When Bob Wills died on May 13, 1975, country music lost one of its foundational architects. But thanks in large part to Waylon Jennings, the “King of Western Swing” never really disappeared from the genre he helped create.
As the leader of The Texas Playboys, Wills fused jazz, blues, fiddle music and big-band swing into a distinctly Texas sound that would influence generations of country artists. Music historians still widely credit him as a co-founder of Western swing, and his fingerprints remain all over outlaw country, honky-tonk and modern Texas country music.
Wills’ final years were tragic. In 1973, while recording a tribute album with devoted admirer Merle Haggard, the country pioneer suffered a massive stroke that left him largely incapacitated and eventually comatose until his death two years later.
But even as Wills faded from public life, Jennings was making sure his name stayed alive.
In 1975, the same year Wills died, Jennings released “Bob Wills Is Still the King,” a song that became one of the defining tributes in country music history. The track wasn’t just nostalgic; it was a declaration that no matter how much country music changed, Wills’ influence still towered over Texas music culture.
“You can hear the Grand Ole Opry / In Nashville, Tennessee,” Jennings sang.
“But when you cross that old Red River hoss / That just don’t mean a thing / Once you’re down in Texas / Bob Wills is still the king.”
The song became a longtime staple of Jennings’ live performances for decades afterward and introduced younger audiences to Wills long after his death.
Ironically, Jennings later admitted he hadn’t actually grown up as a huge Wills fanatic. During an appearance on Ryman Country Homecoming, he laughed while saying, “No, I wasn’t,” when asked if he had been a big Wills fan as a kid, adding, “I liked two of his songs. I really did. That was a misconception.”
Instead, Jennings explained the song was inspired partly by his experiences playing Texas dance halls built for giant Western swing orchestras.
“I’d get up on the long bandstand, built for a twelve-piece cowboy orchestra, and I’d be telling my four guys to start spreading out,” he recalled.
The song also carried a playful jab at friend Willie Nelson during the height of the outlaw-country era. In his memoir It’s a Long Story: My Life, Nelson recalled Jennings performing the song with “a devilish look in his eye” after hearing people refer to Willie as the “King of Austin.”
But Nelson, 93, said he understood the deeper point immediately.
“Truth be told, I really did like the song,” Nelson wrote. “And besides, he’d sung the gospel truth: as far as I was concerned, Bob Wills was still the king.”
More than five decades after Wills’ death and more than 20 years after Jennings died himself, that sentiment still rings true across country music.
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