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The Light Crust Doughboys occupied a very unusual niche in popular music. They were a western swing band from Texas, created and organised in the early 1930s by the Burrus Mill and Elevator Company in Saginaw, Texas, in order to promote the company’s brand of Light Crust Flour on radio and link that to advertising. The company’s president Lee O’Daniel, a natural showman, was at the heart of the strategy and often travelled to perform and record with the group. They became major stars and their recording career in their original incarnation lasted for around a decade. They recorded prolifically, and this 54-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A & B sides from their releases on Vocalion and Okeh from this era. It features western swing versions of classic country, folk, blues, jazz and pop songs like “Waiting For The Robert E. Lee”, “Washington And Lee Swing, “El Rancho Grande”, “Sittin’ On Top Of The World”, “Chinatown My Chinatown”, “Birth Of The Blues”, “It Makes No Difference Now”, “My Blue Heaven” and many more. It features ace western swing musicians Jim Boyd, John Parker, Cecil Brower, Kenneth Pitts, Dick Reinhart, Marvin Montgomery and others. They were pioneers of the western swing genre, and this is a hugely entertaining set.
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