06/28/2025
Many if not most SWING ON THIS listeners are familiar with the story of how the Wills Fiddle Band — fiddler Bob Wills, vocalist Milton Brown, and guitarist Herman Arnspiger — became, in 1931, the Light Crust Doughboys, sharing their music with radio listeners in support of Light Crust Flour, a product of the Burrus Mills and Elevator Company in Fort Worth. Their first broadcasts originated from Fort Worth station KFJZ, and as the band evolved it eventually became a hugely popular regional act.
What you may not know — and I didn’t until I started researching the topic — is that another proto-Western-swing band actually predated the Light Crust Doughboys on that same station. The group, known as the Hi-Flyers, began broadcasting over KFJZ in 1929, two years earlier than the Doughboys. Put together by KFJZ announcer Zack Hurt, it featured, among others, the banjo player Ocie Stockard, who’d go on to lead his own top-drawer Western-swing group, Ocie Stockard and the Wanderers.
The Hi-Flyers have connections to both Oklahoma and Bob Wills. In 1939, after a stint at the notorious border-radio station XEPN, they moved to KOMA in Oklahoma City, where they made their home until World War II broke the group up. And while the Light Crust Doughboys and the Hi-Flyers had to know of one another during their KFJZ days, the real connection came in August 1935, when Bob Wills — looking for a piano player to join his Texas Pl***oys for their first-ever recording session — happened to drop by a Fort Worth venue called the Cinderella Roof. The Hi-Flyers were on the bill that night, and Bob remembered their piano player. Back in 1930, the guy, Alton Stricklin, had been the staff pianist at KFJZ, helping the Wills Fiddle Band in the studio when the members came by to audition.
Charles R. Townsend, in his book SAN ANTONIO ROSE, wrote about the 1935 meeting between the two: "“At intermission, Bob and I went over to a booth,' Strickin recalled. `Kid, I want to talk to you,' Wills said. `How would you like to come to work for me? We are going to make some records, make our first records in October. I need a piano player.' Stricklin said, `Bob, anybody would like to work for you.’”
By the end of that month, Stricklin was a Texas Pl***oy. He would, in fact, as “Brother Al” Stricklin, become one of the most famous of them all.
Saturday, I’ll have a 1937 tune (with a somewhat provocative title) from the Hi-Flyers, who recorded a number of sides for the Vocalion label that year. While they no longer had Al Stricklin in the band, they still swung impressively. In fact, for my money, they’re one of the best of what we might call the second-tier of Western-swing acts, along with such standouts as the Tune Wranglers and the Modern Mountaineers.
That’s just one of the nice variety of performers you’ll find on this week’s show.I’ve even got the Monkees, with a song that was the group’s first single release to feature Michael Nesmith on lead vocals. So join me, won’t you, for an hour of Western swing, cowboy jazz, and a surprise or two. That’s SWING ON THIS, Saturday at 7 p.m. on Tulsa NPR affiliate KWGS, 89.5 FM, and live-streaming everywhere at publicradiotulsa.org
Original Light Crust Doughboys (L-R) Bob Wills, Truett Kimsey (Announer KFJZ), Milton Brown & Herman Arnspiger (Spring 1931)
