View source for Western swing

{{short description|Subgenre of American country music}}
{{about|the [[musical genre|musical subgenre]]|the dance|Lindy Hop|5=West Coast Swing}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Western swing
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Swing music|Swing]]|[[Dixieland]]|[[Western music (North America)|Western]]|[[country music|country]]|[[blues]]|[[Old-time music|old-time]]|[[string band]]s}}
| cultural_origins  = 1920s–1930s, [[Southwestern United States]]
| derivatives       = {{hlist|[[Neotraditional country]]}}
| subgenrelist      =
| fusiongenres      = {{hlist|Texas swing|[[rockabilly]]|[[rock and roll]]}}
| other_topics      = 
}}

'''Western swing, country jazz''' or '''smooth country''' is a subgenre of American [[country music]] that originated in the late 1920s in the [[Western United States|West]] and [[Southern United States|South]] among the region's [[Western music (North America)|Western]] [[string band]]s.<ref>Brink, ''Western Swing'', p. 550</ref><ref>Logsdon, "Folk Songs", p. 299.</ref> It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat,<ref>Townsend, ''San Antonio Rose'', p. 38.</ref><ref>Malone, ''Stars of Country Music'', p. 170.</ref> which attracted huge crowds to dance halls and clubs in [[Texas]], [[Oklahoma]], and [[California]] during the 1930s and 1940s until a federal war-time nightclub tax in 1944 contributed to the genre's decline.<ref name="Murray2000">''Stomping the Blues''. Albert Murray. Da Capo Press. 2000. page 109, 110. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02211-1}}, {{ISBN|0-252-06508-5}}</ref><!--Good arguments can be made the tax had nothing to do with it...--><!-- if so, then cite those 'good arguments' from reputable sources -->

The movement was an outgrowth of [[jazz]].<ref>Boyd, ''Jazz of the Southwest'', p. ix-x.</ref><ref>Townsend, ''San Antonio Rose'', p. 63: "Without exception, every former member of Wills's band interviewed for this study concluded, as Wills himself did, that what they were playing was always closer in music, lyrics, and style to jazz and swing that any other genre."</ref><ref>Price, "Jazz Guitar and Western Swing", p. 81.</ref> The music is an amalgamation of [[American roots music|rural]], [[Western music (North America)|cowboy]], [[polka]], [[Old-time music|old-time]], [[Dixieland jazz]], and [[blues]] blended with [[swing music|swing]];<ref>Price, "Jazz Guitar and Western Swing", p. 82.</ref> and played by a [[Musical improvisation|hot]] string band often augmented with drums, saxophones, pianos and, notably, the [[steel guitar]].<ref>Coffey, ''Merl Lindsay and His Oklahoma Nite Riders'', pp. 3-4.</ref> The electrically amplified stringed instruments, especially the steel guitar, give the music a distinctive sound.<ref name="autogenerated71">Wolff, ''Country Music'', "Big Balls in Cowtown: Western Swing From Fort Worth to Fresno", p. 71.</ref> Later incarnations have also included overtones of [[bebop]].

Western swing differs in several ways from the music played by the nationally popular horn-driven [[Big band|big swing bands]] of the same era. In Western bands, even fully orchestrated bands, vocals, and other instruments followed the fiddle's lead, though like popular horn-led bands that arranged and scored their music, most Western bands improvised freely, either by soloists or collectively.<ref>Boyd, "Western Swing", p. 208.</ref>

According to country singer [[Merle Travis]], "Western swing is nothing more than a group of talented country boys, unschooled in music, but playing the music they feel, beating a solid two-four rhythm to the harmonies that buzz around their brains. When it escapes in all its musical glory, my friend, you have Western swing."<ref>{{cite journal |date=Spring 1980 |title=Merle Travis on 'Western Swing' |journal=JEMF Quarterly |volume=16 |issue=57 |pages=215–216 |url=https://archive.org/details/jemfquarterlyser1980john |access-date=April 6, 2017}}</ref>

