Spade Cooley: King Of Western Swing

[PIZZAcato]

I don't know about you guys but this video cracked me up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkM2i...=double%20bass

Kind of long though...

[jumbosilverette]

Good clip. You might want to read a little about his life, it takes an interesting turn.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notoriou...ley/index.html

[Marcus Johnson]

Whoa, what a strange tale...you couldn't write a screenplay any weirder than that.

[jtlownds]

I don't know where you guys find this stuff. Spade was one of my heros during my teenage years. You didn't see a lot of him on the east coast. (I grew up in Connecticut). This is the only band that I'm aware of that used two basses in the rythm section. I'm not sure why. Possibly because there were no bass amps back in the day, and he wanted the bottom end to come thru. I remember watching his TV show back in 52 or 53 when he had a left-handed violinist and a left-handed guitarist with him, and the band was completely symetrical on the TV screen. This was a 7 piece group with only 1 bass player.

Great video and great write-up on him. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.

[mrpc]

Originally Posted by jumbosilverette

Good clip. You might want to read a little about his life, it takes an interesting turn.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/notoriou...ley/index.html

Yes, do your homework for sure, before making a hero out of this guy. It's a dark and sad story. The man METHODICALLY murdered his wife in cold blood in front of his family. Seems that he caught her in a affair with his bass player.

[jtlownds]

Originally Posted by mrpc

Yes, do your homework for sure, before making a hero out of this guy. It's a dark and sad story. The man METHODICALLY murdered his wife in cold blood in front of his family. Seems that he caught her in a affair with his bass player.

He was my hero, obviously before he offed his wife, and before I was aware of his mental/alcohol problems. Seems that the western swing guys, Spade & Bob Wills both had a problem with getting drunk and firing half the band, and when sobering up trying to get the guys back. But at least Bob never killed anybody. A former boss of mine, Bill Tumbleson played drums for Bob Wills, and has all kinds of stories about Bob's drunken tirades.

[mrpc]

The genre did have it's bright moments, for sure. It's all history now, and I think it's fine to remember him for the good things he did as well.

[martinc]

Pizzacato:

Thanks a million for the Spade Cooley video link. Man...I love that stuff !

Martin.

[PIZZAcato]

No problem. I browse YouTube and GoogleVideo a lot. Its a pleasure to share.