Various Artists - Wanderer's Swing (CD)

All Music Guide

Compilations such as this one continue to prove that some of the best fun to be had listening to music comes courtesy of the most obscure artists. It is interesting how often music that was created without any goal of longevity whatsoever turns out to be of such permanent value. This is a collection of groups that performed at various dance halls throughout Texas, spanning several decades. Few of these groups, about which details are often lacking as a matter of course, thought much beyond the evening's sets. These were simply performers holding forth for dancers, not attempting to record hit singles or masterpieces of creative music. All the same the winds of musical change were sweeping across the country music scene in Texas and it was often groups such as this fanning the currents. Whether these stylistic moves happen with a sharp sense of grace or with the akwardness of tumbling tumbleweed is largely irrelevant. In some way, each of these tracks is some kind of mini-masterpiece.