Eldon Shamblin And Western Swing Guitar

Jim Cohen · From: Philadelphia, PA

From www.tipworld.com (Not written by me!)

ELDON SHAMBLIN AND WESTERN SWING GUITAR

Guitarist Eldon Shamblin probably had more to do with the success of Bob Wills' band the Texas Playboys than anybody but Wills himself. When he joined the band in 1937, Shamblin brought a sophisticated sense of swing to a group that played a raw, cowboy version of Dixieland jazz. Wills recognized Shamblin's abilities and gave him the power to hire and fire musicians. The band that Shamblin assembled in the early '40s became the most revered version of the Texas Playboys, and to this day, it is considered the best western swing band of all time. After World War II, Wills had to downsize the band, and Shamblin went from playing lead guitar to playing rhythm. In the early '50s, to help make up for the lack of decent bass players and the loss of the horn section, Shamblin developed a style that blended walking bass lines with inventive harmonic progressions. Shamblin worked with guitar maker Leo Fender to come up with a guitar that was loud but still had a sweet sound. Their work led to the development of the Fender Stratocaster, which has become the most successful electric guitar design in history. Shamblin stopped touring in the late '50s, but in 1974 he came out of retirement to play on For the Last Time, which became Bob Wills' final record. Shamblin later joined Merle Haggard's band, and he made a few records with western swing revivalists Asleep at the Wheel.

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www.jimcohen.com

[This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 20 November 2000 at 02:18 PM.]

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

That got me thinking, when did electric bass come into Western Swing, it must have worked it's way in there in the mid to late 1950s.

It seems to me that the rhythm sections would have been lacking after a while, not due to poor bass players, but because they had a pretty big sound to work with. Some groups had not only amplified steel and guitars, but even fiddles and mandolin as well.

TomP · From: Encino Ca

ONE OF THE MOST NEGLECTED GREATS OF JAZZ GUITAR, ELDON WAS PLAYING ON THE RADIO IN TULSA WITH WILLS WHEN CHARLIE CHRISTIAN WAS JUST COMING UP IN THAT AREA AND NEVER REALLY GOT MUCH CREDIT FOR INFLUENCING ONE OF THE BIG INFLUENCES OF JAZZ GUITAR.

Tele · From: Andy W. - Wolfenbuettel, Germany

Jason,

the bassplayer of Billy Jack Wills band played amplified double bass behind Vance Terry. Ca.1953-55 ???
Sounds great, fat and unusual sound though.

Andy

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Hey thanks Tele, that's the earliest I know of.

While Tom, I had thought of Charlie Christian playing the OK scene, he's not the only one that came of age in the 1937-1938 era, there's another who became part of the whole West Coast 1950s sound and later a Hollywood session cat, but I can't think of his name.. Barney Kessell I think. Anyway this guy was influenced by the local swing bands, when the lines between jazz and country were really blurred.
Tele, let's crank up that time machine!

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

Jason mentioned Barney Kessel.....He returned to Oklahoma City from California a few years ago, I had the pleasure of hearing him jam at a local dinner theater once and he was a great player, progressive jazz, no reverb or other effects. I have heard that he no longer plays because of physical problems.

Tele · From: Andy W. - Wolfenbuettel, Germany

Hey Jason

I should mention Tiny Moore with his Electric Bigsby mandolin but would that lead us anywhere ..

Serious I love Eldons playing with Bob Wills, very unique style. Possibly the first country musician playing that space-age, rock and roll guitar made by Leo.

Tone-wise I'd go for Junior Barnard ..oops

Andy

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

TELE: A guest at one of our shows recently came up to me and said she was a relative (sister I think she said) of a guitar player named Junior Bernard,and wanted to know if I had ever heard of him? Yes, I had heard of Junior Bernard!

George Rozak · From: Braidwood, Illinois USA

I came across an old album on Flying Fish records out of Chicago. It's called "S'Wonderful" and features Eldon Shamblin along with Curley Chalker on steel, Joe Venuti on violin, & Jethro Burns (of Homer & Jethro) on mandolin. It's basically all blues, jazz, & swing stuff and was recorded in 1977.

Jerry Erickson · From: Atlanta,IL 61723

Eldon was also on another Flying Fish record
with Jethro and Tiny Moore,it was called "Back to Back". I was fortunate to Eldon and Tiny playing with Merle Haggard in 1975. He was playing his prototype strat it was "swonderful", also Leona Williams was with Merle then.

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

I've been thinking of Tiny Moore and I remembered Johnny Meeks talking about Tiny when they were both with the Strangers.
Tiny used to get flown in by Merle to join the others in the tour bus when Tiny had the time to do the gigs, so he generally helped finish off tours or did the big city gigs, rather than do the whole tour with the Strangers.
Great band, Johnny Meeks (bass, vocals), Roy Nichols (lead), Ronnie Reno (guitar, vocals), Norm Hamlett (steel), Biff Adam (drums), Merle (guitar, vocals), while Tiny and Don Markham (horns)were semi-regulars.

