>>You know, I'm glad this came up because as we speak I'm taping some of the Pine Valley Cosmonauts LP. What strikes me is that the songs which fail do so because they spotlight vocalists who are weak singers. Or, maybe it's that they are trying to adopt the Wills arrangements too strictly, which were able to feature a singer as fitted for those arrangements as Tommy Duncan was.<< >>This is probably why Merle and Willie and George Strait can pull off Western Swing. It's not that their bands aren't all respectively brilliant, it's just that each of their voices is distinctively complementary. As Willie might say, they're aging with time like yesterday's wine. I hope some of these folks on the PVC do stick with the swing, maybe they'll have a great album before long. Or maybe someone should convince Dwight Yoakam to sing with the band.<< you are so right about the pine valley cd which i have tried to like but finally gave up on for that exact reason....musically i like lots of and vocally some of but it just winds up a pale comparison to some really good weatern swing....i am far from a purist on this but some folks just don't have the voice (or should i say phrasing) to pull off these songs....oh well, i guess bob wills is still the king....