==History==

===Late 1920s to mid-1930s: Beginnings===
[[File:The Light Crust Doughboys in Oh, Susanna!.png|thumb|left|The Light Crust Doughboys in ''[[Oh, Susanna! (1936 film)|Oh, Susanna!]]'', a 1936 film starring Gene Autry]]
Western swing began in the dance halls of small towns throughout the lower [[Great Plains]] in the late 1920s and early 1930s,<ref>Kienzle, ''Southwest Shuffle'', Preface, pp. vii-xi.</ref><ref>Carney, "Country Music", p. 535</ref> growing from house parties and ranch dances where fiddlers and guitarists played for dancers. During its early development, scores of groups from [[San Antonio]] to [[Shreveport]] to [[Oklahoma City]] played different songs with the same basic sound.<ref>''Workin' Man Blues - Country Music in California''. Gerald W. Haslan. University of California Press. 1999. page 72, 73. {{ISBN|978-0-520-21800-0}}.</ref> [[Prince Albert Hunt]]'s Texas Ramblers out of [[Terrell, Texas|Terrell]] in East Texas, and [[the East Texas Serenaders]] in [[Lindale, Texas]] both added jazz elements to traditional music in the later half of the 1920s through the early 1930s.<ref>Boyd, Jean Ann. ''Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998. page 13. {{ISBN|978-0-292-70859-4}}</ref> Fred "Papa" Calhoun played in a band in [[Decatur, Texas]] that played swing music in the style of the [[Louisiana Five]].<ref>''Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing''. Cary Ginell. 1994. University of Illinois Press. page 81. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02041-4}}</ref>

In the early 1930s, Bob Wills and [[Milton Brown]] co-founded the string band that became the [[Light Crust Doughboys]], the first professional Western swing band. The group, with Fred "Papa" Calhoun on piano, played dance halls and was heard on radio. Photographs of the Light Crust Doughboys taken as early as 1931 show two guitars along with fiddle player Wills, although by 1933 they had three guitarists.<ref name="Bob Wills 1976. pages 74-75">''San Antonio Rose - The Life and Music of Bob Wills''. Charles R. Townsend. 1976. University of Illinois. between pages 74-75. {{ISBN|978-0-252-00470-4}}</ref>

On February 9, 1932, Brown, his brother Derwood, Bob Wills, and C.G. "Sleepy" Johnson were recorded by [[Victor Records]] at the Jefferson Hotel in [[Dallas, Texas]] under the name The Fort Worth Doughboys. Derwood Brown played guitar and Johnson played tenor guitar. Both "Sunbonnet Sue" and "Nancy Jane" were recorded that day. The group was credited as "Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies".<ref>Townsend, p. 339.</ref>

When Brown left the Doughboys later in 1932, he took his brother to play rhythm guitar in what became The Musical Brownies.<ref>Townsend, between pp. 73 and 74.</ref> In January 1933, fiddler [[Cecil Brower]], playing harmony, joined Jesse Ashlock to create the first example of harmonizing twin fiddles in a Western swing recording.<ref>{{citation|first=Michael|last=Saffle|title=Perspectives on American Music, 1900-1950|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8153-2145-3}}</ref> Brower, a classically trained violinist, was the first to master [[Joe Venuti]]'s ''double shuffle'' and his improvisational style was a major contribution to the genre.<ref name="Bob Wills 1976. pages 74-75" />

In late 1933, Wills organized the [[Texas Playboys]] in [[Waco, Texas]]. Recording rosters show that beginning in September 1935, Wills utilized two fiddles, two guitars, and [[Leon McAuliffe]] playing steel guitar, banjo, drums and other instruments during recording sessions.<ref>Townsend, pp. 339 and 340.</ref> The amplified stringed instruments, especially the [[steel guitar]], gave the music its distinctive sound.<ref name="autogenerated71" /> As early as 1934 or 1935 [[Bob Dunn (musician)|Bob Dunn]] electrified a Martin O-series acoustic guitar while playing with Milton Brown's Brownies, an idea he may have picked up from a Black guitarist he met while working at [[Coney Island]] in New York.<ref>''Workin' Man Blues - Country Music in California''. Gerald W. Haslan. University of California Press. 1999. page 74. {{ISBN|978-0-520-21800-0}}.</ref><ref>''Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing''. Cary Ginell. 1994. University of Illinois Press. page 109. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02041-4}}</ref>

