Monday, June 7, 2010

Classic Recording Sessions - On This Date (6/7)



Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - 73 years ago
Monday, June 7, 1937
Brunswick Warehouse, Dallas, TX
Bob Wills: fiddle, vocal; Tommy Duncan: vocal; Herman Arnspiger: guitar; Sleepy Johnson: guitar, fiddle; Johnnie Lee Wills: banjo; Leon McAuliffe: steel guitar; Joe Ferguson: bass; Smokey Dacus: drums; Jesse Ashlock: fiddle; Cecil Brower: fiddle: Al Stricklin: piano; Everett Stover: trumpet; Ray DeGeer: clarinet, sax; Zeb McNally: sax; Robert Dunn: trombone.


Porter Wagoner - 53 years ago
Friday, June 7, 1957 (9:00 pm - 1:30 am)
RCA Victor Studio, Methodist Television, Radio & Film Commission, 1525 McGavock St., Nashville, TN
Porter Wagoner: vocal, guitar; Red Gale: vocal; Hank Garland: guitar; Hamilton Wilson: guitar; Don Warden: vocal; Basil Burnette: steel guitar; Ernie Newton: bass; Louis Dunn: drums; Marvin Hughes: piano.
Producer: Chet Atkins

I'm going to let the music of these two sessions do most of the talking today. Other than to pose a point to consider: 20 years span these two sessions, and I think it's interesting to note the huge advancement in country music in that time. Now, take a current hit on country radio, then back up to a random Garth Brooks or Reba track from 1990 and see if that much has changed in the past 20 years. A lot of factors go in to that, I realize, so it's not a perfectly clean comparison. But even still, it's a pretty staggering difference. I hope you enjoy today's two recording sessions.

2 comments:

Harlan Taylor said...

Two phenomenal sessions!

Your point is well taken. Ask anyone to think of what they were listening to back in 1990 and I don't think you can say that we can see the light years of development in either the music or the recording process which took place during the 30's, 40's and 50's. To think Nirvana was twenty years ago...I need to break out Ernest Stoneman's Hand Me Down My Walking Cane.

HT

Don said...

Thanks for posting these recording sessions. I'm enjoying listening to the music and am reflecting on the differences brought by the twenty year span between recording sessions.

Just a side note on changes in music over time:

From my point of view, one of the most powerful change factors in country music has been increasing control of country music by corporations. In the early days, changes in country music were more about the "folk process".

Nowadays little music will become widely heard by the public without first passing the requirements of music and broadcasting corporations.