of Western Swing"; credited with originating
western swing music
His
band recorded as the Original Texas Playboys in 1977
Attended
barber college |