Bob Wills Webpage

In 1940, Bob Wills and his band recorded "New San Antonio Rose" which became a huge hit, sending Wills into the national spotlight. That same year, Wills went to Hollywood and made the first of his nineteen western musical movies (�Take Me Back To Oklahoma� Monogram Picture with Tex Ritter).

Wills Joins the Army (1942)

In August 10, of 1942, Bob married his second wife Betty Anderson with whom he stayed married the rest of his life.

Wills Joins the Army (1942)

In December of 1942, Bob Wills joined the army but received a medical discharge less than a year later. Bob's brother, Johnnie Lee Wills kept the radio show going during those years, and wound up keeping that daily noon broadcast on the air until 1958. Johnnie Lee had his own swing band by that time based right there in Tulsa, though members of his band and Playboys often overlapped, as players would float back and forth between them.

Bob set up Johnnie Lee's band for him, just as he later did for brothers Billy Jack and Luke. All the Wills brothers were musically talented, and all were Playboys at various times, but Bob was the clear business leader behind every offspring group. There was always a pool of musicians to mix and match as the size and sound of the Texas Playboys evolved over the years. Bob was the central figure, the creative genius behind a Western Swing empire. 'Johnnie Lee was always kind of in the shadows,' says Rosetta. 'He was a sweetheart, nicest man in the world. Uncle Billy Jack was a good musician, Luke, all of them. But Bob was the star.' Bob and Barbara relocated to California - first to Los Angeles, then to Fresno and finally to Sacramento where his enormous ranch and nightclub was known as �Wills Point.� He downsized his band into a smaller combo, and became an enormous draw in Los Angeles, where many of his Texas, Oklahoma and regional fans had relocated during World War II. During this era, he recorded the �Tiffany Transcriptions,� radio transcriptions that many feel comprise his most exciting and best work.

Wills Placed in the Country Music Hall of Fame (1968)

Wills was married and divorced several times between 1935 and 1941. On August 10, 1942, he was married to Betty Anderson, and they remained married until his death; they had four children. In 1945 Bob Wills and Betty have son, Jim. By 1945, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys had achieved enough notoriety that they were invited to play at the prestigious home of country music at the Grand Ole Opry performance. A drum set was a natural, integral part of the Playboys' music, but it was unheard of in the world of country music back then. When the Opry staff told Bob that his drummer couldn't play, he angrily declared that he would not leave a band member out. It was all the Texas Playboys or none. Bob did agree, however, to let the drums be set up behind the curtains. That is, until time to play, when he hollered, 'Move those things out on stage!' In that moment, Bob Wills had left a permanent mark: there would forever be a beat in country music.

Throughout most of the '60s, Bob just lined up the gig, and local players would be rounded up before his arrival (often under the billing, 'Bob Wills And His Boys'). The basics of country music and Western Swing were somewhat universal (just as they are for rock and roll; Chuck Berry's toured this way for years). All they needed to know was how to play; all he needed was his smile and his fiddle. He'd sometimes hook up along the road with friends like Hoyle Nix, singing and playing with his band. The Playboys split wouldn't remain permanent, however, and Bob and the band would still sometimes travel together. Bob and his band played at the Broken Spoke bar and dance hall in Austin. After telling the joint's regulars that the one and only Bob Wills was coming to play, they simply didn't believe him, or at least they were certain that he wouldn't show up. 'About that time, the door opened. Bob Wills opened it up, he had his cigar in his mouth, he had his fiddle in his hand, and a cowboy hat on, and all those drunks at the bar and at a table, there was just a complete hush. That night, it was Bob and The Playboys.

During those years, Bob had continued a recording career, releasing numerous albums with session musicians and several that reunited him with Tommy Duncan, one album title referring to them as Mr. Words and Mr. Music.

In 1957, Wills was elected to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and in 1968 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 1969 the governor and legislature of Texas honored Wills for his contribution to American music, one of the few original music forms Texas and the Southwest have produced. The day after the ceremonies in Austin, Wills had the first in a series of crippling strokes.

By the early 1970s, Bob Wills' poor health had caught up with him for good. Several strokes and heart attacks had left him paralyzed, confined to a wheelchair. In 1973, some of the Playboys got together, with the help of country music star and Wills fan Merle Haggard, to try to put together one last album while Bob still had the strength to participate. It was eventually released as Bob Wills And His Texas Playboys For The Last Time. They brought Bob Wills over in a wheelchair. That night, Bob had a massive stroke and never got out of bed again after that night. Bob Wills died on May 13, 1975 at the age of 70. The headstone of his grave bears the epitaph, 'Deep Within My Heart Lies A Melody.'

Bob Wills was buried in Memorial Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is a work in progress. Check back later. Thanks!