Person:Herman Arnspiger (1)

In the fall of 1929, Wills began his career in show business. He worked as a black faced fiddles in Doc’s Medicine Show. Wills met guitarist Herman Arnspiger and invited him to join the show. Shortly afterwards, the two young musicians landed a job playing on a radio show. The two earned $15.00 a week. Arnspiger and Wills left the show and worked at various radio stations in the Fort Worth area. The year 1930 proved to be a good year for Bob Wills. That summer he and Herman Arnspiger won a fiddle contest sponsored by KFJZ in Fort Worth. This made him famous throughout north and central Texas. While performing at a dance he met Milton Brown another talented young musician. In the fall of 1930, Brown, Wills, and Arnspiger landed a job on the Aladdin Lamp Show on WBAP. Wills added Brown’s younger brother, Durwood and formed Aladdin’s Laddies. The following year, W. L. O’Daniel hired the band to play on a radio show sponsored by Burris Mills. In addition, O’Daniel gave the boys jobs at the mill. Brown, Arnspiger, and Wills changed the name of their band to suit their new sponsors and called themselves the Light Crust Doughboys. They quickly became popular and in huge demand. The radio station, WBAP, moved them to primetime, 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm. The Light Crust Doughboys were also broadcast on WOAI in San Antonio and KPRC in Houston. In 1931, the Light Crust Doughboys cut their first and only record. A year later, Milton Brown left the band and started his own – Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies. Bob hired a young Texas musician named Tommy Duncan to replace Brown.

Bob left Turkey in 1929 and took up residence in Fort Worth. After a brief stint on radio he joined a traveling medicine show. While in it he met guitarist Herman Arnspiger and later teamed up with him to form the Wills Fiddle Band. They played for parties and private dances and also performed on radio six days a week. In the fall of 1930 Wills and Arnspiger teamed with brothers Milton and Durwood Brown. The group then accepted an offer with WBAP, Fort Worth's most famous and powerful station, and adopted the name Aladdin Laddies. From that point their fame and reputation spread as fast as the enthusiasm for the new music they played.

1. ↑ Perkins, Rose Family research, Subject: Arnspiger family research.

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