Buddy Williams (country musician)
Buddy Williams, born as Harry Taylor and also known as Harold Williams, was a pioneering Australian country music singer-songwriter, known as "The Yodelling Jackaroo".
Williams was the first Australian to record country music in Australia, three years after the New Zealander Tex Morton made his first recording in Australia. Williams recorded his songs about life and times in the Australian bush. It was with Williams that the bush ballad was first born. Williams's recording of "Give A Little Credit To Dad", complete with trademark yodel, was added to the Sounds of Australia project by the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra.
Early life
Buddy Williams was born Harry Taylor in the Newtown suburb of Sydney, Australia and was soon placed in Glebe Point Orphanage. After many failed escape bids as a child, he was fostered out as a young boy to a dairy-farming family at Dorrigo on the north coast of New South Wales. It soon became apparent that rather than looking for a new child to bring up, the family was more interested in an unpaid laborer. This was not uncommon in the Depression and post-Depression era where rural child slavery was a fact of life. Times were hard, and life on the farm was tough for young Williams, but it also allowed freedom he never had in the orphanage. He would listen to recordings on an old gramophone of his favourite singers such as Jimmie Rodgers and fell in love with this new music that would become known as country music. At age 15, he ran away from his foster home and began working for other families in the district. He worked at many jobs and started busking around the north coast of NSW, dodging the police who at the time frowned upon such activities.Career
Buddy Williams made his first recordings in 1938, a disk. The two songs recorded at this session were "Where The Jacarandas Bloom" and "They Call Me The Clarence River Yodeller". The latter song was re-worked, called "They Call Me The Ramblin' Yodeller" and recorded during his first EMI session on 7 September 1939. These two long-lost recordings were later released on a Kingfisher Records collection in the early 1990s as part of an early Buddy Williams catalogue re-release, which is no longer available.Williams first sang professionally in 1936 at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival in northern NSW. He also did a guest spot on Grafton's radio station 2GF at the time. He left the town of Grafton and busked his way down the NSW coast before approaching EMI records in Sydney where he gained an audition.
The Page family from Newcastle, who had befriended the young Williams, bought him a black Gibson L-00 acoustic guitar which he used on all his recordings during the 1940s. This guitar was accidentally destroyed while on tour in the late 1940s. Williams later recalled that he had spent his entire life trying to find a replacement guitar that had the same sound quality of his old Gibson, but he never found one. Some of the guitars Williams used during his career included Gibson Hummingbird, Gibson Country and Western, Gibson J-200, and Martin D 28.
On 7 September 1939, he recorded six songs for the Regal Zonophone label. In September 1939, Australia entered WWII and Williams enlisted in the army. During the war years, many of Williams's recording sessions were done while on leave from active service. In the final days of WWII he was seriously wounded during the battle of Balikpapan and was not expected to live. He was recommended for the Military Medal and carried the mass of scars from his injuries for the rest of his life.
In 1948 Williams starred in a short film titled He Chased The Chicken which featured live performances of two of his recordings, "The Overlander Trail" and "The Chicken Song". The studio versions of these songs had been recorded in 1946. Another live song in the film titled "Dear Little Lady of Mine" was never recorded nor released on record. Williams was also meant to appear in the 1946 Australian movie "The Overlanders" with Chips Rafferty, but was unable to obtain leave from the army at the time.
After the war was over and he had recovered from his injuries, he set about forming a travelling rodeo tent show. He eventually wound back his rodeo and tent show after many years and then toured for 11 months of each year with the Buddy Williams Variety Show.
Though Williams performed mostly in country towns and outback communities, having once commented that during his long touring career he had performed in just about every country town in Australia, he also performed a small number of shows in major cities. During 1940 he played the Theatre Royal, Sydney alongside Roy Rene and Evie Hayes. He also did an eight-week stint at Brisbane's Theatre Royal. In 1973 he played Sydney's Hordern Pavilion for the UNICEF concert alongside big-name American acts such as Tex Ritter and Wanda Jackson. In the early 1980s, Williams did a small number of Sydney shows including shows at the Auburn Baseball Club, the Seven Hills RSL Club, and a show at the Star Hotel in the heart of China Town Sydney attended by Australian 1950s and 1960s rocker Col Joye.
