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Who Bill Carlisle
What Grand Ole Opry star Bill Carlisle dies
When March 17, 2003
Where Nashville, TN
 

(Excerpt from the article mentioned above)

Grand Ole Opry star Bill Carlisle dies

'Jumpin' Bill'' was also a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame

Grand Ole Opry and Country Music Hall of Fame member Bill Carlisle, 94, died at home today in Goodlettsville, Tenn., from complications of a stroke suffered last Wednesday, March 12.

Carlisle's country music career spanned more than 70 years.

"Jumpin' Bill Carlisle," as he was affectionately called, was born Dec. 19, 1908, and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1953.

He last appeared on the Grand Ole Opry March 7, 2003.

Mr. Carlisle, who joined the Opry in 1953 as the leader of The Carlisles, gained a reputation for creating novelty records, and for using a walker during his later years to pick up laughs from Opry crowds.

He often referred to Chet Atkins, who he employed as a fiddler in the early-1940s, as "Smaggy," and his band was also a training ground for Jim Stafford, who continued the novelty tradition in the 1970s, through such pop singles as My Girl Bill and Wildwood Weed.

Some, including Opry member Jimmy C. Newman and WSM personality Hairl Hensley, also credit Mr. Carlisle with influencing rockabilly. Mr. Carlisle used paper under the strings on the bass and guitar in his only No. 1 single, 1953's No Help Wanted, providing a fuller, buzzing sound to the instruments. Elvis Presley began recording for Sun Records the following year, and the technique was borrowed by many of the musicians who have since been classified as rockabilly.

Full text of the article can be found at the link above.

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