Bill Nettles (March 13, 1903 - April 5, 1967) was a noted songwriter and country singer over a span of three decades.
William F. Nettles was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana in either 1903 or 1907 according to different sources. Bill was a member of U.S. Marines and he took a part in World War I. Then he got a job as brakeman on the Pacific railroad line and around this time he met his future bride, Emma Lou Rich from Arcadia, Louisiana whom he married on 19 December of 1922 in Shreveport.
Bill’s interest in music was initially satisfied by purchasing records of his favourite singer Jimmie Rodgers, as well as buying platters by Jimmie Davis, Gene Autry and Cliff Carlisle. Then in 1934 Bill teamed up with his brother Norman to form the Nettle Brothers, with Norman on guitar and himself on mandolin. Unlike many popular duos of the time, Bill and Norman refrained from dueting on vocals, which made them stand out from the run of the mills outfits trying to imitate the well known names. Thus it was not long before an offer came their way to appear on radio in Shreveport on KWKH, at that time starring a favourite artist of Bill’s, Jimmie Davis. It was he who got their recording contract with Vocation in 1937.
All in all eleven singles (a total of 22 sides) were recorded between 1937 and 1938. While their record sales did not set the world alight, their popularity on the radio continued to increase with appearances on KRMD and KXBS (both out of Shreveport, La.), KALB (Alexandria, la.) and KVDL (Lafayette, La.) Gradually the membership of the band increased to the stage where it became known as the Nettles Brothers String Band, and early in 1941 they were signed to the Bluebird label. It is worth noting that whilst the first records to appear on Vocalion in 1937 were credited to Bill Nettles & his Dixie Blue Boys, the Bluebird recordings were credited to the Nettles Brothers.
Along with Harmie Smith, Bob Shelton, Dick Hart, young Webb Pierce, and host Hal Burns, Nettles & His Dixie Blue Boys helped to launch a twice-weekly Louisiana Hayride program on KWKH in the summer of 1945 that predated the more famous auditorium show by almost three years.
After the Bluebird sessions the band signed to the RCA-Victor albel in 1945, reverting his name to « Bill Nettles & his Dixie Blue Boys with brother Luther on bass. However the rest of musicians were local Dallas sidesmen from the musicians’ union and did not fit in with Bill’s style. So greatly was he disillusioned with RCA that Bill broke his contract and went to Bullet Records.
It’s not clear whether this experience with RCA persuaded Bill to reform his own band, but he went to Bullet with a radically new line-up. Danny Dedmon joined as lead guitarist and became a mainstay of the Dixie Blue Boys along with fiddle player Robert Shivers. In between changing of recording labels, Bill moved the family from Shreveport to Monroe, La., where with the exception of short breaks he would live for the rest of his life.
Bill cut three sessions with Bullet from Nashville. The first date for Bullet was already on 7 July 1946, probably at Jim Beck’s studio in Dallas, as Beck had a tie with Jim Bulleit. High falutin’ mama was a prime example of up-tempo bluesy country.
He also started appearing at the local radio station KMLB, where he was to record sometimes. By this stage Bill and his wife had four children. The eldest, Bill Jr. never got deeply involved in his father’s musical career. However one of the remaining children, Loyce (born 1929), became a featured singer in her dad’s band, billed a « The Little Dixie sweetheart ». She became a permanent along with her piano playing husband, Pal Thibodeaux, when the Dixie Blue Boys recorded for Imperial.
A tune he wrote and recorded for Mercuy, “Hadacol Boogie“, in a Monroe radio station in 1949, was a celebration of Dudley LeBlanc‘s restorative elixir. It went to # 9 on the country charts. Nettles recorded five sides for Starday in 1954, including the rare proto- rockabilly single "Wine-O Boogie"/"Gumbo Mumbo" (Starday 174)
Whilst the advent of rock’n’roll put a brake on Bill’s recording activities, Bill was baptized in 1958, subsequently becoming a devout Christian. Around 1957/58 The Dixie Blue Boys were performing on radio as a sacred group, before Bill disbanded the group and effectively retired from business.
In 1965 he was talked into a comeback and appeared on his own Nett Records label. Sadly this revival (3 singles) was short lived as Bill Nettles died on April 5 1967. Throughout his life he wrote over 300 songs, and had 155 published by leading publishers. (Edited from bopping.org)