By the mid-1930s, [[Fort Worth, Texas|Fort Worth]] was a hub for Western swing, particularly at the Crystal Springs Dance Pavilion, a country music dance venue that was popular until the 1950s.<ref>{{cite web|last=H.|first=WILSON, CHRISTINA|date=June 12, 2010|title=CRYSTAL SPRING DANCE PAVILION|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xdc01|access-date=June 9, 2016|website=Tshaonline.org}}</ref> Bands like Brown and His Musical Brownies played there, interspersing waltzes and ballads with faster songs.<ref>''Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing''. Cary Ginell. 1994. University of Illinois Press. page 131. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02041-4}}</ref><ref>''Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing''. Cary Ginell. 1994. University of Illinois Press. page 134. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02041-4}}</ref>

A documented instance of a Western swing group adopting the newer, by then mainstream {{music|time|4|4}}&nbsp;meter swing jazz style, replacing the {{music|time|2|4}} style, was when producer Art Satherley required it at a September 1936 Light Crust Doughboy recording session.<ref>''We're the Light Crust Doughboys from Burrus Mill: an oral history''. Jean Ann Boyd. University of Texas Press. 2003. page 54. {{ISBN|0-292-70925-0}}</ref>

1938 session rosters for Wills recordings show both lead guitar and electric guitar in addition to guitar and steel guitar.<ref>Townsend, pp. 342 and 343.</ref> The "front line" of Wills' orchestra consisted of either fiddles or guitars after 1944.<ref>Townsend, p.237.</ref>

Wills recalled the early days of Western swing music in a 1949 interview. Speaking of Milton Brown and himself—working with popular songs done by [[Jimmie Davis]], the [[Skillet Lickers]], [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]], songs he had learned from his father and others—Wills said, "We'd...pull these tunes down an set 'em in a dance category. ...They wouldn't be a runaway...and just lay a real beat behind it an' the people would began to really like it. ...It was nobody intended to start anything in the world. We was just tryin' to find enough tunes to keep 'em dancin' to not have to repeat so much."<ref>Wills, Bob, [http://www.honkytonks.org/showpages/lonestar.htm part 9] of ''[http://www.honkytonks.org/ Honky Tonks, Hymns and the Blues]'' on [[National Public Radio]]. Series published 2003, archival interview from 1949.</ref>

===Late 1930s to mid-1940s: Height of popularity===
[[File:Bob Wills photograph - Cropped.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Bob Wills]]
Western swing was extremely popular throughout the West in the years before World War II and blossomed on the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] during the war.<ref name="nfo.net">[http://nfo.net/usa/weswing.html title=nfo.net] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040402131341/http://nfo.net/usa/weswing.html |date=April 2, 2004 }}</ref> Radio broadcasts transmitted live shows to radio stations across the [[Southern United States|South]] and the [[Southwestern United States|Southwest]], reaching millions of listeners.<ref>{{cite web|title=CAROLINA COTTON.ORG|url=http://www.carolinacotton.org/Frame-3-musicpage3.html?refresh=1183331131607|access-date=June 9, 2016|website=Carolinacotton.org}}</ref> Throughout the 1940s, the Light Crust Doughboys' shows were featured on 170 radio stations in the region.<ref>{{cite web|title=Light Crust Dough Boys|url=http://www.rockabillyhall.com/Doughboys1.html|access-date=June 9, 2016|website=Rockabillyhall.com}}</ref> From 1934 to 1943, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys played nightly at [[Cain's Ballroom]] in Tulsa. 50,000-watt radio station [[KTSB (AM)|KVOO]] broadcast daily programs. Regular shows continued until 1958 with [[Johnnie Lee Wills]] as the bandleader.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lindblad|first=Elven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6p35DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22bob+wills%22+cain%27s+ballroom&pg=PA197|title=Tulsa Sounds: Celebrating the City's Musical Heritage|date=September 1, 2019|publisher=Elven Lindblad|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Giordano|first=Ralph G.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k7EGYPuWoRoC&dq=%22bob+wills%22+cain%27s+ballroom&pg=PA18|title=Country & Western Dance|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-36554-6|language=en}}</ref>

