(Koch) In 1970, Merle Haggard was riding high, at the top of his game, racking up hit after hit. As far as his record label (at that time, Capitol) was concerned, Merle could do no wrong, and they allowed him to indulge in a couple of projects that were dear to his heart, though deemed 'unmarketable.' Merle's first labor of love came in 1969 with the release of Same Train, A Different Time: Songs Of Jimmie Rodgers, a tribute to one of his idols and influences. The next year, Merle followed that up with a tribute to another of his heroes, legendary western swing band leader, Bob Wills. 

The album bears the marathon long title A Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player In The World (or, My Salute To Bob Wills), and at the time of it's inception and release, it was doubtful Merle, Capitol, or anyone else, could have imagined the major impact this album would have. After all, this was an old-time style of music who's heyday was during the 30's and 40's, and was all but dead by the mid-fifties. Not only was it gradually replaced by newer sounds, it was also a style of music which depended on dancehalls for it's survival. With the evolution of alternate forms of entertainment such as television, the dancehall crowds diminished greatly, as people found other means to keep themselves entertained, and by the mid-fifties western swing's audience was relegated to small regional pockets. Bob Wills, along with his Texas Playboys, became the most famous and influential of the western swing bands, and he continued until the mid-60's when he disbanded the Playboys. Bob however kept playing, touring as a solo act, and recording in Nashville with studio musicians until 1969, when a paralyzing stroke ended his fiddling forever, and confined him to a wheelchair.

Merle approached this album as a personal mission, and set out to do his boyhood idol justice. He realized that most studio musicians could not reproduce Bob's sound, and while he knew his own band, The Strangers, could cut it, they were still lacking elements of the sound. Merle knew that only real former Playboys could make it work, and he knew exactly what he needed to do- he recruited six former members of the Texas Playboys to help out on the project.

The Playboys on board for this album are: Bob's younger brother, Johnnie Lee Wills, fiddler-tenor banjoist, who played in the Texas Playboys from it's inception in 1933, until 1940, when he left to start his own band. Eldon Shamblin, who joined in 1938 as the band's rhythm guitarist and arranger, and who in 1940, along with Leon McAuliffe, invented the electric guitar/steel guitar ensemble featured in several Wills songs. Eldon remained with the band until the mid-50's. Trumpeteer Alex Brashear, who joined the band in 1941, and remained with them through the decade. Joe Holley, a left handed fiddler, who joined in 1942. Joe was one of Bob's most swinging musicians, who's improvisations owed more to jazz than to breakdowns, and worked on and off with the band throughout their post-war days. Tiny Moore, fiddler-electric mandolinist, who joined in 1946, and remained until 1949. Lastly, the most well known of the Texas Playboys, fiddler-mandolinist Johnny Gimble, who joined in 1949, and who's scat singing during his fiddle solos became his trademark. Johnny left in 1951, after which he became a studio musician in Dallas, and during the 60's, went on to become one of the top studio musicians in Nashville.

For this album, Merle focused on Bob's songs from the 30's and 40's. During the opening cut, the 1940 "Brown Skin Gal," Merle gives a spoken word introduction to Bob Wills and his music. Though Bob cut "Right Or Wrong" in 1936, Merle used a later arrangement from a 1946 version. Bob recorded "Brain Cloudy Days" in 1946, which is a variation of the now classic "Milk Cow Blues." On "Stay All Night (Stay A Little Longer)," Merle carefully re-created the original, right down to the walking bass introduction, and if you listen closely, you can hear Merle utter a good natured scolding to Roy Nichols for sneaking in a riff from Merle's own "Working Man Blues." Next up is a cover of  the truly lovely "Misery." He copied the original 1940 recording of "Time Changes Everything," note for note, with Norm Hamlet perfectly re-creating Leon McAuliffe's steel break. "San Antonio Rose" was originally an instrumental Bob recorded in 1937, and in 1940, along with vocalist Tommy Duncan and trumpeteer Everett Stover, created the song's classic lyrics which then became "New San Antonio Rose," Bob Wills' most well known song. Merle is equally as inspiring on his version's of "I Knew The Moment I Lost You," Fred Rose's "Roly Poly," "Old Fashioned Love" and he especially shines on "Corrine, Corrina" and "Take Me Back To Tulsa."

A Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player, caused an unexpected reaction- a great renewed interest in western swing, and the music of Bob Wills, which started a swing revival. The music careers of the former Texas Playboys were revived after the release of this album. Even Merle didn't stop there. In 1971, he reunited Bob with 10 former Playboys at a recording session at his Bakersfield house, which resulted in a tape of 15 songs that remains in Merle's possession. In 1973, Bob was reunited with many original Texas Playboys for a two day session that was released as For The Last Time. And unfortunately it was, as Bob suffered another stroke after the first day's session, that left him in a coma until his death in 1975. Merle sang on the final session.

The swing revival that this album started, resulted in a young Ray Benson and Lucky Oceans starting the swing band, Asleep At The Wheel in 1973, a band which is to this day, still keeping the Bob Wills legacy alive. That same year, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, released an album of swing titled, Country Casanova. Though not a swing number, Waylon Jennings wrote "Bob Wills Is Still The King." And Merle's album of tribute to Bob Wills, is what inspired a young George Strait to discover Bob Wills and a love of Western Swing, and a decade later, brought the sounds and songs of Bob Wills back onto the radio after nearly 50 years. George lifted the cuts, and either recorded or performed live, "Right Or Wrong," "Take Me Back To Tulsa," though he chose the alternate "Milk Cow Blues" over "Brain Cloudy Day," on which he closely duplicated Merle's versions, particularly on "Milk Cow Blues."

And so, with Merle's 'unmarketable" vanity project, A Tribute To The Best Damn Fiddle Player In The World, he ultimately wound up recording one of the most influential albums put out in modern times, bringing the music of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys and another era, to a whole new generation who welcomed it with open arms, and brought the legendary name of Bob Wills back to the forefront of country music. Merle's outstanding tribute is the perfect starting place for those that want to get acquainted with the music of Bob Wills, and for those that already are Bob Wills fans, Merle, along with The Strangers and former Texas Playboys offer up stellar versiona of Bob's songs- straight from the heart.