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Casey Dickens and Glynn Duncan Interview Transcript
April 24, 1993

Casey Dickens: You go ahead.

Glynn Duncan Duncan: No, you go ahead.

Casey Dickens: Well, I’ve always respected older men. So you go ahead.

Glynn Duncan: No, no, you go ahead. Cuz you’re older than me.

Casey Dickens: Okay, okay. Well, Glynn Duncan was on the band. And I was a very, very Johnny-Come-Lately type musician. And Bob had always my hero since junior high days. Always dreamed of working for him. And I’m gonna try and get this in. But I wasn’t a musician, I didn’t play anything. So I kept trying to go to work for Bob, and he said, “You’ll have to learn how to play something. So. . .

Glynn Duncan: Cuz he had a bus driver.

Casey Dickens: He had a bus driver and a chauffer. But at that time believe me I would’ve chauffeured him or whatever. But he said, “You’re eat up with rhythm.” He said, “Get you and instrument, bass or a drum. And learn how to play it. And we’ll go from there.” So I did. I went and bought myself a set of drums, and started playing locally. And worked myself up to a real fine musician in my part of the country, Beaumont. Cliff Brunner. And Cliff kind of got me ready for Bob. He knew what Bob wanted. Well, I’m just real lucky to be associated with all these guys. Cuz like I said in junior high and high school I was hearing them. And it felt like I knew them because Bob called their names on the records all the time. And this guy’s been with him a hundred years so way before I ever met him I felt like I knew him, see? Bob would let me go off on trips with them, you know, even before I went to work for him. But anyway, I finally, 30 years old I started playing drums and ended up in Bob’s band with a lot of help.
Because Bob, I would like to say this, Bob always hired the musician second and the man first. And I think that’s why you’ll find such comradeship between all these Texas Playboys. We have a special feeling for each other because Bob hired good people. If you weren’t good people, you didn’t stay long on his – I’m a perfect example. I’m a pretty good guy, I’m not a very good musician. But I’m a pretty good guy. So he put up with a lot from me. I don’t how this guy – I’ll cut it off there. I don’t know how he – I think he went to work for Bob because Tommy Duncan is his brother and was just as famous as Bob. So I think Bob really liked me and I don’t know how he got on the band. I’ll let him answer that.

Glynn Duncan: Bob didn’t hire me. Bob didn’t hire me. Luke hired me.
Ol’ Luke.

Casey Dickens: Yeah. Oh, so you’re second hand. Second hand right off the bat.
That’s right. That’s right.

Glynn Duncan: Cuz no Luke called me and hired me.

Casey Dickens: Ok.

Glynn Duncan: So. He said, “You wanna go to work for Bob?” I said, “Well, I’ll have to see if I can get off of my job.” I was driving truck at the time. And he says, “Well, if you can meet us in Houston tomorrow night at Cook’s How Down.” So I, I was there and that’s about it. From then on I just worked. There was no, no big deal. No, no wild stories to tell. It was just – it wasn’t a long-term thing but it was one of the most enjoyable jobs I ever had in my life. I, I wouldn’t – money couldn’t buy the experience and everything that I got while I was working for Bob. It was just something about the man that was, was magic. You, I don’t care --you didn’t have to be a good musician to work for Bob.

Casey Dickens: Amen.

Glynn Duncan: Because if you could play anything at all or do anything the man could get it out of you without any problem at all. Cuz there was something about him, it was magic, you just wanted to do your best and play your heart out for him. I think he’s one of the greatest bandleader to ever come along. And I wouldn’t take anything for the time that I spent with him.

Casey Dickens: I want to say this. I was there the night this guy showed up. You remember that?

Glynn Duncan: Yep, yep he was.

Casey Dickens: Bob introduced me to him and he says, “I think you’re gonna like our new singer.” And he was scared to death. He grabbed that microphone and that microphone was just like this. Now don’t let him tell you he wasn’t. But I’ll bet you there’s not a Playboy living that will tell you the first week or so in Bob’s band they were nervous.

Glynn Duncan: I’ll tell you what. If a guy tells you he wasn’t nervous the first week or two that he worked for Bob Wills, he’s lying.
Not because of Bob himself. He’s not real. And that goes for most any new job, as far as I’m concerned. And playing professionally I don’t care how good you are or how bad you are or how good or bad the musicians you’re working with. If you’re not nervous, you’re not human. And that’s all I have to say.

Casey Dickens: And it was not because of Bob. It was because of the tradition. I knew people that took – oh Billy Bowman’s place. Gene Crownover was a good friend of mind. He was scared to death for a year or two. And he even tried to play like Billy because he knew Bob liked Billy so well. Bob finally told him he says, “Hey, Billy’s gone. Play like Gene Crownover,” That’s the kind of guy he was.

Dwight Adair: Tell me a little bit about the relationship between Bob and Tommy? Were they good friends, was there a rivalry?

Glynn Duncan: No, they had all the respect in the world for each other. They, they were just like brothers. In fact, I would say they were closer than brothers as far as I’m concerned. There was no, no – there was no hard feelings even though they busted up and everything. There was no, no hard feelings whatsoever.