Reconnect to Southern California’s Vintage Western Swing Roots

Jazz singer Wendy Rea has played with numerous Southern California vintage  swing bands.  We’ve heard her sweet voice with The Swingsations, Mora’s Modern Rhythmists, Jonathan Stout, Josh’s Feetwarmers and more.  Now she’s going a little country with her new band – Calaboose – a jazzy western swing band!

This ain’t your momma’s honky-tonk band.  Yes.  There is a steel guitar, some fiddle and bass slappin’, but this band is clearly reviving the old-time western swing bands of the 30’s and 40’s with a little modern swing and rockabilly thrown in for good measure. Check out the sounds of Calaboose HERE!

Come out swingin’ and celebrate SoCal’s Western Swing Roots!  Atomic Ballroom is proud to present “Calaboose” on June 20th, 2012.  The band goes LIVE a 8:45pm but head over by 7 or 8 for some great classes with some of Atomic’s master swing instructors!

When Western Swing Packed the Southern California Ballrooms

Western Swing began in the 1920’s as a style of hot jazz-like dance music coming out of small towns and ranches from Texas to California. In its early stages, it had the same 2/4 meter rhythm as Dixieland jazz, but incorporated polkas and rural rhythms driven by fiddles, steel guitars, banjos, etc. instead of horns. However, by the 1940’s, the familiar 4/4 swing meter was most popular with jazz and western swing bands.

Bob Wills, Milton Brown, The Light Crust Doughboys and Spade Cooley were some of the most popular bands of the day. With WWII build up in the Pacific, people and bands moved west.  Southern California became the hotbed of Western Swing, packing ballrooms every night with several thousand swing dancers.  The music transformed from jump and boogie into a swinging sound…and was often more popular with Southern California radio listeners than Benny Goodman?!

I personally LOVE that old-timey western swing sound just as much as I love Benny Goodman. It swings! It’s country! It’s the gypsy jazz of America! So here’s some real old western swing bands to get you in the mood for Wendy Rea’s Calaboose!

Milton Brown & His Brownies

*in honor of Strutters Ball at Atomic

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys

Spade Cooley & His Western Dance Gang