Birth and early life
Joseph George Williams was born on a farm on July 1, 1920 in Warsaw, Missouri. His father, George Earl Williams (b. 1900), was a farmer and his mother, Jenny Martha Williams, (b. 1901) was a homemaker. Williams had one older brother, John (b. 1918), and three younger brothers, Gregory (b. 1922), Samuel (b. 1924), and David (b. 1925).
After working on the farm most of his life, Joe finished school in 1938, and right after school, he went right into the Army. In 1950, after 12 years in the Army, Joe came back home to Warsaw and married his high school sweetheart, Dolly Johnson, on March 3, 1950. Then in June 1950, Joe and his wife Dolly moved to Nashville, Tennessee to become a country music artist.
Nashville
Once Joe moved to Nashville, he started to work in the nightclubs for tips and was writing songs for superstars such as Ernest Tubb, Kitty Wells, and many others. After working in clubs and bars for four years, he was signed to Six-Shooter Records in 1954 and released his first album titled "Joe Williams' Songs." In 1955, Joe and Dolly welcomed their first son, James, and in 1957, they welcomed their second son, Joe Jr., and in 1959, they welcomed their 3rd and final son, Merle.
Big star writer
After many unsuccessful albums in 1967, he became one of Nashville's best songwriters. He had many Top 10 and Top 20 hits for artists like George Jones, Conway Twitty, and Bill Anderson, just to name a few. Williams made it close to No. 1 on the charts but never made it, but he did come close with a song called "It's Never Too Late Baby" released in 1975 by Jerry Lee Lewis and it made it to No. 3 on the country charts.
Retirement and today
After 40 years in the country music business, Joe retired to his family farm in Warsaw with his wife Dolly in 1990 where he is a hometown hero. In 1993, Joe bought a gas station in Warsaw and renamed Ol' Joe's, then in 2003, Joe's oldest son James bought the gas station from his father and kept the name. In 1999, his father George Williams died at the age of 99 in Kansas City, Missouri and on December 31, 2006, his mother Jenny Williams died at the age of 105 in Warsaw, Missouri.
Well into his 80s, Joe still did a few shows every year in his home state of Missouri mostly at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia. In 2007, at the age of 87 Joe performed for the last time at the State Fair and ever due to his failing health and age issue.
In November 2007, Joe and his wife Dolly attended the funeral services for Porter Wagoner in Nashville, TN. Also in November of the same year, Joe and his wife Dolly attended the "celebration of life" services for Hank Thompson in Ft. Worth, TX at Billy Bob's Texas.
On May 1, 2009, Joe's contract with Eagle Records was terminated. Joe had been with Eagle Records since 1985 but hasn't released an album with Eagle or at all since 1990.
On July 1, 2020, he became a centenarian.
Hiram "Hank" Williams was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he recorded 35 singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 11 that reached No. 1.
Randall Hank Williams, known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of Southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of country music singer Hank Williams; the half-brother of Jett Williams; and the father of Hank Williams III, Holly Williams, Hilary Williams, Sam Williams, and the late Katherine Williams-Dunning.
Joe South was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Best known for his songwriting, South won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1970 for "Games People Play" and was again nominated for the award in 1972 for "Rose Garden".
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer.
Porter Wayne Wagoner was an American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour.
Hank Locklin was an American country music singer–songwriter. He had 70 chart singles, including two number one hits on Billboard's country chart. His biggest hits included "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On" and his signature "Please Help Me, I'm Falling." The latter also went to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart. Billboard's 100th anniversary issue listed it as the second most successful country single of the rock and roll era. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1981.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1988.
"Cold, Cold Heart" is a country music and pop song recorded by Hank Williams. This blues ballad is both a classic of honky-tonk and an entry in the Great American Songbook.
"Why Don't You Love Me" is a song by American singer and guitarist Hank Williams. The song reached number one on the U.S. Country & Western chart. It was released as a single in 1950 with the B-side "A House Without Love".
Mitchell Torok is an American country music singer, songwriter, artist, author and guitarist, best known for his 1953 hit "Caribbean". He also wrote "Mexican Joe", which catapulted Jim Reeves to stardom. They began to write together and charted many top 20 hits.
...And Then I Wrote is the debut studio album by country singer Willie Nelson, recorded during August and September 1962 and released through Liberty Records.
"Long Gone Lonesome Blues" is a 1950 song by Hank Williams. It was Williams' second number-one single on the Country & Western chart. "Long Gone Lonesome Blues" stayed on the charts for 21 weeks, with five weeks at the top of the Country & Western chart. The B-side of the song, entitled "My Son Calls Another Man Daddy," peaked at number nine on the Country and Western chart.
"Take These Chains from My Heart" is a song by Hank Williams. It was written by Fred Rose and Hy Heath and was recorded at Williams' final recording session on September 23, 1952, in Nashville. The song has been widely praised; Williams' biographer Colin Escott deems it "perhaps the best song [Rose] ever presented to Hank...It was one of the very few songs that sounded somewhat similar to a Hank Williams song." Williams is backed by Tommy Jackson (fiddle), Don Helms, Chet Atkins, Jack Shook, and Floyd "Lightnin'" Chance (bass). In the wake of Williams' death on New Year's Day, 1953, the song shot to No. 1, his final chart-topping hit for MGM Records. Like "Your Cheatin' Heart," the song's theme of despair, so vividly articulated by Williams' typically impassioned singing, reinforced the image of Hank as a tortured, mythic figure.
"You Win Again" is a 1952 song by Hank Williams. In style, the song is a blues ballad and deals with the singer's despair with his partner. The song has been widely covered, including versions by Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and the Rolling Stones.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 2017.
Herbert Paul Gilley was a country music lyricist and promoter from Kentucky. In his lifetime, he was little known as a songwriter, but decades after his death by drowning at age 27, he was identified more widely as likely having written the lyrics to a dozen famous songs, including two that were hits for Hank Williams: "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". He may have also written "I Overlooked an Orchid", which was a number-one country hit in 1974 for Mickey Gilley. Other songs that have been attributed to Gilley include "If Teardrops Were Pennies", "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes", and "Crazy Arms".
