Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys Are…ON THE AIR

Bobby Koefer, a steel guitarist with Bob Wills in the early 1950s, famously tells a great story about his audition. Koefer was recommended for the job, but he was living in Indiana at the time and Bob Wills was based in Oklahoma City and about to move to Dallas to open the Bob Wills Ranch House. Koefer spoke with Wills by phone and tried to gauge his interest by politely telling Mr. Wills that he would love the opportunity to become a Texas Playboy but didn’t want to go on a wild goose chase. Bob’s reply was “My boy, we are an Institution. We don’t do wild goose chases.”

An institution is defined as “something firmly associated with a place or thing.” The “thing” is the music genre known as Western Swing and the institution firmly associated with it is Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. Wills began calling his band the Playboys in 1933 and made his last recording 40 years later in 1973. He passed away in 1975.

Institutions are permanent. They do not end when one person is gone. Shortly after Wills passed away, a group of former Texas Playboys led by Leon McAuliffe began performing as Bob Wills’ Original Texas Playboys, with the blessing of Bob’s widow, Betty Wills. Those reins were eventually handed over to Leon Rausch. Prior to Rausch’s death in 2019, he consulted with the remaining children of Bob and Betty Wills – Carolyn Wills and Diane Malone – and the torch was passed yet again, this time to Jason Roberts, who was born the same year Bob Wills passed away and has been preparing for this role – wittingly or unwittingly – since he picked up his first fiddle. The mission of the institution remains relatively the same – preserve, perpetuate and introduce new audiences to the legacy of Bob Wills and Western Swing - while honoring our heroes that created it. 90 years have passed since this institution began and Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys are Still “ON THE AIR.”