The Standard Transcriptions: Hank Penny - Crazy Rhythm

The flashy, mercurial bandleader Hank Penny was one of Western Swing’s most colorful characters. While other practitioners of the genre were content to ply their trade in the sweaty dancehalls and hard-up honkytonks of the Dustbowl states, Hank ranged farther and wider, cutting records in Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans before settling in California for good in the mid-‘40s. There he rubbed elbows with Hollywood hayseeds like Spade Cooley, Tex Ritter, and Slim Duncan, formed his own band (The Penny Serenaders), and opened The Palomino, a swinging nightspot that would eventually develop into the West Coast's hottest honkytonk. It was during this period that Hank cut a series of radio sessions for the Standard Transcription Company. Thirty songs from these high-flying broadcasts are collected here, and though they may not be as rugged as the sides he cut with his group The Radio Cowboys in the ‘30s, they're nonetheless first-rate examples of the more elaborate style of Western Swing that was being performed on the Los Angeles club circuit at World War II's end.