Consumer Guide Album

Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys: For the Last Time [United Artists, 1974]
Recorded under Wills's supervision until he suffered a stroke before the last day's sessions, this double-LP doesn't represent the band at its peak. But though earlier recordings of most of these classic tunes are at least marginally sharper, it certainly captures the relaxed, playful, eclectic Western swing groove that Wills invited in the '30s. And Merle Haggard does sing lead on three cuts. B+