Bill
Anderson

Inducted
2001
Born
November 1, 1937
Birthplace
Columbia, South Carolina

A force in country music songwriting for more than six decades, Bill Anderson has also been a hit recording artist, television and radio host, and popular Grand Ole Opry star.

College Whiz Kid

One of country music’s most successful singer-songwriters, James William Anderson III has recorded more than three dozen Top Ten country hits and has written hit songs across six decades in the music business. While earning a degree in journalism, he worked his way through the University of Georgia as a DJ (at station WJJC in Commerce, Georgia), sportswriter (for the DeKalb New Era), and performer.

In 1957, Anderson recorded “City Lights” for TNT Records in San Antonio, Texas. The honky-tonk-themed song found its way to Columbia Records’ Ray Price, whose May 29, 1958, recording became a #1 country hit on the Billboard charts. Signed within weeks to Decca Records, Anderson recorded his first session for the label in August 1958 and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1961.

Known for his breathy, conversational vocal style (which earned him his nickname, “Whisperin’ Bill”), he logged thirty-seven Top Ten country hits between 1960 and 1978, including duets with Jan Howard and with Mary Lou Turner. While doing so, he helped discover Connie Smith and wrote her #1 breakthrough, “Once a Day” (1964), plus five Top Ten follow-up hits.

Others scoring substantial hits with Anderson tunes include Jim Reeves, Roger Miller, Hank Locklin, Kitty Wells, Porter Wagoner, and Cal Smith. His songs breathed new life into the careers of Lefty Frizzell (“Saginaw, Michigan”), Charlie Louvin (“I Don’t Love You Anymore”), and Jean Shepard (“Slippin’ Away”). Anderson’s original song “Tip of My Fingers” made the Top Ten for himself (1960), Roy Clark (1963), Eddy Arnold (1966), and Steve Wariner (1992). Revivals of Anderson songs worked well for Mickey Gilley (“City Lights,” #1, 1974) and Conway Twitty (“I May Never Get to Heaven,” #1, 1979).

Songs

Po’ Folks

Bill Anderson

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Still

Bill Anderson

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Wild Weekend

Bill Anderson

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A Versatile Entertainer

A versatile entertainer, Anderson hosted his own syndicated TV series (1965–1973), a network game show (ABC’s The Better Sex, 1977–1978), and the Nashville Network’s Fandango (1983–1989). He cohosted TNN’s long-running Opry Backstage show and appeared in several low-budget country-oriented films and a soap opera (ABC’s One Life to Live).

Anderson is also the author of a 1989 autobiography, Whisperin’ Bill; a 1993 memoir, I Hope You’re Living as High on the Hog as the Pig You Turned Out to Be; and a 2016 autobiography, Whisperin’ Bill Anderson: An Unprecedented Life in Country Music. He also wrote a Country Song Roundup magazine column for many years. He hosted a SiriusXM Radio program, Bill Anderson Visits with the Legends, from 2006 to 2013.

Image Gallery

Brad Paisley and Bill Anderson, 1999. Photo by Raeanne Rubenstein.
Bill Anderson with a copy of Bill Anderson Sings Country Heart Songs, his 1962 debut album, at his feet.
Bill Anderson backstage, 1960s.
Bill Anderson recording at Nashville’s Columbia Records Studio B, 1960s.
Bill Anderson and Jan Howard on the set of the Bill Anderson Show.
Bill Anderson and his band, the Po’ Boys, late 1960s. From left: Jimmy Lance, Jimmy Gateley, Len “Snuffy” Miller, Sonny Garrish, and Bill Anderson.
Bill Anderson at Tennessee’s Old Hickory Lake, 1975. Photo by Raeanne Rubenstein
From left: Joe Bonsall of the Oak Ridge Boys; his wife, Mary; and Bill Anderson at a softball game to benefit muscular dystrophy, held at Nashville’s Herschel Greer Stadium, 1983. Anderson played for Conway Twitty’s team, the Twitty Birds. Photo by Raeanne Rubenstein.
Bill Anderson and songwriter Sharon Vaughn at Nashville’s Bluebird Café, 1999.
Bill Anderson, early 1960s.

Bill Anderson’s song “City Lights” found its way to Columbia Records’ Ray Price, whose May 1958 recording became a #1 country hit on the Billboard charts. Signed within weeks to Decca Records, Anderson recorded his first session for the label in August 1958 and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1961.

Resurgence As a Songwriter

Anderson’s chart hits faded in the late 1970s, and he left Decca/MCA in 1982. His recordings have since appeared on Warner Bros. Records, Curb Records, and several other labels. As a writer, however, Anderson began a resurgence in the 1990s, coauthoring Vince Gill’s 1995 hit “Which Bridge to Burn” with the younger singer.

In 1998, Anderson co-wrote a pair of #1 country hits: “Wish You Were Here” by Mark Wills, and the Grammy-nominated “Two Teardrops” by Steve Wariner. Anderson’s “Too Country,” recorded by Brad Paisley along with Anderson, Buck Owens, and George Jones, became the Country Music Association’s 2001 Vocal Event of the Year.

In 2002, Kenny Chesney hit the country Top Ten with the Anderson–Dean Dillon masterpiece “A Lot of Things Different.” Anderson and Jon Randall took 2005 CMA Song of the Year honors for their moving ballad “Whiskey Lullaby,” recorded by Paisley and Alison Krauss. Anderson won a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association (GMA) for co-writing, with Tia Sillers, the GMA’s 2007 Country Recorded Song of the Year, “Jonah, Job, and Moses,” sung by the Oak Ridge Boys. The same year, he won the Academy of Country Music’s Song of the Year award for “Give It Away,” penned with Buddy Cannon and Jamey Johnson and recorded by George Strait. “Give It Away” was also the CMA’s 2007 Song of the Year.

In addition, Anderson’s work can be heard on releases from the 2000s by such artists as Sugarland, Joe Nichols, and Sara Evans.

—Walt Trott

Adapted from the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum’s Encyclopedia of Country Music, published by Oxford University Press