Sonobeat Artists

Bill Wilson

Powerful songsmith and bold singer.
Super ’60s and ’70s troubadour.

Bill Wilson
Home base: Austin, Texas
Genres: Blues | Country | Folk | Pop
Recorded with Sonobeat: 1969 & 1970
Sonobeat release: Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music: Bill Wilson, Composer non-commercial song demo album (1969)

Meet Bill Wilson

Indiana native son. Vietnam war veteran. Accomplished musician, singer, and songwriter. That was Bill Wilson (March 14, 1947-November 25, 1998), who later in his musical career would become known as “the ever changing minstrel” in acknowledgment of his breadth of musical styles.

Finishing out his final two years of service in the Air Force at Austin’s Bergstrom Air Force Base in 1969 and ’70, Bill used his off-duty evenings and weekends to perform at South Austin bars and clubs, often joined by Sonobeat artist Cody Hubach. Cody introduced Bill to Sonobeat co-founders Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley“Rim Kelley” was the pseudonym used by Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Jr. as a radio deejay in Austin, Texas, during the 1960s and as a Sonobeat producer from 1967 to 1970., who were duly impressed with Bill’s musicianship, voice, and outgoing personality. And, of course, by Bill’s catalog of well-crafted and compelling songs, ranging from plaintive ballads to boisterous anthems. Cody’s introduction led to Sonobeat recording Bill over a two year period and in the release of a demo album featuring eleven of Bill’s original songs.

Read more of Bill’s story below ↓

Bill Wilson

A series of promo photos taken during a break in recording sessions at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio in Austin (1969)



Sonobeat Artists


Bill Wilson


Bill Wilson arrives in Austin, Texas

Born in Lebanon, Indiana, and reared in nearby Brownsburg, Indiana, 19-year-old Bill Wilson joined the Air Force in 1966, taking a tour of duty in Vietnam. His final years of service, from 1968 to 1970, were served at Bergstrom Air Force BaseBergstrom Air Force Base was decommissioned by the U.S. government in 1993, the land sold to the City of Austin, and in 1997 reopened as Austin-Bergstrom International Airport., a Strategic Air Command facility, on the southern outskirts of Austin, Texas. Already an accomplished singer and songwriter, Bill used his off-duty evenings and weekends to perform at South Austin bars and nightclubs, gathering a solid following. He performed frequently alongside Cody Hubach, a popular folk singer who lived near Bergstrom, in tiny Manchaca. Sonobeat had begun recording sessions with Cody in May 1969, Cody and Bill bonded, and soon Cody introduced Bill to Sonobeat co-founders Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley.


The Sonosong demo recordings

Bill’s first work with Sonobeat began in November 1969 with sessions that led to a non-commercial song demo album for Sonobeat’s publishing subsidiary, Sonosong. The album showcased eleven of Bill’s original compositions. Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Bill Wilson, Composer featured an eclectic mix of Bill’s blues, country, folk, and pop tunes. In August 2020, a copy of the demo – not more than 105 copies were manufactured – sold on eBay for $300, demonstrating that Bill’s music has remained in high demand over the decades as well as indicating how rare it is for copies to be in circulation (given that there appear to have been no other copies publicly available since 2020).

Because Bill performed his Sonosong demo album predominantly with guitar and harmonica accompaniment and, perhaps because the sole purpose of the album was to promote his songs and not Bill himself as a performer, Sonobeat’s archives contain only monaural mixes. Nonetheless, Bill’s vocal performances were solid and convincing and demonstrated his broad range of talents. Cindy Reynolds added vocal harmonies on The Merry-Go Man, a song about living an ignorant life that addresses the Vietnam war and that also likely was inspired by, but remained distinctly different from, The Beatles’ Nowhere Man. Several unissued recordings, including Big Train, a blues piece, were recorded in the sessions that produced Bill’s demo album and in sessions during the following months. These 55-year-old recordings remain fresh and relevant today, demonstrating the timelessness of Bill’s songs.


