-Outstanding western swing from Bob Wills' younger brother Johnnie Lee in the long-running 'Gonna Shake This Shack' series on Bear Family Records®.
-Recordings for Decca, Bullet Records and RCA Victor from 1941 to 1953, including classics such as Rag Mop, Milk Cow Blues and Square Dance Boogie - some on CD for the first time in years.
-Carefully remastered from the best available sources.
-Liner notes by our expert Roland Heinrich Rumtreiber in the full-color illustrated booklet.

Welcome to a new edition of Bear Family's popular series 'Gonna Shake This Shack Tonight,' this time featuring none other than Johnnie Lee Wills!
Johnnie was the younger brother of Bob Wills, for whom he played tenor banjo during the early years of Bob's success. In 1940 Bob Wills decided to split up the Texas Playboys to meet the ever-growing demand for live appearances nationwide. To keep radio work and dances in their home base, Tulsa, steady, Bob entitled Johnnie Lee to remain in Oklahoma and form his own group - Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys.
This compilation offers many interesting sides issued on Decca, Bullet Records, and RCA Victor. The Decca and Bullet sides have long been unavailable on CD.
Johnnie Lee Wills did not record as much as his brother, but he had two major hits that helped define the genre and spur many cover versions: Rag Mop and Milk Cow Blues. Johnnie Lee Wills was quintessentially Western Swing and a great band leader, employing quality sidemen.
Deeply rooted in the rhythms and styles of the 1930s, Johnnie kept his arrangements tight, simple, and danceable. Thus, Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys were hugely successful with dancers, swinging and rocking Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa until disbanding in 1964! They also remained a radio fixture on KVOO, Tulsa, until 1958.
Rare, hot, and swinging - let's all ball with Johnnie Lee Wills and his Boys: Best on Bear Family Records®!

Track Listing

• The Band's A-Rockin'
• The Thingamajig
• Blackberry Boogie
• Coyote Blues
• A Bad Deal All Around
• She Took!
• I Like You Best
• Let Me Be
• Boogie Woogie Highball (Bullit)
• Hot Check Baby
• Levee Blues
• A-L-B-U-Q-U-E-R-Q-U-E
• Smoke On The Water
• Sold Out Doc
• Four Or Five Times
• Rag Mop
• Two Timing
• Two Step Side Step
• In The Mood
• Milk Cow Blues
• There Are Just Two I's In Dixie (Two Blue Eyes That Mean The World To Me)
• Tom Cat Boogie
• Oo Oooh Daddy
• Honey In The Horn
• Ten Little Bluebirds In My Lapel
• Silver Dew On The Bluegrass Tonight
• Southland Swing
• Bees In My Bonnet
• Square Dance Boogie
• Devil's Blues
• Boogie Woogie Highball (Transcription)
• I'm Leaving (Yes Indeedy)

Additional Details

Label: Bear Family Records

Genre: Country

Run Time: 79:00 mins

Region: 0

Release Date: 04/11/25

UPC: 4000127176462