Search - Billy Jack Wills :: Crazy Man Crazy

Joaquin Records' second installment of Billy Jack Wills's KFBK radio transcriptions comes from the same early-1950s Sacramento sessions that spawned its predecessor. Here is further proof that Billy Jack had a unit that could challenge that of older brother Bob in terms of execution, if not popularity. Billy Jack's crew was more streamlined than Bob's and they focused more intently on jump blues and R&B, giving them a sound and a momentum that presaged rock & roll. That's not to say that the band wasn't capable of subtlety or sophistication; the complex, well-honed arrangements (by former Texas Playboy Tiny Moore) and the sparking improvisations of Moore, steel-guitar phenom Vance Terry, and Satchmo-inspired trumpeter Dick McComb say otherwise. --Marc Greilsamer