Doughboys, Playboys and Cowboys

[Sellars]

Hi all!!

I just received my new CDbox Doughboys, Playboys and Cowboys: The golden years of Western Swing from the mailman.

I'm listening to it now, and first impressions are really good.

A fast scanning of the songs (99 in total) learned that there is a fair amount of mando content to be found in this set.

at $25 it is a must have for every western swing lover!!

A more detailled analysis will follow in a few days.

Comments anyone?

[mandobob]

Sounds great; I'll look for that one. Sort of off topic, I'd like to recommend the book "Lone Star Swing" written by a Scotsman bitten by the swing bug and travels Bob Wills country. Great summer read, best done with a cool drink and some Swing playing in the background.

[Martin Jonas]

I have quite a few of these "Properboxes", although I haven't got that one. Instead, I have their Bob Wills box set, as well as the "Bluegrass Bonanza", 1920s Irish-American music and Hank Williams 4-CD boxes and the Merle Travis 2-CD set. The Bob Wills box is utterly great, for very little money. I paid £10 ($18) for it and it includes just about everything worthwhile up to 1950, including a good chunk of the Tiffany Transcriptions. "Bluegrass Bonanza" is also very worthwhile: one CD of stringband music 1927-1937, one CD with pre-bluegrass Monroe recordings (Monroe Brothers and Bill and Charlie as solo artists) and two CDs with classic bluegrass tracks up to 1950. As this is the jazz forum, I should mention that Proper also have a fair chunk of jazz boxes at the same price. Proper and JSP between them are doing a wonderful job in making these historical recordings available at a great price. JSP issued two wonderful 5-CD boxes with every single original line-up Carter Family studio recording and one of the complete Jimmie Rodgers for ludicrously little monery compared with Bear Family and Rounder reissues.

Martin

[Sellars]

I have quite a few of these "Properboxes", although I haven't got that one. #Instead, I have their Bob Wills box set, as well as the "Bluegrass Bonanza", 1920s Irish-American music and Hank Williams 4-CD boxes and the Merle Travis 2-CD set. #The Bob Wills box is utterly great, for very little money. #I paid £10 ($18) for it and it includes just about everything worthwhile up to 1950, including a good chunk of the Tiffany Transcriptions. #"Bluegrass Bonanza" is also very worthwhile: #one CD of stringband music 1927-1937, one CD with pre-bluegrass Monroe recordings (Monroe Brothers and Bill and Charlie as solo artists) and two CDs with classic bluegrass tracks up to 1950. #As this is the jazz forum, I should mention that Proper also have a fair chunk of jazz boxes at the same price. #Proper and JSP between them are doing a wonderful job in making these historical recordings available at a great price. #JSP issued two wonderful 5-CD boxes with every single original line-up Carter Family studio recording and one of the complete Jimmie Rodgers for ludicrously little monery compared with Bear Family and Rounder reissues.

Martin
Of all the boxes you reccomend I have:

The Hank Williams box
The Bob Wills Box
The Bluegrass Bonanza Box
Jimmie Rodgers box

So we are pretty much on the same line here http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

A reccomendation is also the Ernest Tubb Box!

[s1m0n]

I have this set, and a number of the other properboxes--hmm, #Bluegrass Bonanza, Farewell to Ireland, the Django Reinhardt box; I've also tried (and sold) the gospel set and Gettin' Funky, the New Orleans set.

They're all worth the money, but Doughboys is far and away the best of the lot. I recommend it highly. Any music fan whose tastes are at all retro ends up smiling when I play it for them.

Incidentally, the Merle Travis and Stuff Smith 2 volume collections are also excellent; particularly the second stuff smith CD. That's some of the heaviest fiddle playing I've ever heard. Mando content? Stuff Smith swings his fiddle so hard he might as well be using a flat-pick!