tributary

Bob Wills

The King of Western Swing threw fiddles, horns, drums, and steel guitar into one big pot and stirred until Texas dance-hall country came out swinging like a jazz band — Bob Wills's music was loose, hot, and irresistibly danceable, and it taught a generation of country pickers that genre lines were made to be ignored.

the sound in question
1940
New San Antonio RoseBob Wills

we haven’t charted Bob Wills yet

this stretch of the river isn’t mapped. we trace the watershed one artist at a time — and we’re always heading further upstream.

downstream