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Chanteur US né
le 26 Février 1926 à Memphis (Texas). Billy Jack Wills est le plus jeune des frères de
Bob Wills. Il a débuté en 1946 dans les "Texas Playboys" de son illustre frère. En 1950, il créé son propre groupe en compagnie de Gary Cummings. Ils deviennent bientôt très populaires dans la région de Sacramento (Californie). Spécialisés dans le Western Swing, Billy Jack et ses "Western Swing Band" ont enregistré dès 1952.
Il est décédé le 2 Mars 1991.
Perhaps
the most underrated Western swing bandleader ever was Billy Jack Wills, the
youngest brother of Bob, whose Western
Swing Band broke new ground for the genre in the early '50s. Born February 26,
1926, in Memphis, Hall County, TX, Billy Jack was exposed at an early age to the
music of his famous brother, as well as his father, champion fiddler John Wills.
After beginning his professional career in brother
Johnnie Lee Wills' Tulsa band in the
early '40s, Billy Jack went to California to work as a bassist and drummer for
the Texas Playboys. In that group, he played a significant role both as a
vocalist and songwriter, lending his bluesy voice to "Cadillac in Model A" and
providing lyrics to the massive hit "Faded Love."
After six years as a member of the Texas Playboys, Billy Jack got his chance as
a leader when Bob moved his base of
operations from the Wills Point Ballroom in Sacramento to Oklahoma City. Tired
of touring, mandolinist Tiny Moore stayed behind to manage Wills Point. Needing
a new band to fill the void left by Wills' departure, Moore suggested Billy
Jack. Bob agreed, and Moore and Billy
Jack assembled a band that included trumpeter and bassist Dick McComb, fiddler/bassist
Cotton Roberts, rhythm guitarist Kenny Lowery, and steel guitarist Tommy Varner.
The group, dubbed Billy Jack Wills & His Western Swing Band, began broadcasting
over Sacramento's KCRA radio in 1950, soon moving to the considerably larger
KFBK.
The band truly came into being, however, after the start of the Korean War.
Looking to replace the drafted Varner, Wills hired a local teenager named Vance
Terry, a disciple of Noel Boggs whose crisp, driving style added the final
element to the group's adventurous sound.
The enormous age difference (20 years) between Billy Jack and
Bob meant that the younger's musical
interests were considerably more advanced. While
Bob had drawn inspiration from the
primitive blues and jazz of the 1910s and '20s, Billy Jack's muse lay in the
developing genres of jump blues, R&B, and be-bop. These fixations gave his group
a progressiveness that was found nowhere else, characterized by its hard-swinging
jazz rhythms and bluesy, shouted Vocals, which drew heavily from the styles of
Wynonie Harris and
Roy Brown. Between 1950 and 1954, the
group enjoyed a strong Northwest following, touring and building up an eclectic
repertoire of radio transcriptions. They covered many of the popular black hits
of the time, including Ruth Brown's "Teardrops
From My Eyes" and Larry Darnell's "For You, My Love." In 1953, the group cut a
version of Roy Brown's "There's Good
Rocking Tonight"; later that year, they turned in a rollicking arrangement of
Bill Haley's first hit, "Crazy, Man,
Crazy."
The group's success, however, was short-lived. In 1954,
Bob Wills disbanded the Texas Playboys
and returned to Sacramento to perform with Billy Jack. The idea was to increase
business at Wills Point, but the results were disastrous.
Bob quickly took charge of the group and
against the wishes of most involved, immediately set off on tour, at which point
Tiny Moore quit to host a children's television show.
Out on the road, energies were soon sapped. Under Wills' control, the boldness
that had characterized the band's radio broadcasts began to fold, channeled into
what was by now the rather stale sound of the Texas Playboys. That and the
emerging television craze effectively ended the group. Vance Terry quit to
enroll in college; he later joined Jimmie Rivers and the Cherokees. Tiny Moore
went on to play with Merle Haggard & the
Strangers. Billy Jack struggled on without success until 1960, when he
retired from music. He died on March 3, 1991.
Talents : Vocals, Songwriter, Bass, Drums, Guitar
Style musical : Western Swing
Water Baby Boogie
(1951)
Tobacco Chewing Boogie
(1951)
Out
Of Gas (1954)
There's Good Rockin' Tonight
(1955)
Hey
Lula (1955)
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Years in activity :
| 1910 | 20 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | 70 | 80 | 90 | 2000 | 10 | 20 |
DISCOGRAPHY
78 t. & Singles
| 1951 | 78 t. 4 STAR X-11 (US) |
Roped And Tied
 (Billy
Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND / Vocals By Billy
Jack WILLS) /
Water Baby Boogie
[instr.]
(Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND) |
| 1951 | 78 t. 4 STAR X-18 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND
/ Vocals By Billy Jack WILLS -
Tobacco Chewing Boogie
/
Lilly Dale
|
| 09/1951 | 78 t. 4 STAR 1575 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Lily Dale / Down In Old Mexico |
| 09/1951 | SP 4 STAR 45-1575 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Lily Dale / Down In Old Mexico |
| 01/1952 | 78 t. 4 STAR 1589 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Cattle Call / Now That We Have Said Goodbye |
| 01/1952 | SP 4 STAR 45-1589 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Cattle Call / Now That We Have Said Goodbye |
| 09/1954 | 78 t. MGM 11807 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND -
Out
Of Gas
/ I Don't Want To Live Alone |
| 09/1954 | SP MGM K11807 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND -
Out
Of Gas
/ I Don't Want To Live Alone |
| 01/1955 | 78 t. MGM 11907 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Teardrops On A Diary / For The Children's Sake |
| 01/1955 | SP MGM K11907 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Teardrops On A Diary / For The Children's Sake |
| 04/1955 | 78 t. MGM 11966 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND -
There's Good Rockin' Tonight
/ Red Mittens |
| 04/1955 | SP MGM K11966 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND -
There's Good Rockin' Tonight
/ Red Mittens |
| 07/1955 | SP MGM K12034 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND -
Hey
Lula
/ Four Beers And Forty Tears |
| 01/1956 | SP MGM K12172 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND -
All She Wants
To Do Is Rock
/ When
A New Love Is Born |
| 07/1956 | SP MGM K12302 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - My Shoes Keep Walkin' Back To You / Will You Miss Me |
| 03/1957 | SP MGM K12444 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Hey Mr. Mailman / I Loved And Lost |
| 09/1957 | SP MGM K12559 (US) | Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND -
Troubles (Those Lonesome Kind)
/ Not Very
Long |
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Albums
| 1982 | LP 12" WESTERN WS-2002 (US) |
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Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band Featuring Tiny Moore – Sacramento 1952-1954 - Lonesome Hearted Blues / Dipsy Doodle / Johnson Rag / Mr. Cotton Picker / Air Mail Special / Basin Street Blues / I Don't Know / Woodchopper's Ball / Teardrops From My Eyes / Tuxedo Junction / Twin Guitar Special / St. Louis Blues / Blue Guitar Stomp / Summit Ridge Drive / Rock City Boogie / C Jam Blues |
| 1982 | LP 12" WESTERN WS-2004 (US) |
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CRAZY, MAN, CRAZY - 1952-54 - Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Cadillac Model 'A' / Blues For You, My Love / Jelly Roll Blues / Skiddle Dee Boo / Rock-A-Bye-Baby Blues / Sugar Blues / Stardust / Slow Drive / Crazy, Man, Crazy / Milk Cow Blues / Sweet Georgia Brown / Kentucky Means Paradise / Kissin' Bug Boogie / Jazz Me Blues / Steel Guitar Stomp / Rock-A-Bye-Baby Blues (instr.) |
| 11/1996 | CD JOAQUIN 2503 (US) |
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Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band Featuring Tiny Moore – Sacramento 1952-1954 - Lonesome Hearted Blues / Dipsy Doodle / Johnson Rag / Mr. Cotton Picker / Air Mail Special / Basin Street Blues / I Don't Know / Woodchopper's Ball / Teardrops From My Eyes / Tuxedo Junction / Twin Guitar Special / St. Louis Blues / Blue Guitar Stomp / Summit Ridge Drive / Rock City Boogie / C Jam Blues / Get Along Home, Cindy / Steel Guitar Stomp / Caravan |
| 1996 | CD Hound TRG-505105 (UK) |
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There’s Good Rockin’ Tonight - Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Rock-A-Bye Baby Blues / Bottle Baby Boogie / She’s A Quarter Horse Type (Of A Gal] [with Bob Wills] / Cadillac In Model “A” [with Bob Wills] / Out Of Gas / I Don’t Want To Live Alone / Teardrops On A Diary / For The Childrens Sake / There’s Good Rockin’ Tonight / Red Mittens / Hey Lula (Hey Lu-La) / Four Beers And Forty Tears / Hey Mr. Mailman / I Loved And Lost / My Shoes Keep Walkin’ Back To You / Will Miss Me When I’m Gone / Troubles (Those Lonesome Kind) / Not Very Long / Cadillac In Model “A” / Blues For You My Love / Lonesome Hearted Blues / Rock-A-Bye Baby Blues / Milkcow Blues / Lonesome Hearted Blues / Roped And Tied |
| 02/1999 | CD JOAQUIN JR 2505 (US) |
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CRAZY, MAN, CRAZY - 1952-1954 - Billy Jack WILLS & His WESTERN SWING BAND - Cadillac In Model "A" / For You, My Love / Jelly Roll Blues / Skiddle Dee Boo / Rock-A-Bye Baby Blues / Sugar Blues / Stardust / Slow Drive / Crazy, Man, Crazy / Milk Cow Blues / Sweet Georgia Brown / Kentucky Means Paradise / Kissin' Bug Boogie / Jazz Me Blues / I Laugh How I Think How I Cried Over You / Take Me Back To Tulsa / Rock-A-Bye-Baby Blues (instrumental playout) |
© Rocky Productions 23/08/2020