Bill Wilson and pals
  • Bill Wilson (composer, guitar, harmonica, and vocals)
  • Vince Mariani (cymbals on Tastes of Summer)
  • Cindy Reynolds (harmony vocals on The Merry-Go Man)
  • Mike Waugh (bass on Tastes of Summer and The Old Man)

Sonobeat circulated Bill’s demo album to national record company A&RArtist & Repertoire (A&R) executives at record labels recruit and manage a roster of artists, connecting them to new songs and overseeing their recording and promotional activities. departments, hoping to solicit major artists to record some of the tunes. The Sonobeat archives don’t indicate how many copies were actually sent out to the national labels for review. The album was issued in mid-November ’69, even as Bill continued to cut addition original tracks for Sonobeat. Prolific Sonosong composer Herman Nelson was so impressed with Bill’s song demos that when Herman began work on Songs rom the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman Nelson, Composer, Volume 2, he asked Sonobeat to engage Bill to perform the 12 songs on the demo.

Bill returned to the Sonobeat in November ’69 for additional recording sessions that yielded The Man in Black, Wanna Go Back, Tastes of Summer, and The Old Man, but none of those recordings were released. Sonobeat superstar drummer Vince Mariani added cymbal flourishes to Tastes of Summer, and Sonobeat regular Mike Waugh provided bass on Tastes of Summer and The Old Man. Producer Bill Josey Sr. ordered a 33-1/3 RPM acetate reference transfer of The Old Man, which he sent to his friend Ron Bledsoe, an executive at Columbia Records in Nashville, hoping to either sell a single by Bill Wilson to Columbia or interest other Columbia artists in covering the song.


Bill Wilson
The demo album cover
Bill Wilson
Demo master tape side I front
Bill Wilson
Demo master tape side I back
Bill Wilson
Demo master tape side II front
Bill Wilson
Demo master tape side II back
Bill Wilson
Unissued recordings

Sonobeat considered commercially releasing Bill’s 100 Miles Out of Denver backed with When She Was Mine as a 45 RPM single but scrapped the idea for reasons not documented in the Sonobeat archives; however, had the single actually been released, the tracks almost certainly would have been re-recorded with additional instrumentation and would have been mixed in stereo, unlike the simple, mono demo versions.



Bill believed in quality, not quantity, in his music. He loved the music, and it came from deep within.”



The Mariani sessions

Wilson was as impressive a blues and rock singer as he was a composer, so he was tapped by the Joseys for Sonobeat’s legendary Mariani recording sessions in 1970. Bill contributed his strong and distinctive vocal talents to two songs on Mariani’s only album, Perpetuum Mobile, which Sonobeat issued only as a non-commercial “advance copy” pressing circulated to the major national record labels. Bill’s powerful performances on Mariani’s Last Milestone and I Can’t Hurt Myself are reminiscent of Blood, Sweat & Tears’ great vocalist David Clayton-Thomas.


Back to Indiana

After completing his tour of duty in the Air Force in 1970, Bill returned to native Indiana, settling in Bloomington, where in 1972 he joined The Pleasant Street Band. Later that year, he brought the band to Austin to record an album at Sonobeat. By 1972, Bill’s career was in full swing. On the combined strength of his Sonosong demo album (and perhaps the acetate of The Old Man Bill Josey had sent to Ron Bledsoe at Columbia) and Bill’s work with The Pleasant Street Band, Columbia Records commissioned Bill’s first solo album, Ever Changing Minstrel, recorded with members of Bob Dylan’s backing band. Columbia execs had high hopes for Bill as the next Bob Dylan, but a change in Columbia’s senior management just as Bill’s album was released in 1973 interrupted his career on the label. Bill formally resigned from The Pleasant Street Band in ’74 and, based out of Indianapolis, formed Bill Wilson and Friends. In 1983, Bill relocated to Florida but continued to make occasional appearances in Indiana, finally moving back “home” in 1986. He went on to record three independent albums, Talking to Stars, Made in the U.S.A., and Traction in the Rain. He remains best known, perhaps, for his moving Soldier’s Song, a reflection on the plight of returning Vietnam war veterans, a heartbreaking situation he knew well as a Vietnam war veteran himself.

