Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - The Best of Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys (2018) [Hi-Res]

WILLS, JOHNNIE LEE (1912–1984).Johnnie Lee Wills, guitar and banjo player, was born in Limestone County, Texas, on September 2, 1912. He was the son of John and Emmaline (Foley) Wills and younger brother of Bob Wills. In 1913 the family loaded their possessions into two covered wagons and moved to Hall County in the Texas Panhandle. Johnnie Lee soon established his position within the musically talented Wills family. At the outset of the Great Depression, he got a job as a truck driver for Burrus Mill and Elevator Company of Fort Worth, which sponsored Bob Wills, Milton Brown, and others, as the Light Crust Doughboys. When Johnnie Lee was fired over a dispute with his foreman, Bob hired his younger brother to play tenor banjo in the group, though manager W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel objected. Bob and several members of the band eventually left the Light Crust Doughboys to form the Texas Playboys.

Johnnie Lee remained a member of the Texas Playboys, playing on KVOO in Tulsa, until 1940, when he began performing with his own band, Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys. They continued to perform on KVOO until 1958. The group became quite popular throughout North Texas and Oklahoma and included many of the same well-established musicians that were part of the Texas Playboys, such as Jesse Ashlock and Joe Holley. In the late 1940s Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys began recording for Bullet Records. With the songs "Rag Mop" and "Peter Cottontail," the band gave Bullet its two all-time best-selling country hits. Johnnie Lee also recorded for RCA, Decca, and other labels, and for several years he ran the popular rodeo, the Johnnie Lee Wills Stampede, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the late 1970s some of his 1950s recordings were reissued by the Rounder and Bear Family labels. He died in Tulsa on October 25, 1984. Johnnie Lee Wills was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He was an inductee into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame in 2009.

Tracklist:
01. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - Your Love for Me Is Losing Light (02:10)
02. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - Blub Twist (02:20)
03. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - Milk Cow Blues (02:36)
04. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - I Wish Your Picture Was You (02:22)
05. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - Travelin' (02:18)
06. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - I Wish That You Could Learn to Love Me (02:37)
07. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - Slush (02:20)
08. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - I Won't Cry Tomorrow (01:54)
09. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - Why Do I (02:15)
10. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - The Red Dress (02:00)
11. Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys - Too Soon to Worry 'Bout Tomorrow (02:15)