Rating: 
Summary: All you get is an empty trail!
Review: Some people, judging from their reviews, just didn't "get" the book. That's okay, I can understand it. It's probably best for people like myself, folks too young to have heard Wills' music any normal way, but who somehow stumbled across it and fell in love. If you're a long-term fan of the music, or have never heard it at all, well, I can imagine the book may seem lacking - though personally, I liked the tales of McLean's efforts not to seem too alien to his surroundings, and his disappointment in finding that mid-1990's Texas is not quite the wonderland of Western Swing he'd hoped. That reviewers point out the book seems to be too much about McLean is rather the point - it's a lonely journey and he only catches a few faint echoes of the subject of his search.The part where McLean attempts a phone interview with an absolutely befuddled Floyd Tillman is fabulous. Tillman's importance to country music is huge, but the peak of his career is several decades past. Tillman can't seem to wrap his head around the idea that some guy from Scotland would even want to interview him - told the title of the book, Tillman thinks it's "Lone Star Swig", which he assumes will be a book about beer! The question isn't asked too directly, but the book really does make one wonder about how much we appreciate the heroes of our past and the innovators and originators of our cultural history. That the book is written by a Scottish guy looking for the answers to questions most of the "native" people in his book seem to care not a whit about really drives the concept home. It's a well-written book with a lot of cool tales and McLean comes across as the sort of guy you wouldn't mind joining on a road trip. On that basis, this book works for me.
Rating: 
Summary: A pleasure
Review: Some people, judging from their reviews, just didn't "get" the book. That's okay, I can understand it. It's probably best for people like myself, folks too young to have heard Wills' music any normal way, but who somehow stumbled across it and fell in love. If you're a long-term fan of the music, or have never heard it at all, well, I can imagine the book may seem lacking - though personally, I liked the tales of McLean's efforts not to seem too alien to his surroundings, and his disappointment in finding that mid-1990's Texas is not quite the wonderland of Western Swing he'd hoped. That reviewers point out the book seems to be too much about McLean is rather the point - it's a lonely journey and he only catches a few faint echoes of the subject of his search. The part where McLean attempts a phone interview with an absolutely befuddled Floyd Tillman is fabulous. Tillman's importance to country music is huge, but the peak of his career is several decades past. Tillman can't seem to wrap his head around the idea that some guy from Scotland would even want to interview him - told the title of the book, Tillman thinks it's "Lone Star Swig", which he assumes will be a book about beer! The question isn't asked too directly, but the book really does make one wonder about how much we appreciate the heroes of our past and the innovators and originators of our cultural history. That the book is written by a Scottish guy looking for the answers to questions most of the "native" people in his book seem to care not a whit about really drives the concept home. It's a well-written book with a lot of cool tales and McLean comes across as the sort of guy you wouldn't mind joining on a road trip. On that basis, this book works for me.
Rating:
Summary: The tour of Texas I wish we made
Review: Two summers ago I took my family down to see some more family in Cedar Park. We saw the Stevie Ray statue in the park along the river, but the part we remember best was stopping in Dumas during their annual Ding Dong Daddy Days. Bob Wills was just a man who loved what he did, which was making music that made people happy and caused dancing. I can think of no higher calling. Western swing and Texas fiddle are two enduring gifts to American culture from this crazy place, and I'm just so glad Duncan McLean came to visit and wrote such a fine book about it.
Rating:
Summary: The tour of Texas I wish we made
Review: Two summers ago I took my family down to see some more family in Cedar Park. We saw the Stevie Ray statue in the park along the river, but the part we remember best was stopping in Dumas during their annual Ding Dong Daddy Days. Bob Wills was just a man who loved what he did, which was making music that made people happy and caused dancing. I can think of no higher calling. Western swing and Texas fiddle are two enduring gifts to American culture from this crazy place, and I'm just so glad Duncan McLean came to visit and wrote such a fine book about it.
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