Bob Wills - Big Beaver

"Big Beaver" - 1940 hit for Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys, featuring Tubby Lewis on trumpet.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bob
• wills
• western
• swing

[ChuChu353]

Thank you for the comment :-) Of all of Bob Wills recordings this one is, to me, the closest to a true Big Band performance. In fact, I feel like this could stand alongside anything Benny Goodman or the Dorsey's were recording at the same time.

[lesterwyoung]

Who's the tenor soloist?

[jmeintn]

Many contemporary groups in TX, Nashville, and other places are playing this music well. Go hear 'em, and dance to their music!

[hairtamerz]

@rsbishop I've heard many stories bout this.Im 34 yrs old now and raised up northwest of Shidler.My fondest memories was when my grandpa and grandma would take me to Pawhuska to hear this music when I was alot younger.My grandpa was the best swing dancer and he taught me well.Think I was the youngest at these reunions,lol,but I LOVED IT!.I have boys myself now and when I play this music they know Im thinkin of grandpa.Grandma and I sure miss our dance partner.

[XOkie]

@rsbishop You are exactly right! I'm amazed. My Dad told me of going to dances there. We're from the land of the great Osage hills also.

[guambetty]

I appreciate that(info) rsbishop----thanks!

[rsbishop]

Tubby Lewis rocked that horn! Amazing that even after that performance, some other musicians still considered them hillbilly. Several of the other big bands tried to hire Tubby Lewis away from Bob after that recording came out. Note how Bob would pretty much leave out his hollers during these big band recordings - he wanted to show that his band was the most versatile band in America and could compete with any big band.

[rsbishop]

Yes and no. Legend has it this was an old tune Bob heard as a young man while picking cotton alongside the old black cotton pickers. They would hum that tune and Bob later put it to music.

[rsbishop]

Tubby Lewis rocked that horn!

[rsbishop]

Yes, this tune was named after that dance hall, and Bob would play there. It was in Shidler, Oklahoma. There are still groups that get together to visist the former site.

[bgrobin66]

When I was a young boy there was a dance hall East of Newkirk Oklahoma in the middle of no where. Bob Wills and the Texas playboys played there on many occasions. The name of the place was Big Beaver dance hall because it sat next to Big Beaver creek. I wondered if the song was named after the dance hall. The dance hall burned to the ground in 1949 or 50. His group and later on Johnnie Lee Wills and even later Leon McCauliffe played at the community building for Saturday dances in Newkirk.