Western swing
[6][7][8] The music is an amalgamation of rural, cowboy, polka, old-time, Dixieland jazz, and blues blended with swing;[9] and played by a hot string band often augmented with drums, saxophones, pianos and, notably, the steel guitar.
During its early development, scores of groups from San Antonio to Shreveport to Oklahoma City played different songs with the same basic sound.
[21] In January 1933, fiddler Cecil Brower, playing harmony, joined Jesse Ashlock to create the first example of harmonizing twin fiddles in a western swing recording.
[22] Brower, a classically trained violinist, was the first to master Joe Venuti's double shuffle and his improvisational style was a major contribution to the genre.
[11] As early as 1934 or 1935 Bob Dunn electrified a Martin O-series acoustic guitar while playing with Milton Brown's Brownies, an idea he may have picked up from a Black guitarist he met while working at Coney Island in New York.
[38][39] One group which played at the Venice Pier Ballroom was led by Jimmy Wakely with Spade Cooley, his successor as bandleader, on fiddle.
[40] When Bob Wills played the Los Angeles Country Barn Dance at the Venice Pier for three nights shortly before he broke up his band to join the U.S. Army during World War II, the attendance was above 15,000.
[43] Western swing bandleader Hank Thompson, who was stationed in San Pedro during World War II, said it was not uncommon to see "ten thousand people at the pier" at Redondo Beach.
[44] Fred "Poppa" Calhoun, piano player for Milton Brown, vividly remembered how people in Texas and Oklahoma danced when Bob Wills played.
"They were pretty simple couples dances, two steps and the Lindy Hop with a few Western twirls added for good measure.
"[45] In 1944, with the United States' continuing involvement in World War II, a 30% federal excise tax was levied against night clubs that featured dancing.
[49] In January 1953 Billboard reported Spade Cooley played to 192,000 payees over 52 Saturday night dates at the Santa Monica Ballroom, grossing $220,000.
[52] The genre now called Western swing originated from the dance music of the 1920s–1930s, but lacked a coherent label until after the Second World War.
[56] The Los Angeles-area Wilmington Press carried ads for an unidentified "Western Swing Orchestra" at a local nightspot in April 1942.
That winter, influential LA-area jazz and swing disc jockey Al Jarvis held a radio contest for top popular band leaders.
On May 6, 1944, Billboard magazine contained the following: "Spade Cooley, who moved in with his Western swing boys several months ago, has released the Breakfast Club.
Western swing influenced honky-tonk, rockabilly, and country rock music,[65] popularizing electrically amplified instruments in country music, along with drums reinforcing a strong backbeat, expanded instrumentation, a heavy backbeat superimposed over a polka or waltz beat, and jazz/blues solo styles.