Bill Cunningham · From: Atlanta, Ga. USA

My father attended a Texas Playboy Reunion show in Mustang, Ok. several years ago and met Barney Kessel there. Barney told my dad that as a kid, he would go to Wills dances and stand outside to hear Eldon play. Eldon was the reason he started playing guitar.

Bill Cunningham

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Carter D-10 8+9, BCT, TPPP

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Hey Bill, that's cool, imagine how great an experience that would have been.

Jim Landers · From: Spokane, Wash.

There is a book called "Eldon Shamblin The Guitar Man" that was/is published by;

Shamblin Music Publishing
PO Box 54294
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74155

I don't know if it's still available or not, but I think it probably is. The copyright is 1997, so it's not all that old. The price was $19.95, and if I remember right, I believe that included postage.

It was/is produced by Patty Nicholas, and I believe she still lives in Tulsa, and would probably have copies available if the above address is'nt still good.

Anyway, it's a neat book that has a lot of old photos and stories that were contributed by Rita Shamblin-Miller, Eldon's daughter. There are also five songs that Eldon tabbed out that gives you a good insight into Eldon's style.

For you guys that are still trying to figure out how he did it, this book is the answer. He had a pretty sophisticated style that required using a lot of jazz type chord substitutions in order to keep the base line moving, and this shows a lot of the chords he used, and how he did it.

Jim

Neil Hilton · From: Lexington, Kentucky

Jason & all - love this string of posts here, Jason you likely saw my post awhile back curious to know if anyone knows of access to old video footage of Hag & the Strangers..... imagine if some old home movie footage existed of that blended Texas-swing / Bakersfield Strangers line-up that you mention that Merle had gathered!!!!

Man-oh-man would that be great to find in some dusty old shoebox somewhere!?!?!

The "tribute to best damn fiddle player" album of Wills songs that Hag cut in about '73-'73 still to this day is among my favorites - I believe it included many of the fellas mentioned in all your posts here. Great legacy of pickers that will be listened to for many decades to come! - Neil

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Neil, there is footage out there, just how to get access to it is beyond my resources.
The version of the Strangers with Johnny Meeks actually were on some TV special, while there's footage floating around.
There is actually a Dick Clark film, sort of a Bonnie & Clyde styled 1968 gangster flick, with Hag, Bonnie and I think even Norm Hamlett playing small parts. The soundtrack has Jody Miller, Hag, Bonnie and Dick Curless from memory.
Hmm, the Billy Mize show from the early 1970s only went for two screenings, but one of them featured Merle & the Strangers, other than that, well I'm sure there is more.

Neil Hilton · From: Lexington, Kentucky

Jason - exactly, just would be nice to have some of that footage surface somehow. The A&E Biography on Merle a couple of weeks ago was o.k., but I so wished there had been more early footage included. The couple of little clips they did have were great - but seeing just a quick couple of seconds of Roy picking a lead line in "Branded Man" --- just aggravating to get a quick fleeting glance and it's gone. you know what I mean.
thanks, Neil.

Lefty · From: Grayson, Ga.

It would not have been the Texas Playboys without Eldon and that shoreline gold stratocaster. I taped the final concert of the Texas Playboys on Austin City Limits with he and Leon.
Sad, but great.
You could talk for hours about the great players in that band and just scratch the surface.
Lefty

Jason Odd · From: Stawell, Victoria, Australia

Lefty, I know what you mean, I made a list as while ago, just out of curiosity, and it was simply staggering. I only ran few thorty or so names (and there are so many more), before it really hit me how many pickers had walked through that group, let alone the influence the ex-members, recordings appearences of the group and spin-off bands created!

Neil, I know where you are coming from, you may have noticed I'm a big Gram Parsons fan.
Well there's a 1967 Hollywood cash-cow psychedelic film called 'The Trip' with Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern and Dennis Hopper, with Gram Parson's pre-Byrds group playing onstage in a club scene. Originally they mimed to one of their own songs, but different music was added to the soundtrack and most of their bandstand scene was cut from the film, so there's just a few seconds of Gram and his group jiving on the bandstand with shiny telecasters. Sigh!

Gene Jones · From: Oklahoma City, OK USA, (deceased)

The only clips I have of those original players are in my memory from the days when I was still in Highschool and would go to the Criterion Theater in downtown Oklahoma City on Saturday and watch all those great players live, on stage. Eldon, Gimble, Tiny, Herb, Luke, etc. It was amazing when those three fiddlers would reach over and get three, electric, 4-string mandolins and start playing riffs along with Remington and Eldon. It's no wonder Bob was always yelling: "AHAAAAAA HAAAAAA, shoot low sheriff, he's ridin' a shetlan"

[This message was edited by Gene Jones on 14 December 2000 at 10:02 AM.]

John Lacey · From: Black Diamond, Alberta, Canada

I had the pleasure of catching Eldon on stage at the ISGC in '76. It was amazing to watch and hear his comping style. An Edmonton steeler named Gary Cherwonka actually attended a college in the States where Eldon was teaching western swing.