Yes, that’s right, it’s Vol. 4 and if you think I’m stopping here, you’re out of your mind because Vol. 4 is yet another absolutely fantastic burst of great Western Swing energy. Vol. 3, Basin Street Blues, had a certain thematic throughline to it, focusing on covers of blues songs and songs by African American artists. Well, Vol. 4 has a thematic throughline as well; as the title indicates, all sixteen of the songs on this CD are about Texas or people who come from Texas. You might note that we’ve got sixteen tracks here instead of the usual fourteen; that’s because this album starts and ends with the Texas Playboys’ theme song, something they played at their live shows, a quick forty-five second romp that serves as both an introduction to the band and a farewell for the end of the show. Should those count as songs? Sure; they’re great, even if they’re both under a minute long. But the body of songs here is really fantastic. Some of the real standouts here are You’re From Texas, Home in San Antone, Blue Bonnet Lane, Beaumont Rag, Red River Valley & Navajo Trail. The two best tracks are worth mentioning in a bit more detail. One of them is Lum & Abner Special which his actually a version of San Antonio Rose, Wills’ biggest hit, with a special introduction addressed to Lum & Abner, a couple of characters played on the radio by Chester Lauck & Norris Goff. Now, did I grow up listening to those old-time radio shows? Yes, I did and Lum & Abner was a genuinely funny show, at least when it was only a fifteen minute daily show on which Lauck & Goff did all the voices for the cast of characters who inhabited Pine Ridge, Arkansas. Don’t worry, you don’t need to be up on the lore to figure out that this is actually the best recording the Playboys ever did of San Antonio Rose; the guitar and mandolin solos are absolutely top-notch. The other is Little Joe the Wrangler, a cover of an old standard that tells the tragic story of a young cowboy killed in a stampede. It’s got a great melody, a melody that you’ll hear other folk songs sung to. Alex Breshear’s trumpet work on this one is just phenomenal. And it’s a good example of the Playboys’ approach to the sad side of country music. It’s a very sad song, but they take it at a nice fast-tempo and have a few jazzy solos. I’ll admit that I laughed out loud at the end when singer Tommy Duncan joyfully sings that Wrangler Joe was found “beneath his horse, mashed to a pulp,” while the band just keeps up that uptempo riff behind him. Four volumes in; fifty-eight songs down. Still only one I don’t like. Let’s see where Volume 5 takes us. 4 stars.
tl;dr – archival release series collects sixteen more tracks of vibrant, joyful Western Swing, including the best recorded version of San Antonio Rose; and every song is about Texas! 4 stars.