The Ozarks Studies Institute, an ongoing initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, is helping to produce the upcoming 5th Annual Showcase of the Western Swing Music Society of the Southwest, to be held in the Shrine Mosque, May 18-20 of 2023 (Thursday – Saturday). 

Western Swing Music is a type of American country music that was popular in the Thirties and Forties, primarily in the Southwest, from the Ozarks to California. Swing music is an amalgamation of rustic, cowboy, polka, old-timey, Dixieland jazz, and blues music, where string instruments blend with guitars, steel guitars, drums, saxophones, pianos, and other instruments to develop an up-tempo style of music. 

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, one of the top Western Swing bands of all time, appeared several times on the Ozark Jubilee. Other prominent groups included The Light Crust Doughboys, Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, Spade Cooley and His Orchestra out in the L.A. area, and Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys, who also appeared on the Ozark Jubilee several times.  

Jam sessions and performances by various bands, along with dancing, will run from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. all three days, with a nominal entrance fee charged. Cake walks (but, alas, no pie supper), door prizes, and 50/50 drawings will be featured.