“One of the things Bob (Wills) used to say was ‘get it,’ which meant to come on as strong as you could. Junior Barnard had the ability to turn it on and keep it there. He had an aggressive, hard-swinging style that was like rock ‘n’ roll for its time. Junior was a great guitarist.”
—Jimmy Wyble, Texas Playboys guitarist“Ugly! YEAH!!!”
–Bob Wills, “Fat Boy Rag”
Bob Wills was the king of western swing from the late 1930s through the late ’40s, and was still a decent draw into the early ’50s. However, his creative and commercial peak was the immediate postwar era and during that fertile period, Bob’s Epiphonic minister of lowdown and dirty was the guitarist born Lester Robert Bernard. Bob occasionally called him “Fat Boy,” but most people just called him Junior.
Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys – Fat Boy Rag
Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 5
Recorded May 20, 1946
Solos: Junior Barnard, electric guitar (:00-:31); Millard Kelso, piano (:31-:55); Joe Holley, fiddle (:56-1:19); Roy Honeycutt, steel guitar (1:20-1:51), Barnard, electric guitar (1:52-2:27)
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Hard to believe this was recorded in 1946. Outside of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and maybe Bob Dunn (Milton Brown’s Musical Brownies) on steel, guitarists didn’t typically gouge out huge chunks of gnarled lead guitar. Texas Playboys guitarists Eldon Shamblin and Jimmy Wyble were uniquely gifted, but more or less extended Charlie Christian‘s ideas, offering solos with CC’s clean fluidity and horn-like phrasing. Barnard was different. You can hear that he liked bop, but he mixed it with a dirty blues feel that anticipates Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, and his liberal use of distortion and “ugly” chord voicings cuts a beeline straight to the guitar heroes of the late ’60s.
Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys – Bob Wills’ Boogie (Intro riff/Barnard solo)
Essential Bob Wills: 1935-47
Recorded September 5, 1946
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Duane Allman (L) and Dickey Betts
Tell me this isn’t rock ‘n’ roll, a full decade before that term gained a cultural foothold. The song opens with Barnard and Tiny Moore (on electric mandolin) riffing in harmony, a twin lead style that Wills invented in 1945-46 when he couldn’t afford a horn section. So, he used Shamblin, Barnard, Wyble, Moore, and whoever was playing steel (usually Noel Boggs or Herb Remington) as his horn section. This innovation bore fruit 25 years later when Duane Allman and Dickey Betts made twin guitar leads a signature sound of the Allman Brothers Band, both men openly acknowledging the Bob Wills influence.
The intro gives way to a staccato piano/guitar trade off that sounds suspiciously like it escaped from “Great Balls Of Fire,” despite the fact Jerry Lee Lewis wouldn’t record the song for another 11 years. Barnard then takes off on a solo that again sounds like Chuck Berry was paying close attention. All this in a mere :42.
Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys – Blackout Blues (Junior Barnard solo)
Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 1
Recorded December 30, 1947
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Tommy Duncan (L) and Bob Wills
Tommy Duncan totally nails it when he calls Junior’s licks “coal mine choruses” because they’re “low down and dirty.” Amen brother. And they’re dirty in a way that suggests Hubert Sumlin and Ike Turner, not just rockabillies like Scotty Moore and Perkins. This is the genius of Junior Barnard. His appeal transcends genre, race, and taste.
Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys – Texas Playboy Rag (Barnard solo)
Tiffany Transcriptions, Vol. 9
Recorded April 15, 1946
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Listening to this song, I’m reminded of what Buddy McPeters wrote in the Sept 1983 issue of Guitar Player: “Junior was a go-for-broke soloist whose incredible technique featured startling runs, rapid hammer-ons and pull-offs, and even contrapuntal lines. Barnard was such an exciting soloist because he rarely played things safe. If he would get lost during a chorus, Bob would tease him by saying, ‘Junior’s pony throwed him. You’re meeting yourself comin’ back.'”
Here’s the only existing footage of Barnard playing with Bob Wills, at least to my knowledge. He throws down the raunch from 1:05-1:20, a chunky microcosm of the JB sound. And yes, I apologize in advance for the annoyingly loud logo splash at the end of the video.
Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys – Goodbye Liza Jane
Sadly, the Junior Barnard story ends in tragedy. On April 15, 1951, while scouting for places to play in Riverdale, California (south Fresno County), Barnard and his brother-in-law, Billie Earl Fitzgerald were killed in an automobile accident when their car collided with six members of the Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) track team. Fitzgerald died instantly and Barnard died five hours later at Fresno County Hospital. He was 30 years old.
Wow, this was great stuff! A real tragedy that he left us so soon. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for throwing some light on a really underappreciated figure. I love those Tiffany Transcriptions discs. That's how I first heard Junior Barnard, and it was like discovering the missing link. You really do have to double-check the date on the recording after some of those solos.
I didn't know he died so young – think of the albums he could've made as a leader. Bob Wills' best music has aged extremely well, though.
“…the guitarist born Lester Robert Bernard.” A perfectly understandable misspelling, considering the subject matter, and Lester's middle name.
Fantastic post. Does anyone else hear Barnard's playful/gritty style and phrasing echoed in Al Anderson's (NRBQ) playing?
Raul – I was totally blown away when I saw Junior's given name. “Seriously? Rob Barnard??? OK, universe, you win.” And I'll admit relative ignorance when it comes to NRBQ. If there's some JBisms, though, I wanna hear it.
I have always loved Junior's “dirty” style. A couple good players went through Bob's bands over the years, huh?
It always seems to happen to the best of them, his scratchy style was just brilliant, damn shame.
I am a latecomer, but in exploring swing guitar I’ve come across the unbelievable Junior Barnard. What a natural! What a guitarist! It’s sad we lost him so soon, but the Tiffany transcriptions are a monument to this fantastic improviser. I see some transcription work ahead, and much to learn from Junior.
In the world of what we hear I say Junior had no senior. He spoke in whole sentences of clear abstract meaning. A beginning, middle and end to each. Though at times unsuccessful, he knew the order and if he got thrown, just as Bob said, he would get up meet himself coming back. He was a big overweight guy highly sensitive to his environment, too much so that he would think others were playing with his sensitivity when they weren’t. Much as Hank Williams got alot of lyrical inspiration from reading comic books, likewise Junior was into pop fluidity of orchestral pomposity, loved the Warner Brothers intro for Looney Toons cartoons at the movies.
I’ve known about Junior Barnard since that GP article in the ’80s, but never heard his playing until now: fantastic!
Great article! Junior was a great guitar player. His guitar is/was on display at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. It was a thrill to see it.
I have a personal touch to add. When Junior was touring with John Wills, Bob’s father they spent a time hanging out with my Father and Grandfather at some point while they were touring in Louisiana. My Grandfather was in a local Western Swing band so perhaps that is how the connection was made. But anyway my father was a young kid and crazy about playing the guitar and he told the story, quite often I might add, that Junior taught him how to play all the chords he needed so that my Dad could play rhythm while Junior practiced. As Dad was a bit of a BS artist I have no way of knowing the veracity of this but it’s a cool story regardless I think.
Finally I’d argue Bob’s peak was in the pre-war period when he had the full band with horns and the like as to the post war period. But that’s just my opinion!
All the best!
I was listening to the Tiffany “Cherokee Maiden” for maybe the twentieth time and that Junior Barnard solo started and I couldn’t believe my ears it was so audacious, pretty much out of the be-bop of the era, especially the addition of the hootchy kootchy riff.