Phillips developed a circuit of dance halls and bands to play for them. Among these halls in 1942 were the Los Angeles County Barn Dance at the [[Venice, California|Venice]] Pier Ballroom, the [[Town Hall Party|Town Hall Ballroom]] in Compton, the Plantation in Culver City, the Baldwin Park Ballroom, and the Riverside Rancho. These Western dances were a huge success.<ref>''Workin' Man Blues - Country Music in California''. Gerald W. Haslan. University of California Press. 1999. page 87. {{ISBN|0-520-21800-0}}.</ref><ref>''Workin' Man Blues - Country Music in California''. Gerald W. Haslan. University of California Press. 1999. pages 111,112. {{ISBN|0-520-21800-0}}.</ref>

One group which played at the Venice Pier Ballroom was led by [[Jimmy Wakely]] with Spade Cooley, his successor as bandleader, on fiddle. Several thousand dancers would turn out on Saturday nights.<ref>''L.A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes & Bad Times''. John Gilmore. 2005. Amok Books. Page 313. {{ISBN|978-1-878923-16-5}} {{ISBN|978-1-878923-16-5}}</ref> When Bob Wills played the Los Angeles Country Barn Dance at the Venice Pier for three nights shortly before he broke up his band to join the U.S. Army during World War II, the attendance was above 15,000. Fearing the dance floor would collapse, police stopped ticket sales at 11&nbsp;p.m. The line outside at that time was ten deep and stretched into Venice.<ref>''The King of Western Swing - Bob Wills Remembered''. Rosetta Wills. 1998. Billboard Books. page 119. {{ISBN|978-0-8230-7744-1}}.</ref> Another source states Wills attracted 8,600 fans.<ref>''Country Music, U.S.A.: Second Revised Edition''. By Bill C. Malone. University of Texas Press. 2002. page 186. {{ISBN|978-0-292-75262-7}}, {{ISBN|978-0-292-75262-7}}</ref>

In 1950, Hank Penny and Armand Gautier opened the Palomino in North Hollywood, which became a major venue for country fans in Hollywood. "Western jazz" brought it its initial popularity.<ref>''Workin' Man Blues - Country Music in California''. Gerald W. Haslan. University of California Press. 1999. page 111. {{ISBN|0-520-21800-0}}.</ref> Western swing bandleader [[Hank Thompson (musician)|Hank Thompson]], who was stationed in [[San Pedro, Los Angeles|San Pedro]] during World War II, said it was not uncommon to see "ten thousand people at the pier" at Redondo Beach.<ref>''Country: The Twisted Roots of Rock 'n' Roll. By Nick Tosches''. Da Capo Press. 1996. page 159. {{ISBN|978-0-306-80713-8}}, {{ISBN|978-0-306-80713-8}}</ref>

Fred "Poppa" Calhoun, piano player for Milton Brown, vividly remembered how people in Texas and Oklahoma danced when Bob Wills played. "They were pretty simple couples dances, two steps and the Lindy Hop<!--links in quotes are discouraged--> with a few Western twirls added for good measure. By 1937 the jitterbug<!--links in quotes are discouraged-->  hit big in the West and allowed much greater freedom of movement. But the jitterbug was different in the West. It wasn't all out boogie woogie; it was 'swingier'—more smooth and subdued."<ref>''The Complete Book of Country Swing & Western Dancing and a Bit about Cowboys'' Peter Livingston, Boulder Books 1981 {{ISBN|978-0-385-17601-9}} page 44</ref>

