Ask Bill – August 1, 2024
1) I grew up in central Illinois, and listened to the WLS Barn Dance out of Chicago. My favorite stars were Homer & Jethro, Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers, and Lula Belle & Scotty Wiseman. I was wondering if you ever played the Barn Dance and/or traveled with any of the stars from there?
The Barn Dance on WLS went away in 1957, when the station switched to a rock ‘n roll format, and I didn’t come to Nashville until a couple of years later. Although the show continued on WGN until 1968, I was never invited to appear. I did tour some with Homer & Jethro and with Red Foley, but I think by that time they had both left the Barn Dance. It was a great show and holds a prominent place in country music history.
2) I’ve always been curious as to how someone like you, who has had a successful career performing and songwriting, protects his songs and ensures the “mailbox money” keeps coming. Do you have people help you with making those deals or have you done a lot of that yourself through the years?
The tracking of record sales, streaming, and song performances is done through the publisher of the song or their assigns, and through the Performing Rights Organization that licenses the song, in my case BMI. They do the day to day work and account to me twice every year (the publisher) and every quarter (BMI). If I tried to do that kind of work myself I’d never have time to write songs or do anything else.
3) My mother-in-law shared with us two letters from WSM showing that she performed twice at the Junior Grand Ole Opry back in 1956. Would you happen to have any information about the days of the Junior Opry or give us any insight as to where there might be an archive of these performances?
The Junior Grand Ole Opry was a live Saturday morning radio show on WSM back in the 50’s that originated in the station’s Studio C before a live audience. It was formatted to feature young (I don’t know the age limits) performers who aspired to sing and play country music. I once applied to be on the show with my Avondale Playboys band around 1954 or ’55, and was accepted. I had to cancel, though, when some of my musicians couldn’t or wouldn’t make the trip to Nashville. As to where any of those old shows might be archived I would have no idea.
4) Our Question Of The Month comes from Craig in Utah. He writes, “I love to sing, especially good country music. But how do I learn to sing like me and not try to sound like the original artist?
I can really relate to this question, because as a teenager I faced the same situation. If I was singing a Hank Williams song, I tried to sing it like Hank. Or Faron Young, Ernest Tubb, Webb Pierce or the other stars of the day. I only began to sing like myself when I started to write my own songs. With an original song that I’d never heard anybody else sing, I was forced to sing it like Bill Anderson. I would suggest you try the same thing. Write your own songs so there’s nothing else for you to copy. Then you HAVE to be original. Good luck.
Quickies: Where is Jimmy Lance? I always enjoyed listening to his guitar playing perfection on your song, “Golden Guitar.” Jimmy was the original guitar player in my Po’ Boys band back in the sixties. Afterward, he worked many years for Eddy Arnold. He passed away a couple of years ago. I think everyone would agree that Patsy Cline was one of the greatest. Did you ever share the stage with her and did you ever record any songs together? Patsy and I had the same booking agent, the late Hubert Long, so we worked quite a few concert dates together. And, of course, we performed on many of the same nights at the Opry. We never recorded together, however, even though we were on the same record label. I just watched Nashville Public Television’s wonderful documentary on the life of Minnie Pearl. Did you often appear with Minnie on the Opry and did you ever see her socially away from the Opry? Yes, Minnie and I were often on the Opry together, and I remember what a thrill it always was to introduce her to the audience then step aside and watch her perform. As much as we loved one another, we seldom were together socially. Our contrasting schedules basically prevented it. Have you ever done any duets with your bluegrass friends? Not as much as I would have liked. The Osborne Brothers sang with me on my recording of “Philadelphia Lawyer” many years ago, and I appeared in a video with Dailey & Vincent (“Feel Good Music”), but that’s about it. In July, 1961, when you were first inducted into the Grand Ole Opry did you ever dream you would someday be the Opry’s longest ongoing member? Heavens, no! Back then I just hoped they wouldn’t lose my phone number and would ask me to be on the next week’s show! Would you rather be remembered as a songwriter or as a performing/recording artist? As Mac Wiseman used to sing, it would be “sweet to be remembered” in any capacity. I imagine if anyone remembers me after I’m gone, though, it will be for the songs I have written. And that’s fine with me.I hope you will remember to send me any country music related questions you might have so we can do this again in our September newsletter. Send them to me at askbill@billanderson.com and I’ll do my best to answer. If yours is chosen our Question Of The Month, you will receive any item of your choice from our online store free of charge. Stay curious, and I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon.
