With ‘The Band’s A Rockin’’, Johnnie Lee Wills is the next artist to appear in the ‘Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight’ series. Johnnie Lee was the younger brother of Bob Wills. During Bob’s first successful years, Johnnie played the tenor banjo in his band. In 1940, Bob Wills decided to split up the Texas Playboys because of the ever-increasing demand for live performances throughout the country.
In order to keep radio work and dance evenings going in their home base of Tulsa, Bob gave Johnnie Lee the right to stay in Oklahoma and form his own group, Johnnie Lee Wills and All The Boys. Johnnie was an excellent bandleader who always managed to surround himself with impressive sidemen. He may not have made as many recordings as his brother Bob, but with the songs that have already been covered many times, the excellent piano-laden ‘Rag Mop’ and the bluesy ‘Milk Cow Blues’, Johnnie Lee undoubtedly put Western Swing on the map. Both recordings can also be found on this album. Johnnie's rhythm and style were deeply rooted in the thirties. Because he kept his arrangements tight and danceable, Johnnie Lee Wills and All The Boys were enormously successful with the swinging and rocking dancers at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa. On radio KVOO in Tulsa, the band was a fixture until 1958. In 1964, Johnnie Lee Wills and All The Boys split up. This compilation contains many interesting recordings, released on Decca, Bullet Records and RCA Victor. It is also worth mentioning that the Decca and Bullet recordings have not been available on CD for some time.
The opener and the title track immediately set the tone for over 75 minutes of pure Western Swing pleasure. What is also immediately noticeable is that Johnnie's band, as previously indicated, contained wonderfully talented musicians. The sky-high level of the first track is effortlessly continued throughout the entire album. It becomes difficult not to get moving and before you know it you are accompanying Johnnie with a snap of your fingers. Impressive musicians deliver impressive performances. This also applies to ‘Coyote Blues’, probably provided with a sublime clarinet solo by Don Harlan. Humorous lyrics are part of ‘She Took!’. Beautiful guitar solos cross songs such as ‘I Like You Best Of All’, the blues-laced ‘Levee Blues’ and ‘Two Step Side Step’. Fiddle at its best can be heard in ‘Let Me Be’, ‘A-L-B-U-Q-U-E-R-Q-U-E’ and ‘Four Or Five Times’.
The instrumental ‘Boogiewoogie Highball’, where the musicians once again get their ‘moment de gloire’, is a rock-‘n-roll song ‘avant la lettre’. A song that undoubtedly inspired many later rockers. Johnnie’s interpretation of the Glenn Miller classic ‘In The Mood’ is downright impressive, once again displaying instrumental mastery and craftsmanship. ‘Southland Swing’ also sounds instrumental and fun.
A beautiful example of harmony later characterizes ‘Honey In The Horn’, while ‘Devil’s Blues’, which relies on subtle piano sounds, is a swinging version of a typical blues song. Rocking and swinging, the last track comes with ‘I’m Leaving (Yes Indeedy)’.
In the beautifully executed an illustrated 29-page booklet, you will get all the information about the tracks as well as in ‘The (Dance-) Marathon Man Of Western Swing’ written by Roland Heinrich Rumtreiner, all the information about Johnnie Lee Wills.
Rare, hot, swinging and rocking are the keywords for this fantastic album. ‘Johnnie Lee Wills: The Band’s A Rockin’ has become an unmissable release!

Lovesick is an Italian based band formed of Paolo Roberto Pianezza, Francesca Alinovi and Alessandro Cosentino. They are all multi-instrumentalists, whose influences are deeply rooted in the American Country, rock'n'roll and western swing music of the 40s and 50s. In some songs The Mavericks are never far away. What a wonderful voice Pianezza has! And then that tight and cool rhythm section. 'Remember My Name' is a brilliant release... 

In the series 'Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight', Bear Family Records dedicates its next release to Bob Wills. Bob Wills was rightly given the title of 'King of Western Swing'. The label's careful selection includes Bob's recordings for Vocalion/Columbia and Kapp, Master, MGM and the Liberty labels in the period 1939 - 1963. Wills usually stuck to his pure Western Swing, but hillbilly boogies and rockabilly also grace this compilation. In addition to being the inventor of the Western Swing genre for his fans, Bob Wills was also the best fiddler and arranger. He also introduced the beat to the country genre. That made him the best 'dance band' in the South West at the time. This is not an exaggeration, because it is difficult to sit still while listening to this compilation. Naturally you will find classics such as the blues, 'Keep Knocking But You Can't Come In', which Bob initially played with his legendary partner Milton Brown in the Fort Worth Doughboys, 'Don't Be Afraid Of Your Age' and the influential mainly instrumental 'Twin Guitar Special' here. More mainly instrumental work comes later with 'Texas Drummer Boy'.
What is immediately noticeable when listening to this album is the intense enthusiasm that Bob put into his band The Texas Playboys, which ensured that the merging of ingredients from the various styles of American roots music went smoothly. The vocal work is also positive. Such as in 'Nothin' But The Best For My Baby', in which the lead vocals encounter vocal opposition. This also repeats itself in other songs with different vocalists. Wills clearly continues the bluesy tour in 'Trouble, Trouble Blues' in which the fiddle further enhances the blues feeling. Rockabilly then surfaces in 'So Let's Rock'.
As is a tradition at Bear Family Records, this album also contains a beautiful 34-page booklet compiled by Roland Heinrich Rumtreiber, containing not only a detailed biography, rare photos and illustrations, but also all information regarding the tracks.
For fans of Western Swing at first hand, with formidable fiddle and steel guitar parts, this edition is a simply a 'must have'.

