Steel guitar prodigy, Vance Terry, gets co-songwriting credit on “Hoopaw Rag,” an adaptation of a fiddle tune – “Bob Wills Stomp” – that was recorded January 25, 1955 in Los Angeles at the beginning of a three-year association with the Decca label for Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys:
“Hoopaw Rag“
Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys (1955)
Note: Bob Wills whispers to his band in the five seconds preceding the song’s start.
Tragically, this song appears to have been kept in the can. The research team at PragueFrank points out that “Hoopaw Rag” remained unissued on LP for another 16 years until included on 1971 Vocalion album, San Antonio Rose.
Vocalion VL-73922 San Antonio Rose:
San Antonio Rose; Black And Blue Rag*; My Shoes Keep Walking Back To You**; Four Or Five Times; Roll Your Own; New Dream Eyed Waltz**; Don’t Let The Deal Go Down; I’ll Allways Be In Love With You; Hoopaw Rag**, Carnations For The Memory** – 71
(*previously unissued; **previously unissued on album, reissued on Coral CB-20109).
The authoritative discography in Charles Townsend‘s biography of Bob Wills – likewise titled, San Antonio Rose – confirms that “Hoopaw Rag” was only ever issued on LP, never on 78 or 45. Until two decades later in 1992, that is, when MCA issued a CD anthology of mid-50s Decca recordings entitled, Bob Wills – Country Music Hall of Fame Series.
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Bonus!
Bob Wills and his band on WFAA-TV in Dallas mid-1960s, courtesy of Radio Bob 805:
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LINK to Western Swing on Zero to 180