&gt; Most Nashville stalwarts recorded a jazz album or two, especially the steel players. Buddy Emmons...<p>I love this, I bought a copy of Emmons&#x27; Steel Guitar Jazz a few years ago and it&#x27;s a fantastic album. I wish there was more expansion&#x2F;experimentation in that vein -- are you aware of any other steel guitar jazz albums worth checking out?<p>&gt; Bob Wills melded more styles together than you&#x27;d think possible at the time, and in places where there was strong Jim Crow. He was a giant and a legend.<p>I&#x27;m a HUGE fan of Bob Wills. My most listened to artist on last.fm by a mile, I&#x27;ve spent a lot of time with his Tiffany Transcriptions. I remember thinking about how his music was very close to some ideal of what music &quot;should&quot; sound like -- energetic, uplifting, exciting, danceable, diverse, improvisational, and most of all, fun. I love the rest of the western swing gang: Milton Brown, Hank Penny, Spade Cooley, Tex Williams, but Bob Wills really was the King.