T.C. (Son) Lansford, 75; Noted Bass Player

T.C. (Son) Lansford, one of the early members of Bob Wills’ Western swing group the Texas Playboys and a seminal convert to the electric bass, has died. He was 75.

Lansford, who died last Monday in a Ft. Worth hospital, joined the Texas Playboys in the 1930s. Over the years they became famous for their renditions of “Steel Guitar Rag” and “San Antonio Rose.”

With Wills, Lansford gave up his fiddle and began playing bass because Wills already handled the violin. Within two years of making the switch, he was voted by Variety magazine as one of the top two bass players in the United States, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram said.