Search - Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys :: The Tiffany Transcriptions

For our first-ever exclusive Collectors Choice Music boxed set, we re presenting a series of recordings that changed the face of American country music, and, indeed, American popular music in general. But more on that later. The story behind the Tiffany Transcriptions is this: in 1945, Bob Wills, Oakland, California disc jockey Cactus Jack and businessman-songwriter Clifford Sundin founded Tiffany Music, Inc. to create a series of transcriptions, pre-packaged radio shows featuring Wills and his Texas Playboys. A steady series of programs, of course, required that Wills and the band record scores of tunes, and not just their hits and their bandstand repertoire. And the extra space afforded by the 16-inch transcription discs as opposed to 78s meant that the band had infinitely more jamming space and this was a band (most notably vocalist Tommy Duncan, steel guitarists Noel Boggs, Roy Honeycutt and Herb Remington, guitarists Eldon Shamblin and Lester 'Junior' Bernard, fiddler/mandolinist Tiny Moore, fiddlers Joe Holley and Louis Tierney, pianist Millard Kelso, banjoist Ocie Stockard, bassist Luke Wills and drummer Johnny Cuviello) that, more than arguably any other outfit in the history of country music, KNEW how to jam! The result was, as Wills expert Rich Kienzle puts it in his liner notes, For all the great records Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys made in 1946 47 for Columbia and MGM and there were plenty the Tiffany sessions captured something deeper, intangible and vibrant, music that even the occasional miscue or missed note can't diminish. It represents the very soul, spirit and musical passion of Bob and the band as they really were on those Western and Southwestern bandstands. 60 years later, it still sounds like yesterday. Play it loud and listen. The magic is still there. These 150 remastered tracks include the debut of the Wills classic 'Faded Love', torrid versions of jazz classics like 'St. Louis Blues'; 'C-Jam Blues', and 'Jumpin at the Woodside'; early, pre-rock and roll knee-knockers like 'Okie Boogie' and 'A Little Bit of Boogie', and Western Swing favorites like 'Shame on You' and 'Oklahoma Hills' among their highlights. The accompanying booklet not only includes Kienzle s essay, which boasts quotes from many of the Playboys, but rare pix and artist testimonials from Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel, Ranger Doug from Riders in the Sky and Ashley Kingman from Big Sandy & the Fly-Rite Boys (hey, it s our first boxed set, we wanted to do it right)!