===Post-war decline===
In 1944, with the United States' continuing involvement in [[World War II]], a 30% [[Excise tax in the United States|federal excise tax]] was levied against night clubs that featured dancing. Although the tax was later reduced to 20%, "No Dancing Allowed" signs went up all over the country. It has been argued that this tax had a significant role in the decline of public dancing as a recreational activity in the United States.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Felten|first=Eric|date=March 17, 2013|title=How the Taxman Cleared the Dance Floor|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323628804578348050712410108.html|access-date=May 30, 2021|issn=0099-9660}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=COPELAND|first=JOHN|title=Some Effects of the Changes in the Federal Cabaret Tax in 1944|date=1945|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23404801|journal=Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Taxation Under the Auspices of the National Tax Association|volume=38|pages=321–339|jstor=23404801|issn=2329-9045}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hill|first=Constance Valis|url=https://archive.org/details/tapdancingameric0000hill|title=Tap dancing America : a cultural history|date=2010|publisher=New York, N.Y. : Oxford University Press|others=Internet Archive|isbn=978-0-19-539082-7}}</ref>

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys remained popular after the war, and could not provide enough new recordings to fill demand. In 1947 Columbia reissued 70 of their older recordings.<ref>Townsend, Charles. ''San Antonio Rose: The Life and Music of Bob Wills''. University of Illinois Press, 1986. pages 240, 241. {{ISBN|978-0-252-01362-1}}</ref> In January 1953 ''Billboard'' reported [[Spade Cooley]] played to 192,000 payees over 52 Saturday night dates at the Santa Monica Ballroom, grossing $220,000.<ref>''Billboard'', January 30, 1954, p. 26</ref>

In 1955, Decca Records, in what ''Billboard'' called "an ambitious project", issued seven albums of "country dance music" featuring "swingy arrangements of your customers 'c&w' dance favorites". Milton Brown and His Brownies, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Spade Cooley and His Buckle-Busters, Adolph Hofner and His San Antonians, Tex Williams and His String Band, [[Grady Martin]] and His Winging Strings, and Billy Gray and His Western Okies all had their own albums.<ref>''Billboard'', October 15, 1955, p. 31.</ref> In November, ''Billboard'' reported Decca was rushing out three more albums in the series, albeit with less of a Western swing flavor.<ref>''Billboard'', November 5, 1955, p. 17.</ref>

==Origin of the name==
The genre now called Western swing originated from the dance music of the 1920s–1930s, but lacked a coherent label until after the Second World War. The term ''[[swing music]]'', referring to [[big band]] dance music, did not come into use until the 1932 Duke Ellington hit "[[It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)]]".<ref>Marble, ''Freedom On My Mind'', p. 57.</ref> Recording companies came up with several names before [[World War II]] trying to market the strain that would eventually be known as "Western" swing—[[hillbilly]], [[old-time music]], novelty hot dance, hot string band, and even Texas swing for music coming out of Texas and Louisiana.<ref>Lang,<!--given name?--> ''Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly'', p. 89.</ref> Most of the big Western dance bandleaders simply referred to themselves as Western bands and their music as Western dance music, many adamantly refusing the hillbilly label.<ref>Lang, p.63.</ref>

[[Bob Wills]] and others believed the term Western swing was first used for his music while he and his band were still in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]] between 1939 and 1942.<ref>Townsend, Charles R. ''San Antonio Rose - The Life and Music of Bob Wills'' (University of Illinois, 1976), p. 203. {{ISBN|978-0-252-00470-4}}</ref> The Los Angeles-area ''Wilmington Press'' carried ads for an unidentified "Western Swing Orchestra" at a local nightspot in April 1942. That winter, influential LA-area jazz and swing disc jockey Al Jarvis held a radio contest for top popular band leaders. The winner would be named "the King of Swing". When [[Spade Cooley]] unexpectedly received the most votes, besting favorites [[Benny Goodman]] and [[Harry James]], Jarvis declared Cooley to be the King of ''Western'' Swing.<ref>''Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California''. Peter La Chapelle. 2007. University of California Press. pages 81, 262. citing an article in ''National Hillbilly News'', 1946. {{ISBN|9780520248892}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Lot More Western Swing - October 2004|url=http://www.pencilstubs.org/default.asp?cmd%3Dpg%26NID%3D1747|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928092531/http://www.pencilstubs.org/default.asp?cmd=pg&NID=1747|archive-date=September 28, 2007|access-date=December 15, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Roots of Western Swing|url=http://www.seattlewesternswingmusicsociety.com/roots.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231055341/http://www.seattlewesternswingmusicsociety.com/roots.htm|archive-date=December 31, 2006|access-date=December 16, 2006}}</ref>

