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My earliest memory of western swing legend Bob Wills is from a record shop I worked at in the late 80s, where a couple of my coworkers responded to every one of the bandleader’s frequent interjections—“Well, all right,” “Aw, yeah,” “Yes,” “Yes, yes,” or “Uh huh”—with a resigned “shut up, Bob.” That response makes loads of sense after listening to Legends of Country Music, the terrific career-spanning box set that Columbia/Legacy released earlier this year. But while that particular aspect of Wills’s musical personality could be irritating, his repertoire, rhythmic sophistication, and killer band more than compensated.
As a denizen of the 70s, Jennings cut his fair share of dreck, and it’s hard to know why someone thought it necessary to include his take on “MacArthur Park” here. Then again, his theme from “The Dukes of Hazzard” still sounds great. The 142-page booklet is crammed with amazing photos spanning his entire career, with everyone from Muhammad Ali to Metallica’s James Hetfield.
