Billy Williamson with Bill Haley

[David Matzenik]

I always wondered about the steel guitar player with Bill Haley (the real King) and the Comets. Here they are in the Saddlemen, circa 1950, once billed as The Cowboy Jive Band. Williamson plays a tasty break at about 1:02 into "Rovin' Eyes."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_RoNY__7kQ

[Joe Elk]

My favorite is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2scVXrV4YA
I know is is a different style of music.
Joe Elk Central Ohio

[Mitch Drumm]

I seriously doubt that is Williamson on "Rovin' Eyes". That's from about 1948 when Haley's band was "The Four Aces Of Western Swing", with Merle Fritz on steel. Williamson joined when Haley formed The Saddlemen several years later.

Here's a pic of Merle and another tune by him with Haley, under Haley's pseudonym "Johnny Clifton".

The guy at the mike is Marshall Lytle, the bass player in most of the well-known Haley band pictures.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SECu-uEXU6o



Here's another by Haley with Merle Fritz; Behind The Eight Ball:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c1RoOdtDes

[Mitch Drumm]

Here's some Billy live video from 1958 in Belgium.

Watch around 1:07.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq3RxyOeoZE


Does he have the bar somehow attached to his hand, while clapping?

Not using a bar at all?

He goes from playing to clapping and back to playing without appearing to set the bar down or to pick it up anywhere. The pic quality is fair but not crisp.

Unfortunately, he doesn't take a ride. Franny Beecher gets in a few licks.

[Tim Whitlock]

Here's some Billy live video from 1958 in Belgium.

Watch around 1:07.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq3RxyOeoZE


Does he have the bar somehow attached to his hand, while clapping?

Not using a bar at all?

He goes from playing to clapping and back to playing without appearing to set the bar down or to pick it up anywhere. The pic quality is fair but not crisp.

Unfortunately, he doesn't take a ride. Franny Beecher gets in a few licks.

It looks to me like he is faux clapping with the bar in his hand just for the visual effect.

[David Matzenik]

I have only just revived my interest in Bill Haley, and like most people in the pre-internet days, I only heard his major hits. That also meant that we only saw Billy Williamson in a few clips doing rips and scrapes. I would have never expected Drowsy Waters, Billy does a nice job. Thanks for the link, Joe. There were a lot of residual musical tastes around in the 1950s, and a band was expected to be versatile. But I do remember, back then, the sense that those early Rock bands were having trouble coming up with new material.

Mitch, thanks for the correction. On Billy Williamsons solos, I was quoting John Swenson's biography of Haley, and you know what they say about assumptions. I am pretty sure these are Billy:

Rock This Joint, he comes in about 1,34. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-BztZfXzlo

Rocking Chair On the Moon, at about 1,18.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scR1qiAcKBo

On that hand-clap transition, I think you can do it, but you are not going to get a very convincing clap sound. The Comets were always going for visual animation on stage.

[Mitch Drumm]

Here’s Williamson, inviting you down to see The Saddlemen for some “hillbilly and western” music, circa 1951/1952:

https://picosong.com/wAHCB



Here’s the all-time Comets clip, not for the faint of heart; from “Don’t Knock The Rock”; 1956:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdAvxDVv5Vc



Here’s a crystal clear color clip from late 1958 of Haley with Williamson in the Caterina Valente feature film “Here I Am, Here I Stay”. Unfortunately, only glimpses of Williamson. Looks like the “Fender” logo was removed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3_wWHhhY30

[K Maul]

As far as I know he always played a Gibson. In the last shot you can see the logo.