Western Swing Fiddle

Jesse Ashlock was the first and longest-standing of Wills’s fiddle players, and the first to do “take off” solos. He had a considerable armoury of techniques including the double shuffle, triplets, parallel fifths and lots of syncopation. He would sometimes go into third position, but not always with perfect intonation. Ashlock said of his playing “I try to do the same thing on fiddle that jazzmen do on a trumpet.” He initially learned fiddle as a teenager, sitting in behind Bob Wills. His idol, apart from Wills himself, was pioneering jazz fiddler Joe Venuti, from whom he learned much of his technique. He would play some Venuti solos note for note. He was hired by Milton Brown in 1932 when he left to form the Musical Brownies, but joined the Texas Playboys after Brown’s death.

Cecil Brower was a classically trained violinist. He never played country fiddle, but fully mastered the jazz idiom. He joined the Musical Brownies in 1933, forming the first harmonizing twin fiddle partnership in western swing, with either Jesse Ashlock.or Cliff Bruner.

Joe Holley was a hot and often frenetic jazz fiddler, much influenced by Stuff Smith , and did his first recordings with the Texas playboys in 1942. Being left-handed, he always added an elegant symmetry to band photos when sharing a mike with Wills. His solos would be introduced with "Aaaah Joooody!" You can hear him doing a great solo on "Twinkle Twinkle", including some blinding double-stop trills. He was one of the musicians who left the band with Tommy Duncan in 1948, though he returned on occasion in the 50's.

Louis Tierney was a great swing jazz player, smoother and more accurate than Jesse Ashlock.; he was with the Texas Playboys from 1940-1947.

Cliff Bruner was one of the few notable Texas swing fiddle players who did not play with Bob Wills. He quit cotton pickin' at the age of fourteen, and his first musical employment was with medicine shows. He joined Milton Brown in 1934, recording 48 sides with him; at the time this was the biggest western swing band around. Following Brown’s death Bruner formed his own band The Texas Wanderers, moving from Fort Worth to Beaumont, Texas. In this band he played twin fiddles with J R Chatwell, (described by Johnny Gimble as a “gutbucket violinist”). He also worked with the Texas Governor Pappy O’Daniel’s band, the Hillbilly Boys, and the Louisiana Governor Jimmie Davis. Fiddler Joe Holly (above) said of Cliff Bruner "Hey, I'll tell you what, I used to stand with my mouth open listening to that guy play! Lord, he was the greatest!" Bruner has led his own band ever since forming the Texas Wanderers, and is still playing today; on his most recent, instrumental albumhe plays twin fiddles with the great Johnny Gimble.

Johnny Gimble is considered by many to be the finest and most influential western swing fiddler of modern times. Born in 1926 in east Texas, he learned mostly by listening to the radio, for example to the Light Crust Doughboys’ show. He was particularly influenced by Cliff Bruner’s version of Draggin the Bow. He joined Jimmie Davis’ campaign band in Louisiana, and during the war found himself in Vienna, where he developed an abiding love for the waltz. From 1949 he played for Bob Wills for two years , then in the early 50’s he began doing studio session work, mostly for Columbia producer Don Law; he also did regular TV work, hosting his own show in Dallas for 3 years. Though a western swing player at heart, most of his work was in commercial country music; in Nashville in the 60’s and 70’s he was the first-call player, recording with, among others, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Chet Atkins, George Strait. His playing is distinctive in its extreme smoothness and accuracy. He specialises in complex double-stop patterns, as exemplified in his compositions such as the Gardenia Waltz and Fiddlin Around, both of which have become challenging contest standards. From the 70’s onwards he has emerged from the anonymity of session work and is recognized as a performer and artist in his own right, picking up numerous awards and Grammy nominations.