Tex Williams and His Western Caravan

July 4 - July 11, 1 9 9 6
[Off the Record]

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***1/2 Tex Williams and His Western Caravan

VINTAGE COLLECTIONS

(Capitol Nashville)

In the late '40s, more than a continental divide separated raw yet instrumentally hemmed-in Nashville country music from suave, sophisticated West Coast country, where artistic boundaries were unknown. No Beverly hillbilly, singer/bandleader Tex Williams expanded Bob Wills's congenial Western swing with ebullient vibes, sweeping stringed harp finales, and triple fiddles fit more for Hollywood than for a hoedown.

Rapid-fire talking blues were Tex's droll forte. Indeed, "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" was Capitol's very first million-seller. "Talk in American, big A-A-A!" he exhorted in "Downtown Poker Club," reflecting postwar patriotic pride. In humor aimed at the battle of the sexes, he usually played the loser. And ace tunesmith Jenny Lou Carson's "Never Trust a Woman" clearly comes from an era with no notion of politically correct speech. These 20 brightly remastered tracks have lost none of their charm over five decades, though, sadly, the "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" singer himself died of lung cancer in 1985.

-- Bruce Sylvester