Billy Beeman

For nearly seven decades BILLY BEEMAN has impressed his friends and fans with his unique fiddling and songwriting ability. As a child, Billy's first music teacher was the legendary Woody Guthrie, who also started Billy in radio. At first, Billy played guitar, but before he was born, Billy's father had bet Bob Wills that Billy would play the fiddle, and since 1933, he has played fiddle like no one else.

As Billy was growing up, Bob Wills was one of his greatest influences, as were Stephan Grappelli, Hugh Farr and Spade Cooley. Cooley once invited Billy to play twin fiddles with him on stage, doubtless a great thrill for the youngster. Perhaps as a result of the guidance and friendship he was shown by his musical heroes as a boy, Billy has always been ready to pass along friendly tips to today's youngsters, all of whom greatly admire him.

Performing with his brothers and sister, Billy appeared on the same Billy Beeman bill with the Paul Whiteman Orch., the Original Dixieland Band, Eddie Foy and the Seven Little Foys, Kay Kyser, Ted Lewis, the Hoosier Hot-Shots, Patsy Montana, Tex Williams, Stuart Hamblen, Roy Rogers (Trigger danced to Billy's music!), Eddie Dean and a host of others. They performed numerous times on the National Barn Dance and worked with Tex Ritter for several seasons. They once played a special request for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In the 30s and 40s, they worked with all of Hollywood's leading stars contributing their Western music to raise money for the British War Relief.

Billy and his family were instrumental in bringing Western music to Knott's Berry Farm, where it thrived for years. While there, Billy recorded several albums with the Wagonmasters which are highly prized by collectors today. The family also contributed much to continuing the western music tradition in radio in the 1930s and 40s.

Billy and his brother, Bobby, were a major force in the creation of the Western Music Association. For the first years of the Association's existence, Billy and the Lobo Rangers were annual headliners at the WMA's festivals, with Billy's fiddle and compositions making up a significant portion of the Rangers' repertoire. CHRONICLES OF AN OLD FIDDLER, Billy's autobiography, documents the extensive career of this spellbinding fiddle player. by 0. J. Sikes