I liked Mark Forer's post yesterday about saloon music in the movies;
"Stagecoach" is a real classic.

I think Hollywood took great liberties with the representation of what
saloon music sounded like.  Most of the time it's more modern sounding
than it should actually be.  I think they used a combination of the
great piano sound of the 1930s and mixed it up with some good old
favorites like "Hot Time In the Old Town Tonight".

You have to wonder if the saloons actually had a pianist playing so
many tunes or were they mostly improvised.  The huge amount of sheet
music didn't really hit until the tin-pan alley days.  I've always
thought the Wurlitzer Tonophone might be seen in an old west saloon,
but even this came in just after the "Old West" saloon days.

Another great saloon movie with music is "Destry Rides Again",
with Marlene Dietrich.  Can you hear a reiterating xylophone in
the background?

Brian Smith