Around 1942, Cooley's promoter, [[disc jockey]] [[Burt Phillips|"Foreman" Phillips]], began using "Western swing" to advertise his client.<ref>Logsdon, "The Cowboy's Bawdy Music," p.137.</ref><ref>Komorowski,<!--given name?--> ''Spade Cooley'', p. 4.</ref>  By 1944, the term had become solidified. On May 6, 1944, [[Billboard (magazine)|''Billboard'']] magazine contained the following: "Spade Cooley, who moved in with his Western swing boys several months ago, has released the Breakfast Club."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=May 6, 1944 |magazine=Billboard |title=Ace Hudkins Booked Into Breakfast Club |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UwwEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=January 17, 2023 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |via=Google Books}}</ref> On June 10, 1944, the same magazine wrote: "...what with the trend to Western music in this section, Cooley's Western swing band is a natural."<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 10, 1944 |magazine=Billboard |title=Spade Cooley |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgwEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=January 17, 2023 |publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc. |via=Google Books}}</ref> A more widely-known "first use" was an October 1944 ''Billboard'' item mentioning a forthcoming songbook by Cooley titled ''[[Spade Cooley's Western Swing Song Folio|Western Swing]]''.<ref>Lang,<!given name?--> ''Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly'', p. 89.</ref> After that, the style became known as Western swing.

==Legacy==
Western swing influenced honky-tonk, rockabilly, and country rock music,<ref>Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On. Michael Campbell. page 119</ref> popularizing electrically amplified instruments in country music, along with drums reinforcing a strong backbeat, expanded instrumentation, a heavy backbeat superimposed over a polka or waltz beat, and jazz/blues solo styles.<ref>Popular Music in America: The Beat Goes On. Michael Campbell. page 176, 177</ref> 

