western swing fiddle

Western Swing fiddle

Never was there such an unlikely but gloriously rich musical hybrid as Western Swing. Combining the infectious swinging urban dance rhythms of 30's and 40's jazz with the "down home" sounds of rural Texas, a new and exciting style was created in which the fiddle played a challenging and pivotal role. If there is one name which personifies Western Swing, it is that of fiddler and bandleader Bob Wills.

Born in Turkey, Texas in 1905, Bob Wills was brought up in a family of no less than 17 fiddle players. He started off as a "breakdown" fiddler, playing the standard "old timey" Texas repertoire of reels and polkas, but was strongly influenced by the blues of the neighbouring black fieldworkers, by the local Mexican fiddlers, and by the jazz which was widely heard on radio broadcasts. His first band was a duo with guitarist Herman Arnspriger; they were soon joined by brothers Milton and Durwood Brown (on vocals and guitar respectively). At that time, to achieve any success a band needed both a radio station and a commercial sponsor; they were taken on by radio KFJZ in Fort Worth, and were given the name "The Light Crust Doughboys" by their sponsor, the Light Crust Flour Company.

They was the first of a veritable stampede of bands to form in and around Texas over the next two decades. The music was all-inclusive, and as diverse as the people of the Lone Star State itself, including elements of Mexican , Blues, Hoe-down, German Polkas, Ragtime and Jazz, all played with a strong swing beat and aimed specifically at the dancefloor.

Light Crust Doughboys

In 1932 Milton Brown left the Doughboys to form "Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies", who quickly came to dominate the airwaves, and who numbered the gangsters Bonnie and Clyde among their regular fans. Milton added banjo, piano and bass to his band, along with Bob Dunn on electric steel guitar (the inventor of that bizarre instrument); he also had the first twin fiddle section of Cecil Brower and Cliff Bruner, both accomplished jazz fiddlers.

Bob Wills

San Antonio Rose
In 1933 Bob Wills formed the Texas Playboys; they stayed somewhat in the shadow of the Brownies until Brown's untimely death at the wheel of his car in 1936. Bob Wills then emerged as clear front runner, and with the addition of drums and a brass section to the Brownies' winning formula, he had a mighty band which could swing as well as the best jazz outfits of the day, but with a much broader repertoire. Wills wrote and recorded many of the essential standards of Western Swing, such as Faded Love, Maiden's Prayer, and the instrumental Big Beaver. His biggest hit was San Antonio Rose, the song which he claimed took him "from hamburgers to steaks!". It sold over a million copies, and has the unique distinction of having been performed in space by Allan Bean and Charles Conrad aboard Apollo 12!

There is a strong element of zany schoolboy humour running through the whole genre of Western Swing, and nowhere was this more obvious than in the Texas Playboys; Bob Wills, ever the showman, interspersed virtually all his recordings with insane cries of "aaah haaa!, such asides as "fiddle it out boy, fiddle it!" or even "Shoot low Sheriff, he's riding a Shetland!"

Though most of the repertoire of Western Swing was based around songs rather than instrumentals, the fiddle still played a central part in the arrangements. The melodies were often led by fiddles, usually twin fiddles playing in harmony or sometimes (as for example in some Spade Cooley recordings) in larger fiddle sections playing unison. Individual fiddlers would get to play short improvised fills between the vocal lines, swing solos (usually no longer than 12 or 16 bars), or pre-arranged riffs punctuating the melody.

Double Stops are an essential feature of Western Swing fiddling, with the sixth note of the chord often highlighted. Dale Potter, who played fiddle with Hank Williams, is credited by many as the originator of double stopping and the instant creation of harmony fiddle lines. He also deliberately mimicked the riffs produced by the unusual tuning of the pedal steel. The use of fiddle harmonies a third above or below the main melody line can sound very sweet, and was perfected by Buddy Spicher, a noted session player in the 60's and 70's. More unusual double-stop harmonies can also be used to create a hard-edged dissonance which makes the ear prick up and gets all the fiddlers asking "how did he do that!" Master of such startling effects is Vassar Clements, better known as a bluegrass player, though he did record with Bob Wills. The seemingly-impossible triple stop is often used by Johnny Gimble, who joined the Playboys in 1949. His tune Fiddling Around is a masterpiece of double and triple stopping which will get you into any party, but will also have your neighbours hammering on the wall whilst you're trying to learn it.

Johnny Gimble

Western Swing fiddle technique
The higher positions on the fiddle are frequently used, and the chord progressions, whilst simpler than those used in mainstream jazz, are a lot more complex than those found in old-time fiddling. Diminished and augmented licks are often used, along with arpeggios boldly going into the flattened 7th, 9th, 11th and beyond, (sometimes never to return!). The vocal yodel, a feature of the singing of Hank Williams, is imitated by many fiddle licks. Phrases are often rounded off with an exaggerated wide, fast vibrato which would get you fired from the band in almost any other style.

Like some mythical Texas El dorado, Western Swing virtually disappeared into legend when Rock and Roll swept across America through the fifties and sixties. It would have been all been all but forgotten were it not for a new generation of bands which have sprung up and which, albeit on a smaller scale, have both recreated and pushed forward the genre. Such bands include Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, and Asleep at the Wheel, whose debut album in 1973 featured no less than three great Western Swing fiddle players- Johnny Gimble, Buddy Spicher and Andy Stein.

One of the most recent western swing-influenced bands to appear is the Hot Club of Cowtown, featuring the swinging fiddle of Elena Fremerman, whilst a special mention for one of the best band names around has to go to the Milwaukee based Western Box Turtles, with Danny Smith on fiddle.

Links:

Jim Lowe's Western Swing site

The Light Crust Doughboys (still going strong!)

Johnny Gimble

Asleep at The Wheel

Western Swing Journal

Hot Club of Cowtown

Western Box Turtles

Bobwills.com

Western swing.com

Western swing bands- a history

RETURN TO FIDDLINGAROUND HOMEPAGE

Imagine a Western Swing band not from Texas but from Soviet Russia- that's the Kremlinaires!

Return to fiddlingaround.co.uk homepage

Chris Haigh is a freelance fiddle player based in London. He plays jazz and Western Swing fiddle styles, and gives lessons and workshops in these styles. He was a member of Ricky Cool and his Western Swing Allstars, and now runs his own Eastern Western Swing band, The Kremlinaires.

CONTACT CHRIS HAIGH