Billy Jack Wills, the youngest of the Texas Wills Western Swing dynasty, which also included the well-known Bob Wills, is the next artist to be featured in the 'Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight' series. Unlike his brother Bob, Billy Jack didn't quite get the success he deserved. At Bob's suggestion, Billy Jack held the positions of drummer and bassist in his band the Texas Playboys for a while. But Billy Jack also contributed to the success of the Texas Playboys as a vocalist and songwriter. He lent his bluesy voice to 'Cadillac In Model 'A' and wrote the lyrics for Bob's smash hit 'Faded Love'.
Jack's performances flirted with rock 'n' roll and their covers of the then scoring rhythm & blues songs drew the crowd to the dance floor. Also unique is the sparse application of jazzy elements. You can convince yourself of this with the 31 tracks of this compilation.
This compilation not only honors Billy Jack Wills, but also shows how he managed to combine Western Swing with rock 'n' roll and jazzy outbursts at the time. For that alone, he should have become more famous.

​Let's be clear for once ……. This series is not intended for softies! The rebellion associated with the genre, especially in the early days of rock and roll, is also in the 30 formidable instrumental tracks that fill volume 2 of the ‘Whip Masters Instrumentals’ series. Fire-breathing guitars, all searing saxophones that hit you relentlessly in the face and the vocal primal screams, certainly contribute to this. Features that can all be found on this album.
With the creation of the Whip Masters Instrumentals, composer Mark Armstrong has tapped an area that offers an abundance of fantastic rock and roll, rockabilly, surf and western swing. Just like the previously published volume 1, this edition is also worth having in your collection. Curious what will follow!

​Cliffie Stone made a career in the country, was one of the founders of rockabilly, was a talented songwriter, in-demand session musician and respected A&R man at Capitol Records. In the latter capacity he was the discoverer of Hank Thompson and Tennessee Ernie Ford. Cliffie also made recordings under his own name for the same label.
On this compilation released by Bear Family you get 31 tracks, all recorded between 1947 and 1955. In addition to songs he recorded with Bob Roubian, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Les Gotcher and Jeanne Gayle, this album contains a lot of songs that Cliffie recorded under his own name. Expect Western Swing, hillbilly boogie and rock and roll at the highest level. Naturally, an extensive booklet with information about the artist and the recordings is included.

​The attention that the Atomicat label pays to hillbilly and rockabilly bop through this series certainly fills a gap in the market. With the exception of a few other labels, these genres are treated poorly. Moreover, all Atomicat releases invariably boast a sublime sound quality, as does this volume. Again, Western Swing, based on a bop beat, is on the menu.
‘The Barnyard Hop’ again features 28 hillbilly and rockabilly related high flyers. "Hillbilly and Rustic Rockabilly Bop’ is a treasure chest filled with awesome songs.

​It has often been said that hillbilly is the basis of rockabilly. The merging of hillbilly and rock and roll clearly manifests itself in volume 3. The typical instruments related to the classic hillbilly, such as fiddle, acoustic guitar and steel guitar, remain present, but the electric guitar from the rock and roll moves away effortlessly between. That of course provides a good dose of Western Swing on a boppin 'beat and that is what you get on this album in the most infectious forms. Whether they lean towards more authentic hillbilly or rather rockabilly bop, the fact is that all 28 tracks are very swinging. The ‘Hillbilly and Rustic Rockabilly Bop’ series has with "Rattlin" Daddy "a wonderful follow-up to the previously released volumes.

​The 26 tracks that contain a beautiful mix of traditional country, western swing and hillbilly will give you the ultimate feeling of a nostalgic country Christmas. And just like we did with ‘Headin 'For The Christmas Ball’, we once again can conclude that ‘Christmas On The Range’ can also be played without a corresponding Christmas tree.

​Hillbilly, authentic or with the addition of Western Swing or rock from the past century, you get it all beautifully and in excellent sound quality served on this compilation. It is becoming a habit, but we cannot help it that this album also deserves a place in your collection.

​Although they played country boogies and Western Swing as the Western Melody Makers, they made with 'Sag, Drag And Fall' before the term 'rockabilly' was found, a song that has since become 'classic' in the genre. With this album, Jasmine Records gives a nice chronological overview of a band that was involved in the birth of the rockabilly.

​Shame On You' is not only the title of the song with which Spade Cooley led the countrycharts for 9 weeks in 1945. Unfortunately it also relates to himself for the murder of his wife. Cooley's recorded Western Swing between 1945 and 1952 is certainly not bad, although Bob Wills together with his Texas Playboys rightly remain the title 'The King Of Western Swing'.

​Fan of Pokey Lafarge and CW Stoneking? Then the purchase of this danceable album by Rob Heron & The Tea Pad Orchestra is a must. And ........ years of fun guaranteed!

Sublime mix of country, western swing, gypsy jazz and rock 'n' roll. Recommended!

​This Canadian trio brings in a beautiful rockabilly and western swing way a tribute to the great Merle Travis. 

Great Jive, Jump and Western Swing by a German band with lots of delicious piano and lapsteel. With the New Years eve party in mind, is this the perfect dance record. Enjoy!

Jacob Tovar and The Saddle Tramps bring old school country, honky tonk and western swing back to life in a brilliant way. Highly recommended for real country fans!