In 2011, the [[Texas Legislature]] adopted a resolution designating Western swing as the [[List of Texas state symbols|official "State Music of Texas"]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2011/may/24/texas-legislates-state-music-western-swing/ |title=Texas legislates an official state music: western swing &#124; www.pegasusnews.com &#124; Dallas/Fort Worth |access-date=May 11, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527202744/http://www.pegasusnews.com/news/2011/may/24/texas-legislates-state-music-western-swing/ |archive-date=May 27, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/82R/billtext/html/SC00035F.htm|title=82(R) SCR 35 - Enrolled version - Bill Text|website=Legis.state.tx.us|access-date=June 9, 2016}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Western music (North America)|Western music]]
* [[Swing music]]
* [[Western swing fiddle]]
* [[List of swing musicians]]
* [[:Category:Western swing musical groups]]
* [[:Category:Western swing performers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Boyd, Jean Ann. ''Jazz of the Southwest: An Oral History of Western Swing''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1998. {{ISBN|978-0-292-70859-4}}
* Boyd, Jean A. "Western Swing: Working-Class Southwestern Jazz of the 1930s and 1940s". ''Perspectives on American Music, 1900-1950'' (ch. 7, pp.&nbsp;193–214), edited by Michael Saffle. Routledge, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-8153-2145-3}}
* Brink, Pamela H. "Western Swing". ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', [[David J. Wishart]] (ed.), p.&nbsp;550. University of Nebraska Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8032-4787-1}}
* Carney, George O. "Country Music". ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', David J. Wishart (ed.), pp.&nbsp;535–537. University of Nebraska Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8032-4787-1}}
* Coffey, Kevin. ''Merl Lindsay and his Oklahoma Nite Riders; 1946-1952''. (Krazy Kat KKCD 33, 2004) booklet.
* Ginell, Cary. ''Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing''. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1994. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02041-4}}
* Ginell, Cary; Kevin Coffey. ''Discography of Western Swing and Hot String Bands, 1928-1942''.  Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-313-31116-1}}
* Kienzle, Rich. ''Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz''. New York: Routledge, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-415-94102-0}}
* Komorowski, Adam. ''Spade Cooley: Swingin' The Devil's Dream''. (Proper PVCD 127, 2003) booklet.
* Lange, Jeffrey J.''Smile When You Call Me a Hillbilly: Country Music's Struggle for Respectability, 1939-1954''. {{ISBN|978-0-8203-2623-8}}
* Logsdon, Guy. "The Cowboy's Bawdy Music".  ''The Cowboy: Six-Shooters, Songs, and Sex'' (pp.&nbsp;127–138) edited by Charles W. Harris and Buck Rainey. University of Oklahoma Press, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-1341-8}}
* Logsdon, Guy. "Folk Songs". ''Encyclopedia of the Great Plains'', David J. Wishart (ed.), pp.&nbsp;298–299. University of Nebraska Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-8032-4787-1}}
* Malone, Bill C.; [[Judith McCulloh]] (eds.) ''Stars of Country Music: Uncle Dave Macon to Johnny Rodriguez''. University of Illinois Press, 1975. {{ISBN|978-0-252-00527-5}}
* Marble, Manning; John McMillian; Nishani Frazier (eds.). ''Freedom on My Mind: The Columbia Documentary History of the African American Experience''. Columbia University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|978-0-231-10890-4}}
* Price, Michael H. "Jazz Guitar and Western Swing". pp.&nbsp;81–88 ''The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology'', James Sallis (ed.). University of Nebraska Press, 1996. {{ISBN|978-0-8032-4250-0}}
* {{citation|first=Michael|last=Saffle|title=Perspectives on American Music, 1900-1950|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8153-2145-3}}.
* Townsend, Charles. ''San Antonio Rose: The Life and Music of Bob wills''. University of Illinois Press, 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-252-01362-1}}
* Wetlock, E. Clyde; Richard Drake Saunders (eds.). ''Music and dance in Texas, Oklahoma, and the Southwest.'' Hollywood, CA: Bureau of Musical Research, 1950.
* Wills, Bob. 1949 interview from ''Honky Tonks, Hymns and the Blues''. Part 2: "Raising the Roof",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2003/honkytonks/ |title=NPR : Honky Tonks, Hymns and the Blues |website=[[NPR]] |access-date=May 2, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906123052/http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2003/honkytonks/ |archive-date=September 6, 2010 }}</ref> first broadcast by NPR July–September 2003. Written by Kathie Farnell, Margaret Moos Pick, Steve Rathe.
* Wolff, Kurt; Orla Duane. ''Country Music: The Rough Guide''. Rough Guides, 2000. {{ISBN|978-1-85828-534-4}}
* Zolten, Jerry. ''Western Swingtime Music: A Cool Breeze in the American Desert''. Sing Out! The Folk Song Magazine. Volume 23/Number 2, 1974.

==External links==
{{commonscat|Western swing}}
* [https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xgm01 Milton Brown biography at TSHA]
* [http://www.pencilstubs.com/magazine/MagPage.asp?NID=319  "A Short History of Western Swing"]
* [https://swinginwest.com/history/swingin-west-radio-history/  "Swingin West Radio Show History"]

{{Country music}}
{{Jazz}}
{{Americanrootsmusic}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Western swing| ]]
[[Category:American styles of music]]
[[Category:Country music genres]]
[[Category:Jazz genres]]
[[Category:Crossover (music)]]
[[Category:Culture of the Western United States]]
[[Category:Symbols of Texas]]