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The wonderful jazz based western swing music is
my greatest love of the many styles of music that sit proudly
under the vast country music umbrella. It was a local country
music band that drew my attention to western swing in the early
1980's when I heard them sing Bob Wills' classic New San Antonio
Rose. The song just grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and I had
to find out more about the man and his infectious style of music.
Finding some vinyl LPs I became a truly ardent fan of western
swing. While living in Australia in the late 1960's and 70's a
work colleague drew my interest to the striking bluegrass style of
music.
Though my passion for bluegrass was always high,
it never exceeded that of western swing and I could never have
visualized a project such as this. With Ah-Haa Goes
Grass, these
two great styles of music converge into a mind-blowing fusion that
offers fans of these two differing genres the opportunity to
appreciate the music from the other camp. Musicians steeped in
both styles of music have brought their skills together to produce
an album of bluegrass and swing excellence.
This imaginative project is the brainchild
of Rod Moag a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and in his spare
time a university  professor
during the day. Explaining a little of the similarities of the
two genres I quote from the album's liner notes: "Both
Bob (Wills) and Bill (Monroe) featured a rhythm guitar style
laden with bass runs. Listening to Herman Arnspiger in the early
recordings with Wills and Charlie Monroe's guitar in the Monroe
Brothers material confirm this."
Musicians involved in this project have musical
qualifications steeped in both bluegrass and western swing music.
Some of the pickers involved include Byron Berline, Johnny Gimble,
Buddy Spicher, Billy Contreras, Alan Munde, Cindy Cashdollar, Mike
Auldridge, Paul Glass, Mark Rubin and more. Bob Wills niece Dayna
Wills (daughter of Bob's sister Helen) helps Rod out on lead
vocals, with Russell Moore and Don McCalister Jr on harmony
vocals.
It wouldn't be Bob Wills without "(New) San
Antonio Rose" and "Faded Love", but also there is a
lesser-known number recorded by Wills "So Long As I see You
Later". "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone" was
written by Bob's brother Johnny Lee Wills & Henry Boatman and
also included are a couple of songs written by Fred Rose of Acuff
- Rose fame…"Hang Your Head In Shame" and "Roly
Poly". We lost a great songwriter in Cindy Walker who passed
away in March 2006 and it's grand to see her song "Tater
Pie" given a fine bluegrass glazing.
Johnny Cuviello was a drummer with Bob Wills in
1946-47 and can be heard playing snare drums on "I
Had A
Little Mule" (recorded by Wills in 1947). Other notable
tracks to be found here include "Corrine Corrina",
"No Disappointment In Heaven" and "Don't Let The
Deal Go Down". No disappointments here on Ah-Haa! Goes
Grass.
The CD was released in the 2000, but has only just found its way
into my hands and is certainly worthy of a mention after these 5-6
years.
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