Similar Artists:
Influenced By:
- Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000s
- Genres: Country
- Instrument: Engineer, Producer, Pedal Steel
Biography
Turning a common expression around on itself is a tried and true way to cook up the gravy in country music. The royalty checks are made out to William D. Johnson, but he's better known as just plain Bill Johnson. He was the pedal steel player for Marty Robbins for nearly 15 years, extending back before that charismatic balladeer was in the Army. The aforementioned checks might be covering residuals left over from that activity, but most of the doolah is for writing a single song. "Time heals all wounds" is the cliché this time around, inspiring Johnson to conceive of "A Wound Time Can't Erase." Many country artists wept their way through cover versions of this song, the ultimate version perhaps belonging to Stonewall Jackson, whose name alone seems to perfectly suit the mood of the song."Do I really need to do anything else?" may have been one hit songwriter's reactions to questions about his post-smash career, but in the case of Johnson there are plenty of other details to report. The 1962 hit hardly erased this multi-talented gentleman's ambitions. He was still playing both live and in the studio on keyboards and fiddle as well as his beloved pedal steel in the late '90s, including a release under his own name, Ace in the Hole. Johnson also branched out into engineering and production, developing a reputation for precision recordings as shimmering as his pedal steel licks and as down to earth as the thoughts expressed in his original songs.
Yet another talent of Johnson's is as a disc jockey. He has been affiliated with several radio stations in both the United States and Canada, and during the latter part of his career was dividing his time between the two nations. While it is not the only appearance of the name Bill Johnson in a song lyric, Robbins might well have been having a laugh at his pedal steel man when he recorded this lyric: "Martha Ellen Jenkins, how long have I chased the boys away from you? It seems like it was yesterday I turned Bill Johnson's green eyes black and blue." ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
