Western swing (from western and swing) is a style of dance music that was created among traditional white bands in the United States in the 1920s. Developed from a domestic musical genre, it became popular in the Southwest, where there were strong dance traditions. Its founders were innovative and eclectic, freely adopting features of different musical styles, including jazz. At the same time, the Western Swing is considered one of the most original genres in the musical history of the American South.
The musical movement developed under the influence of various ethnic cultures: Negro, Anglo-American, Mexican, German, and cowboy traditions, and originally had no specific name. Musicologist Carey Ginell attributes this to the general prevalence of this dance music in the 1930s in the relatively isolated Texas region and, as a consequence, the lack of need for a term to distinguish it from other genres.
Against the backdrop of what Ginell called the universal “jazzification” of country music, the popular word swing emerged in the ensembles’ repertoire. One early example of borrowing was Marvin Montgomery’s “Have You Heard a String Band Swing?” (1936). Also released on gramophone records were: “Swing Blues No. 1” Bob Wills, “Swing, Drummer” by Bob Skiles, “Cowboy Swing” by Hank Penny, etc.
Texas and Oklahoma newspapers began to use the phrases: hill-billy jazz and hill-billy swing, cowboy jazz and cowboy swing, Texas swing. Characteristic of this period was the new term swing-billy (from swing and hillbilly). For example, in 1937 Dave Sproul, the double bassist of the Texas Ambassie Five, had the nickname Texas Swing Billie, and in North Carolina there was a famous musical group called the Swing Billies.
It is believed that historians have not yet ascertained the exact date of the origin of the term Western Swing. It is known that in the spring and summer of 1938 the musical combination of the words Western and swing was already used by Iowa newspapers in advertisements for performances by Al Close’s band, the Oklahoma Outlaws, accompanying a screening of the western film Under the Western Stars.
In the early 1940s, Victor labeled a new category called “Texas Swing.” By the mid-1940s, the more generalized name Western Swing began to be used more frequently. Over time, it became the mainstream name for this musical movement.
Studies on western swing have been published since the 1950s, mostly by country music historians. Because of the lack of a musicological base, early works were narrowly focused in terms of names of performers and recordings. Early Texas fiddle ensembles have been almost never historically documented. The few researchers in the field, Charles Forough and Bob Pinson among them, have left few publications. Bill Malone has contributed research on the work of Oscar and Doc Harper, the Humphries Brothers and the East Texas Serenaders ensembles.
In the early 1990s, Carey Ginell noted that the question of what Western Swing really is has recently become relevant again due to the increased attention to the genre. Many researchers and historians have tried to figure out its defining factors, leading to contradictions when the results are applied to specific musical groups from different periods.
The first attempt to systematize significant Western Swing recordings was “Discography of Western Swing and Hot String Bands, 1928-1942” (2001), compiled by Carey Ginell and Kevin Coffey. In the preface, the authors note that the hardest part was determining the parameters for inclusion in the discography; in the end they decided that the discography should be, like the style itself, broadly rather than narrowly focused. Ginell and Coffey chose three key parameters in the early representatives: 1) improvisation; 2) use of more than just stringed instruments; and 3) singing in a pop style.
Most of the performers in the Western Swing discography are from the Southwest, especially Texas. The parameters of inclusion did not extend to the East Texas Serenaders, sometimes recognized by early researchers as an influential group. Conversely, it contributed to the addition of recordings that were sporadic in the repertoire of artists of other styles. Also included were string bands from other regions, with a similar dance-oriented, jazz and blues approach; and bands that were under the same jazz, blues and pop influences as the Southwest musicians, but developed parallel and independent-they combined these influences with local traditions, and had a different sound than Texas and Oklahoma bands as a result.