Track listing
Show track credits
- 1 Home in San Antone
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vocals
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- 2 Trouble in Mind
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vocals
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- 3 Texas Playboy Rag
- 4 Drunkard's Blues
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vocals
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- 5 Across the Alley From the Alamo
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vocals
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- 6 Sweet Kind of Love
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vocals
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- 7 Time Changes Everything
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vocals
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- 8 Hang Your Head in Shame
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vocals
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- 9 Steel Guitar Rag
- 10 Brain Cloudy Blues
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vocals
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- 11 Right or Wrong
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vocals
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- 12 Roly Poly
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vocals
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- 13 Pan Handle Rag
- 14 Bubbles in My Beer
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vocals
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- 15 Stay a Little Longer
- 16 My Window Faces the South
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vocals
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- 17 San Antonio Rose
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vocals
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vocals
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- 18 Take Me Back to Tulsa
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vocals
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- 19 Faded Love
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vocals
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vocals
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vocals
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Catalog
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Review
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2 Reviews
Bob Wills, known as “the King of Western Swing,” successfully melded country, jazz, blues and pop music to come up with a string of hits in the 1930s and 40s, including his signature song “San Antonio Rose.” His band of crack musicians, the Texas Playboys, incorporated standard country music instruments like fiddles and steel guitars and augmented them with horn and reed sections, which took Wills’ music into jazz and swing territory. Topped off with Wills’ winning stage persona and his joyful if slightly crazed-sounding cries of “Ahhhh-ha,” Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys were, and still are, a musical force to be reckoned with. Even more than twenty years after the bandleader’s death, the recordings he left behind sound as lively and fresh as ever.
Now an eclectic mix of modern musicians has gotten together and recorded a collection of Bob Wills tunes titled, appropriately enough, The Pine Valley Cosmonauts Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills. The Cosmonauts consist of various alternative and country rock performers, led by Jon Langford, member of the longest lived punk rock group the Mekons. One might expect such a motley crew to turn Wills’ music into a campy combination of rock, noise and swing but this is not the case. This tribute album is as pretty darn close to authentic western swing as you’re going to get these days.
The Pine Valley Cosmonauts‘ line up isn’t quite as expansive as the one Wills used for his original Texas Playboys. What they may lack in numbers however, the band makes up for with fine musicianship. The Cosmonauts are tight ensemble that skillfully creates a stripped down version of Wills’ own sound. The steel guitar sweetly sings, the guitar and mandolin each take turns at jazzy solos, clarinets and saxophones croon effortlessly, and the string bass bops along while the banjo and drums keep time. The music the Cosmonauts present on the album lives up to its title. It serves as a fitting tribute to the “King of Western Swing.”
The collection is also a whole lot of fun. The inspired idea of featuring a different guest vocalist for each song almost guarantees a good time will be had by all. Highlights include Kelly Hogan‘s sexy, sultry performance of “Drunkard’s Blues,” Brett Sparks‘ rollicking “Roly Poly” and Bob Boyd and Neko Case‘s sprightly duet on the lightning fast “Stay a Little Longer.” Jimmie Dale Gilmore‘s distinctive smooth tenor was made to sing “Trouble in Mind” and “San Antonio Rose” is at it’s heartfelt best in the hands of Alejandro Escovedo. “Across the Alley from the Alamo” by Robbie Fulks is the most over the top performance here. He gets more excitable with each verse, sounding more and more like Bob Wills’ demented cousin until you hope he’ll stay on his side of the alley. But even this somewhat offbeat rendition works ’cause it keeps on swinging, just the way Wills liked it.
If you put on this album and close your eyes, you might be able to see Bob Wills himself tapping out the beat with his fiddle bow against his leg. Listen closer, and you may hear him give the Pine Valley Cosmonauts and their friends an “Ahhhh-ha!” of approval.
Now an eclectic mix of modern musicians has gotten together and recorded a collection of Bob Wills tunes titled, appropriately enough, The Pine Valley Cosmonauts Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills. The Cosmonauts consist of various alternative and country rock performers, led by Jon Langford, member of the longest lived punk rock group the Mekons. One might expect such a motley crew to turn Wills’ music into a campy combination of rock, noise and swing but this is not the case. This tribute album is as pretty darn close to authentic western swing as you’re going to get these days.
The Pine Valley Cosmonauts‘ line up isn’t quite as expansive as the one Wills used for his original Texas Playboys. What they may lack in numbers however, the band makes up for with fine musicianship. The Cosmonauts are tight ensemble that skillfully creates a stripped down version of Wills’ own sound. The steel guitar sweetly sings, the guitar and mandolin each take turns at jazzy solos, clarinets and saxophones croon effortlessly, and the string bass bops along while the banjo and drums keep time. The music the Cosmonauts present on the album lives up to its title. It serves as a fitting tribute to the “King of Western Swing.”
The collection is also a whole lot of fun. The inspired idea of featuring a different guest vocalist for each song almost guarantees a good time will be had by all. Highlights include Kelly Hogan‘s sexy, sultry performance of “Drunkard’s Blues,” Brett Sparks‘ rollicking “Roly Poly” and Bob Boyd and Neko Case‘s sprightly duet on the lightning fast “Stay a Little Longer.” Jimmie Dale Gilmore‘s distinctive smooth tenor was made to sing “Trouble in Mind” and “San Antonio Rose” is at it’s heartfelt best in the hands of Alejandro Escovedo. “Across the Alley from the Alamo” by Robbie Fulks is the most over the top performance here. He gets more excitable with each verse, sounding more and more like Bob Wills’ demented cousin until you hope he’ll stay on his side of the alley. But even this somewhat offbeat rendition works ’cause it keeps on swinging, just the way Wills liked it.
If you put on this album and close your eyes, you might be able to see Bob Wills himself tapping out the beat with his fiddle bow against his leg. Listen closer, and you may hear him give the Pine Valley Cosmonauts and their friends an “Ahhhh-ha!” of approval.
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Catalog
4 Mar 2024
13 Apr 2023
2 Oct 2022
17 Jul 2022
15 Dec 2020
-
1 Home in San Antone (Vocals by Chris Mills)
-
2 Trouble in Mind (Vocals by Jimmie Dale Gilmore)
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3 Texas Playboy Rag
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7 Time Changes Everything (Vocals by Jane Baxter Miller)
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8 Hang Your Head in Shame (Vocals by Bob Boyd of The Sundowners)
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9 Steel Guitar Rag
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12 Roly Poly (Vocals by Brett Sparks of The Handsome Family)
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13 Pan Handle Rag
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14 Bubbles in My Beer (Vocals by Tracey Dear of Waco Brothers)
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16 My Window Faces the South (Vocals by Edith Frost)
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19 Faded Love (Vocals by Jane Baxter Miller, Rico Bell & Brendon Croker)
9 Oct 2020
3 Jan 2020
19 Nov 2017
29 Oct 2017
7 Jul 2015
29 Apr 2015
21 May 2013
29 Mar 2013
24 Aug 2009
18 Sep 2008
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