Heard a presentation from Matthew Barton of Library of Congress yesterday on Western swing artist appearances in 30s-40s Hollywood westerns. The music is pretty eclectic, drawing on jazz, blues, Celtic, even some Hawaiian influences, and adds some cultural dimension to the otherwise hokey singing cowboy movies. Bob Willis, Spade Cooley, and Tex Williams are a few of the more prominent artists in the films. This clip from SWING IN THE SADDLE is not an example of Western swing, but its awesome (except for a pretty pointless cutaway to a smirking cowboy in the audience).
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 16:48:29 +0000