John Wills
At a fiddlers' convention in Munday, Texas, John Wills and Eck Robertson — the "Cowboy Fiddler" who cut country music's first commercial fiddle record in 1922 — tied and played a run-off. Robertson went first; Wills replied with his lucky tune, "Gone Indian," holding one note so long the crowd went wild and judges gave him first prize. Robertson answered: "Hell, no! He didn't outfiddle me. That damned old man Wills outhollered me." Born in Limestone County, Texas, in 1880, Wills learned frontier fiddle from his own father and grandfather, then spent fourteen years fiddling West Texas ranch dances after the family settled in Hall County in 1913. He kept playing into the 1940s, backed by his son Johnnie Lee, while his eldest, Bob, carried what he'd taught into western swing. His only trace on record is a guest turn on "Oh Henry," cut during Bob's 1943–44 Hollywood sessions.
we haven’t charted John Wills yet
this stretch of the river isn’t mapped. we trace the watershed one artist at a time — and we’re always heading further upstream.