Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Country Music Pioneer Doc Williams Dies

The country music community has lost another legend with the passing of Doc Williams. Nashville's "Tennessean" says the pioneering country star died in Wheeling, West Virginia on Monday. He was 96. Doc, who learned to play a variety of instruments from his father, began his musical career as a teenager back in 1929 and never looked back. He got his big break in 1937 when he joined the cast of the WWVA Original Jamboree -- and stayed for 61 years. Williams and his band, Border Riders, quickly became one of the show's most popular acts. In the late 1940s, Williams started to take his music on the road, becoming the first Jamboree act to go on tour. Through his radio and concert work he developed a following across the Northeastern U.S. and into Canada. Despite offers to move to Nashville's Grand Ole Opry, Williams remained loyal to his West Virginia roots.

While Williams never had a hit single, he's perhaps best known for the song "My Old Brown Coat and Me." He was a member of the Country Music Association and, with his wife and musical partner Chickie who died in 2007, was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Williams' survivors include three children, four grandkids, and three great-grandchildren.