From: Buddy McPeters
Date: December 16, 2002
Robert, I have read the book and I must say it's a disappointing read. First of all let me preface my comments by saying that Ms. Boyd's inclusion of the mis-information regarding Junior Barnard in her chapter entitled 'Western Swing Guitarists' casts a dark shadow on the work. She never did any fact checking on the errors that she repeated nor did she attempt to get ahold of me. She acknowledged that I was Barnard's 'biographer', credited me several times and quoted freely from my botched article Guitar Player messed up, but didn't check anything out. She obviously never talked to Glenn White or Bob Pinson both of whom I consider to be pioneers in the Western Swing research field and they are both experts on Bob Wills. She could have talked to Jesse Morris who was publishing my article in installments and he could have provided her with a complete copy of my original Junior Barnard manuscript. Kevin Coffey for that matter could have gotten these matters squared away.
Be that as it may, I am in agreement with you Robert. She culled a lot of published information from various sources and simply re-published the information as her own. She claims it's an 'oral history'. It is not. It is a compendium of data supplied by Dr. Townsend and others she recycled and took credit for. True, she did interview a few people and I am grateful for that and some of the photographs, but all in all I don't recommend it to anyone to take seriously. There are far too many blatant, glaring omissions of pioneering western swing musicians who kicked way high on the wall long before a lot of the later players she goes in depth about dedicating page after page. The pioneers set the standards not vice versa.
As Robert already pointed out there are many inconsistencies in her facts. In one chapter she notes that one musician joined Bob Wills in a certain year and a few pages over she cites yet a different year. She does this more than once. She misspelled some of their names and other words, and cited the wrong birthplace and year for another. OK- So nobody's perfect. BUT She is an Associate Professor at Baylor University where she teaches Musicology and her book was published by the University of Texas Press!
Here is a copy the public review of the book that I wrote which is published at Amazon.com:
Jean Boyd's poorly researched book should hardly to be taken seriously. She managed to gather up most of her source material from various researchers who have gone the distance and has compiled it as her own. She also quoted from some faulty publications, in her chapter on 'Western Swing Guitarists', namely, Guitar Player Magazine. Boyd quotes freely from the September 1983 GP article I wrote on Bob Wills' Texas Playboys guitarist Junior Barnard, which thanks to their editorial staff (especially assistant editor Jim Ferguson), butchered my manuscript to the point it contained little factual information. Boyd never checked out any of the false information provided by GP in their published version of my article nor did she take the time to read the corrections I provided in the December 1983 GP issue. In addition to this, she confused much of the published information and made matters even worse in her book. To add insult to injury, she never attempted to contact me to verify or refute any of the information even though I am noted in her text as 'Barnard's biographer'. Neither Boyd nor her publisher, The University of Texas Press, has provided a copy of this book. Requests for a courtesy copy have gone ignored. I have provided them with a corrected manuscript in the event should they decide to reprint the book.
I hope that the book does not see a 2nd edition and here is why: In addition to these problems with Boyd's book, there are a multiplicity or factual errors in other chapters of the book, far too many to go into here. There are many great artists who were productive and influential in the golden era of the Southwest music scene playing jazz, blues and Western Swing who she only gives an honorable mention and in some cases neglects reference altogether. These are glaring omissions considering some of the unknowns Boyd allotted numerous pages to. This is especially irritating considering the wealth of information available, much of which never been published on some of the more effluent progenitors of this music who have never had their day.
At best this is slip-shod research where Boyd has basically borrowed from many sources and turned out a college funded volume with a text that wasn't purged of errors, with little or no verification of facts, nor inclusion of important figureheads that should have been covered in depth. I consider the work highly irresponsible and considering the publisher I am incensed that they not only paid Boyd to write it, but they published it with little or no thought as to the quality of the material. Nor with any respect for the unsuspecting consumer who might decide to add this book to their collection unaware that the book is little more than pulp fiction. An 'oral history' it is not, as another reviewer's comments well stated. I have come to expect this kind of tripe from Guitar Player and other rags that grace the rack, but when an institute of higher education foists off something this bad which bears the name of one of their associate professors I am not amused and you the consumer shouldn't be either. I borrowed a copy and now I am returning it. I give the book 1 star for the photographs.