Legacy
Wills' style influenced performers Buck Owens and Merle Haggard and helped to spawn a style of music now known as the Bakersfield Sound. (Bakersfield, California was one of Wills' regular stops in his heyday). A 1970 tribute album by Haggard directed a wider audience to Wills' music, as did the appearance of younger "revival" bands like Asleep at the Wheel and the growing popularity of longtime Wills disciple and fan Willie Nelson. By 1971, Wills recovered sufficiently to travel occasionally and appear at tribute concerts. In 1973 he participated in a final reunion session with members of some the Texas Playboys from the 1930s to the 1960s. Merle Haggard was invited to play at this reunion. The session, scheduled for two days, took place in December 1973, with the album to be titled For the Last Time. Wills, speaking or attempting to holler, appeared on a couple tracks from the first day's session but suffered a stroke overnight. He had a more severe one a few days later. The musicians completed the album without him. Wills by then was comatose. He lingered until his death on May 13, 1975.
In addition to being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1968, Wills was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Early Influence category along with the Texas Playboys in 1999, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
From the 1970s until his 2002 death, Waylon Jennings performed a song called "Bob Wills is Still the King". In addition, The Rolling Stones performed this song live in Austin, Texas at Zilker Park for their DVD The Biggest Bang. In a 1968 issue of Guitar Player, rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix said of Wills and the Playboys: "I dig them. The Grand Ole Opry used to come on, and I used to watch that. They used to have some pretty heavy cats, some heavy guitar players."
Wills ranked No. 27 in "CMT's 40 Greatest Men in Country Music" in 2003.
Fats Domino once remarked that he patterned his 1960 rhythm section after that of Bob Wills.
During the 49th Grammy Awards, Carrie Underwood performed his song "San Antonio Rose". Today, George Strait performs Wills' music on concert tours and also records songs greatly reflecting the magic of Wills and his Texas-style swing.
Asleep at the Wheel, the Austin, Texas-based Western swing band has been paying homage to Wills for over 35 years, best demonstrated by their continuing performances of the musical drama A Ride With Bob which debuted in Austin in March 2005 to coincide with celebrations of Wills' 100th birthday.
Another band that contributes to keeping the Western swing tradition alive are The Armadillos, who hail from Manchester, England and have been performing for more than 15 years.
In 2004, a documentary film about his life and music music, entitled Fiddlin' Man: The Life and Times of Bob Wills, was released by VIEW Inc.
In 2011, Proper Records released an album by Hot Club of Cowtown titled What Makes Bob Holler: A Tribute to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.
In 2011 the Texas Legislature adopted a resolution designating western swing as the official "State Music of Texas".
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“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)