This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #141 (May/June 2009).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
by Dan Willging
| January 27 of this year marked another chapter in the legacy of Bob Wills and the Texas
Playboys: Collector's Choice Music re-issued the legendary Tiffany Transcriptions as a
box set [See "Shaking Out the Sheets," page 66], making this the third time that the
influential series has been released since its Kaleidoscope Records inception in 1982. The
series was issued on individual CDs for a second time when Rhino Records acquired
Kaleidoscope. Unfortunately, Rhino made little effort to keep every volume in print,
which made collecting the series a financial challenge, since several volumes sold at
collector's prices. Wills fanatics are probably familiar with how the Tiffanys were
conceived -- a business deal between Wills, radio personality Cactus Jack, and Oakland
businessman/songwriter Cliff Sundin to supply radio programs to subscribing stations.
What isn't widely known is how they were unearthed after decades of dormancy.
Looking back, the idea of these Transcriptions coming to life again seems even more incredulous to Tom Diamant, now Vice-President/General Manager of Arhoolie Records in El Cerrito, California. Diamant and Kaleidoscope business partner Jeff Alexson had always been fans of Wills and Western swing in general, and Diamant heard some of the Transcriptions through various tapes that were passed around. Somewhere around 1980, they got wind that Sundin was still alive, and even more surprisingly, he lived across the bay in Oakland. Alexson contacted Sundin, inquiring whether Kaleisoscope could issue the Tiffany Transcriptions. |
This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #141 (May/June 2009).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.
![[cover #141]](/linen/141/cover141t.jpg)
Copyright © 2009 Visionation, Ltd.