Wilson died suddenly on Thanksgiving, November 25, 1993, at age 46, succumbing to massive heart failure. At the time, he was in Nashville, Tennessee, preparing to record a fourth independent album.



Back in the 70s through the early 90s, Bill Wilson was widely considered Indiana’s finest singer-songwriter. Bill was certainly the hardest-working, devoted to his art every minute of the day. He wove elements of folk, country, rock and blues into a sometimes delicate, sometimes jaw-busting canvas for his thoughtful, provocative lyrical excursions.”


Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company:
Bill Wilson, Composer

Recording and release details
33-1/3 RPM monaural song demo album

Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Bill Wilson, Composer

Catalog number: WEJ-285M/WEJ-286M

Plain white jacket rubber stamped “SONGS FROM THE CATALOG OF SONOSONG MUSIC COMPANY” and “Bill Wilson, Composer”

Issued in mid-November 1969



All songs composed by Bill Wilson

Side I:

  • Peace of Mind • 4:00
  • Summer Morning • 3:35
  • Janie • 4:50
  • Keep on Pickin’ • 2:30
  • All Alone • 2:35
  • Death Row Blues • 3:15

Side II:

  • When She Was Mine • 3:15
  • Where Do You Run • 4:18
  • Barry’s Song • 3:15
  • 100 Miles Out of Denver • 4:16
  • The Merry-Go Man • 4:15


Produced by Bill Josey Sr.

Engineered by Rim Kelley

Recorded at Sonobeat’s Western Hills Drive studio, Austin, Texas, on various dates in October 1969

Recorded using...

  • ElectroVoice Slimair 636 dynamic and Sony ECM-22 electret condenser microphones
  • Scully 280 half-inch 4-track and Ampex 354 quarter-inch 2-track tape decks
  • Custom 16-channel 4-bus mixing console
  • Fairchild Lumiten 663ST stereo optical compressor
  • Blonder-Tongue Audio Baton 9-band graphic equalizer
  • Custom steel plate stereo reverb
  • 3M (Scotch) 202 and Ampex 681 tape stock


Approximately 100-105 copies manufactured

Lacquers mastered and vinyl copies pressed by Sidney J. Wakefield & Company, Phoenix, Arizona

Label blanks printed by Powell Offset Services, Austin, Texas

Printed insert briefly describing each song

In the dead wax...

  • Side I: WEJ-285M 12715 HEC
  • Side II: WEJ-286M 12715 HEC
  • “WEJ” at the beginning of the catalog number are Sonobeat co-founder Bill Josey Sr.’s initials. The tulip shape stamped next to the matrix number is the Sidney J. Wakefield logo. “HEC” are the Wakefield mastering engineer’s initials.


Unissued recordings
  • Big Train • 3:42
  • The Man in Black • 3:45
  • Nancy Ann • 2:43
  • The Old Man • 5:22
  • Tastes of Summer • 4:44
  • Time for the Tell • 1:45
  • Wanna Go Back • 4:08

Bill Wilson demo album insert
The insert to Bill Wilson’s demo album briefly describing each song

Listen!
00:00
Bill Wilson
00:00

Trivia

Bill Wilson claimed he was an uncredited co-writer of Dire Strait’s 1978 hit Sultans of Swing. In a recorded 1991 live performance at The Warehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, Bill told the audience, just before playing the song, that “I do this thing I co-wrote ... about 12 years ago... I wrote the lyrics and a friend of mine used to work a lot of sessions for my old producer, [Columbia Record’s] Bob Johnston, and worked a session with this fellow from England by the name of Mark Knopfler. Has his own group over there called Dire Straits. He had this little melody. It sounded like Walk, Don’t Run. And he had this little story concerning a band that nobody wanted to listen to. Only a few people show up to hear. So we got together one night after the session and tossed these lyrics around on a napkin, and I guess I wound up writing most of the lyrics to the tune... made enough money to buy a new Blazer that year I remember, so didn’t do too bad. It goes like this...”

To the best of our knowledge, this story has never been confirmed or corroborated, and over the years many have disputed it’s authenticity.

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