Bob Wills' fiddling honored at Cain's Ballroom benefit
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| Rosetta Wills, Bob Wills’ daughter, accepts an award for her father at his posthumous induction into the newly founded National Fiddler Hall of Fame at a gala Friday at Cain’s Ballroom. |
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By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
4/16/2007
Texas fiddler Bob Wills was inducted into the newly founded National Fiddler Hall of Fame during a Friday night gala filled with country, blues, bluegrass and Irish fiddle performances.
About 170 people attended the $130-per-plate gala at Cain's Ballroom while thunderstorms blew by outdoors and rainwater trickled down the "Ballroom Dancing" sign out front. John Wooley, a former Tulsa World music writer and Wills historian, was the master of ceremonies for the event, a benefit for the Hall of Fame.
"I know he would be so thrilled," said Wills' daughter, Rosetta Wills, upon accepting her late father's induction into the hall. After thanking the ballroom's owners, the Rodgers family, for restoring it, she said that if her humble father were alive today, he'd be blown away by the induction.
Wills, who died in 1975, made his name at Cain's Ballroom, where he moved from Texas after falling out with his former manager, W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel. He and his Texas Playboys performed at the ballroom from 1934 until about 1942, when he left for California. His performances were broadcast by KVOO, making him a star. His brother, Johnnie Lee Wills, took over after Wills left, and he performed at Cain's for years.
The night was topped off with performances by at least 15 of the best fiddle players in the world.
One of them, Curly Lewis, played for Bob Wills. Lewis, his voice gravelly from throat cancer, entertained with his western swing fiddling backed at times by Hall of Fame Vice President Shelby Eicher and guitarist Mark Bruner.
The crowd got a taste of bluegrass from Byron Berline, contest fiddling from the "Hee Haw" star Jana Jae, and blues fiddle from James Tarver of Tulsa.
Wills also got the nod from Oklahoma Stomp, a nine-piece band of area teenagers that plays western swing tunes, which drew standing ovations.
Many of the members would perform later that night with the older performers, and Jae was joined onstage by the local fiddlers Emma and Marina Pendleton, who recently won fame for their high ranking in a contest on CBS' "The Early Show."
Eicher summed up jazz fiddle for the crowd, playing a rendition of George Gershwin's "Summertime" and some Gypsy-flavored jazz. Eric Ryan-Johnson put an international flair on the night with his Irish folk fiddle.
The evening ended with all the players on the stage for a rendition of Wills' "Liberty," followed by a house band including steel guitarist J.D. Walters, Lewis, Bruner and Eicher playing for the guests who scooted across the ballroom's approximately 80-year-old dance floor.
The hall, which will be housed in Tulsa at a site to be determined later, will be dedicated to preserving the fiddle's history as well as encouraging youths to play the instrument.
Matt Elliott 581-8366
matt.elliott@tulsaworld.com
By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
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