<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Western Swing Alliance]]></title><description><![CDATA[Western Swing Alliance]]></description><link>https://www.westernswingalliance.com/blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 02 May 2026 06:58:41 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.westernswingalliance.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[AN INTRO TO WESTERN SWING]]></title><description><![CDATA[Western swing is much more than a subgenre of country music, though it fundamentally is that. Sonically, it’s what Ray Benson once called  “jazz with a cowboy hat.” When I spoke to the Asleep at the Wheel  bandleader recently, in between dates on the band’s ceaseless, five-decade-long tour, he expounded on his famous bon mot: “It’s really just instrumentation. As long as you have fiddle; steel guitar; sax or trumpet; a piano; bass; drums; guitar, you can play any song.” “One time, I was on...]]></description><link>https://www.westernswingalliance.com/post/an-intro-to-western-swing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">697ba4b5c1bd63f263ffeb4a</guid><pubDate>Thu, 29 Jan 2026 18:21:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2eb7e7_d8b2889123ea4d27857f7ce0e1f143a7~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_860,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>fiddlesonwheels</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WESTERN SWING]]></title><description><![CDATA[The term "Western swing" may have been used occasionally before the early 1940s, but after that time the term spread widely because of Spade Cooley's promotional campaign for Venice Pier dances in California. Western swing is a difficult musical genre to define, as it contains elements from many other musical styles, including pop, blues, jazz, Dixieland, traditional folk and fiddle, ragtime, and even occasionally classical. In the 1930s bands performing at dances in the Southwest attempted...]]></description><link>https://www.westernswingalliance.com/post/take-me-back-to-tulsa</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6977f354c8e4035bf2b99238</guid><pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 23:06:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2eb7e7_fe97fe8f3de7475b929107352302b39a~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>fiddlesonwheels</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[WESTERN SWING]]></title><description><![CDATA[Bob Wills was from Texas, born into a family with generations of skilled fiddle players. He was also influenced by the music his African-American friends sang in the cotton fields and later by Hispanic musicians in New Mexico. And he was influenced by “swing” music—an offshoot of jazz that was sweeping the nation in the 1930s. Wills’s Western swing included drums, bass, and a syncopated piano providing the pulse, just as they did in swing bands, and musicians were expected to improvise on...]]></description><link>https://www.westernswingalliance.com/post/you-don-t-love-me-but-i-ll-always-care</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6977ef3ee611fcb487967508</guid><pubDate>Mon, 26 Jan 2026 22:48:45 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2eb7e7_44d65575aee24e56be4367d0f88d8f9e~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_456,h_446,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>fiddlesonwheels</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>