SOME BILLY BYRD (FINALLY!)

here's some Ernest Tubb with Billy Byrd. Leon Rhodes came along and took the Billy Byrd style to another level, arguably, but it's important not to forget how perfect and melodic Byrd's lines were. Sort of like Bach, but with twang.

Note-- since I wrote this, I've seen some early (pre-Byrd) clips of Tubb, with Jimmie Short playing some excellent guitar. I'd like to clarify that the "Billy Byrd" style is really Byrd's expansion of the earlier style played by Short and others. I think Byrd really set the standard, though, taking Tubb's style and combining it with a jazzman's familiarity with the whole guitar neck. (Incidentally, I always read that Byrd was really a jazzman at heart, but I haven't heard any recorded evidence that he played jazz. There's plenty of Troubadours stuff where you can hear Leon and Charleton demonstrating jazz chops, but nothing comparable with Byrd, to my knowledge. If anyone out there can enlighten me about this, please do!)