Sheet Music

Southwest Shuffle: Pioneers of Honky-Tonk, Western Swing, and Country Jazz

Routledge Press, 288 pp., $19.95 (paper)

By anyone's measure, Rich Kienzle is an authority on country and roots music, having written countless books, articles, and CD liner notes on his subjects. In Southwest Shuffle, culled partly from liner notes for a Bear Family Records reissue, Kienzle veers away from the well-traveled subject of Southern hillbilly music and covers the brand of country and swing that evolved in Texas and the West Coast as scores of Arkies and Okies made their way West during the Thirties and Forties. It was a period that truly shook up country music (with no more telling example than Bob Wills' 1944 Grand Ole Opry appearance, complete with strictly verboten drums and horn section), with elements of jazz, blues, pop, country, Mexican, and polka influences seeping in. There are plenty of warts-and-all accounts, such as Spade Cooley's murder of his wife, Hank Penny's career-compromising stubbornness, and the abrasive arrogance of Telecaster genius Jimmy Bryant. Still, Kienzle doesn't play to sensationalism; it's just given as a simple fact that many stars of the time went from rags to unimagined riches (and often back again) and often lived lives that were as debauched as any Sixties or Seventies rock star. One section of the book is devoted to Capitol Records, with chapters focusing on producer Ken Nelson (who went on to work with Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Roy Clark, and Hank Thompson), bandleader and Country Barn Dance host Cliffie Stone, and early crossover artist Tennessee Ernie Ford and his exuberant proto-rock "boogie." In this, Kienzle has put together an absorbing and eminently readable account of an important period of music history that's often overlooked, filled as it is with engaging stories and personalities. Any self-respecting fan of the genre should hunt this book down.