Page "Bob Wills" Paragraph 42

On Wills ' return to Tulsa late in 1957, Jim Downing of the Tulsa Tribune wrote an article headlined " Wills Brothers Together Again — Bob Back with Heavy Beat ".

The article quotes Wills as saying, " Rock and Roll?

Why, man, that's the same kind of music we've been playin ' since 1928 !... We didn't call it rock and roll back when we introduced it as our style back in 1928, and we don't call it rock and roll the way we play it now.

But it's just basic rhythm and has gone by a lot of different names in my time.

It's the same, whether you just follow a drum beat like in Africa or surround it with a lot of instruments.

The rhythm's what's important.

" The use of amplified guitars accentuates Bob's claim, some Bob Wills recordings from the ` 30's and ` 40's sound similar to rock and roll records in the ` 50's.