My name is Louis Hatchett and I’m a published author and book editor with 30 years experience in book publishing; writing books, articles, biographies, discographies, reference materials and editing of digital print-on-demand books for internet and Amazon.com sales. I am a music and literature historian, specializing in grass-roots folk-country music and dime novels, published from the pre-civil war era to the mid-1900s.
I received a B.A. at University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana and a Masters Degree in English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I have edited hundreds of fiction novels and non-fiction books. I’m a freelance editor and publishing consultant located in Henderson, Kentucky.
I think I have something for all of you Bob Wills fans out there that you have probably never heard before. Now many of you have all heard Bob Wills MGM recordings which ended in 1954, and you’ve heard the two rather lackluster Deca albums that came out in 1955 and 1956, and you’ve probably heard the 1960 and 1961 Liberty recordings with Tommy Duncan who returned to the band for a couple of years.
But what about that gap between 1956 and 1960? Well I’m going to let you hear some of those hidden songs. I have restored the original 1958 KVOO radio broadcasts that were recorded on the radio, during the live broadcasts at Kane’s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys left Tulsa in 1942. They were given the opportunity to make movies in Hollywood, California. So Bob arranged for his brother, Johnny Lee Wills, to take over the band and the daily radio broadcast in Tulsa – which lasted for the next 17 years.
Johnny Lee Wills had been performing with Bob for years playing Rhythm banjo, so he knew how to manage the band and he agreed to take over the Texas Playboys so Bob and the rest of the musicians could go to Hollywood, California. Johnny hired new musicians to replace those who went to California with his brother Bob. The new band was called, The Boys From Oklahoma.
Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys appeared in a number of movies from 1942 to the end of WWII. After World War II ended Bob would move from one city to another. He was in Fresno, California for a while during the mid-1940s and then he moved down to Texas, around Amarillo for a few years.
Bob was always looking for a permanent base of operations but never finding it. However in January of 1958 Bob returned to his old stomping grounds in Tulsa, Oklahoma where he and the Texas Playboys first found a semi-permanent home in February 1934. It was there in Tulsa that the band played their daily noontime radio broadcast on KVOO, broadcasting live downtown in the Cain’s Ballroom.
At the beginning of every KVOO radio broadcast, the announcer introduced the band as Johnny Lee Wills and the Boys From Oklahoma.
Years ago, a friend of mine gave me copies of his personal recordings that he captured live on the radio in 1958, featuring the reunion of Bob Wills, Johnny Lee Wills and the all of the musicians from the Boys From Oklahoma and The Texas Playboys. Recently, I was able to digitally remastered these rare KVOO radio broadcast recordings from 1958 and included them here, on my YouTube channel and on my website, https://www.exploringthepast.net
Now have a listen and if you’re not familiar with Bob and Johnny Lee Wills, after
a few minutes you will understand why Texans and Okies, and all of America love
Bob Wills, Johnny Lee Wills and The Texas Playboys.
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