Monday Music

Bob Wills my still be the king, but the Texas Playboys was not the first western swing band. That honor goes to vocalist Milton Brown.

James Robert (Jim Bob) Wills was an established musician by 1930 when, along with guitarist Herman Arnspiger, he formed the Wills Fiddle Band, playing dances around Stephenville and Fort Worth, and on a regular, weekly radio program in North Texas. Stephenville native, amateur vocalist and cigar salesman Milton Brown joined the band, which in 1931 changed their name to the Light Crust Doughboys. This was due to the sponsorship of the band and the radio program by the soon to be Texas Governor, Wilbert Lee (Pappy) O’Daniel. O’Daniel was then the vice-president of the Burrus Mill & Elevator Company, which produced the popular Light Crust brand flour.

Does any of this remind you of a popular movie?

In 1931, in an attempt to keep the Light Crust name clean and pristine, the politically astute O’Daniel ordered the Light Crust Doughboys to stop playing at those sinful dances. This removed a rather large source of revenue for the band members, so Milton Brown quit, setting out on his own. Brown’s father was in ill health and Milton was providing support. He gathered together a crew of talented musicians, including stealing his younger brother Durwood from the Doughboys, and formed his own band.

Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies was the first true western swing band, with Wanna Coffman playing standup bass, Ocie Stockard on tenor banjo, Fred (Papa) Calhoun on the jazz piano, and twin fiddles played by Cecil Brower and Jesse Ashlock, both of whom had learned the fiddle from Bob Wills. Brother Durwood played guitar and sang while Milton became known as one of the finest vocalists of his time. Later, in 1934, the band added steel guitarist Bob Dunn, taking the genre to levels never before seen.

From 1932 to 1936, this band produced more than 100 recordings for the Victor and Decca labels while performing live at dances and concerts throughout the North Texas region. They were regulars at the Fort Worth Chrystal Ballroom and had a weekly radio show on Fort Worth’s KTAT AM. Milton Brown and Bob Wills remained friends, and Wills' original Waco-based band, the Playboys, was modeled on the success of the Brownies.

Milton Brown was killed in an auto accident at the prime of his career, in 1936. The Brownies soon disbanded, but not before they helped create a reputation for Fort Worth as the Cradle of Western Swing. Because of this reputation, another musician who would become rather well known and very influential came to Fort Worth to take a job as a disk jockey and write a few songs.

Western music owes much to the influence of Milton Brown.

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