Williams suffered the first of two massive heart attacks while on stage in the late 1970s. During one of these hospital stays, he received a call from a lifelong fan called Bert Newton, an Australian television icon. The pair became firm friends and Williams later appeared on live Australian TV on the Bert Newton Show, singing "The Overlander Trail" with guitar accompaniment.
In addition to constant touring, Williams continued to record. During 1965, he moved to RCA records where he became a Gold Record recording artist and recorded a large number of albums. In 1977, Williams was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown In 1980, he won the first Heritage Award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival for his song "What A Dreary Old World It Would Be".
In 1978, Buddy Williams was the subject of a documentary titled The Last of the Fair Dinkum Outback Entertainers, narrated by his good friend John Singleton. It had a film crew travel with Williams during one of his far North Queensland tours. At the time, Singleton was a well-known radio station disk jockey and advertising executive. Singleton regularly featured Williams's songs on his radio shows in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Singleton also became a regular face in the crowd at many of Williams's shows.
Williams's last recordings were made months before his death in 1986, when he was sick with terminal cancer, and released posthumously.
A number of artists have recorded Williams's songs, including Rick and Thel Carey who recorded an album of his songs. The Le Garde Twins who toured with Williams also recorded a number of his songs, as did Rex Dallas, Slim Dusty, Nev Nichols, Lindsay Butler and more recently Ashley Cook, who recorded a complete album of Williams's songs.
During the 1970s, North American country music superstar Wilf Carter also recorded a number of Williams's songs on an album of Australian songs. A number of tribute songs have been recorded by many artists including John Williamson whose song "The Last of the Pioneers" is a tribute to Williams and his contribution to Australian music.
In the early 1970s Williams gave the young Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel a start in his band. Emmanuel toured with Williams and was a regular session musician for him.
Williams died in 1986 and is buried in Brisbane's Lutwyche Cemetery along with his second wife Grace and their daughter Donita, who had died in 1948 after being accidentally run over by a truck driven by one of the rodeo riders in Williams's show.
Personal life
Williams married Bernie Burnett in 1940. They met at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival when Burnett was 13 and Williams was 17. They made several recordings together, including "Stockmen in uniform" and "Let's grow old together". They later divorced.Discography
Albums
| Title | Released | Label | Format | Chart peak | Sales | Certifications | |
| Buddy Williams Remembers | 19 Jan 1965 | RCA | L101594 | album | |||
| Family Album | 19 Jan 1966 | RCA | L101693 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams Remembers Vol:2 | 1967 | RCA | L101786 | album | |||
| The Williams Family | 1968 | RCA | L101801 | album | |||
| Songs of the Australian Outback | 1967 | RCA | RDS-26-9 | album | |||
| Buddy Sings Hank | 1968 | RCA | L101820 | album | |||
| A Family Affair | 1968 | RCA | SL101827 | album | |||
| The Cowboy's Life is Good Enough For Me | 1969 | RCA | SL101847 | album | |||
| Sentimental Buddy | 1969 | RCA | SL101851 | album | |||
| Buddy N' Shorty | 1970 | RCA | SL101899 | album | |||
| Hard Times | 1971 | RCA | SL101900 | album | |||
| Along The Outback Tracks | 1972 | RCA | SL102061 | album | |||
| Aussie On My Mind | 1972 | RCA | MSL102227 | album | |||
| Country Touch | 1975 | RCA | VPL10055 | album | |||
| Hittin' The Road Again | 1975 | RCA | VPL10072 | album | |||
| Thanks To You | 1975 | RCA | VPL10089 | album | |||
| The Happiest Days Of My Life | 1976 | RCA | VPL10128 | album | |||
| Farming '77 | 1977 | RCA | VPL10151 | album | |||
| Trucks and Trains | 1978 | RCA | VPL10161 | album | |||
| What a Dreary Old World It Would Be | 1978 | RCA | VAL10251 | album | |||
| Ramblin' Round | 1979 | RCA | VPL10150 | album | |||
| Wonder Valley | 1980 | RCA | VAL10312 | album | |||
| An Old Hillbilly From Way Back | 1981 | RCA | VAL10360 | album | |||
| A Man And His Guitar | 1982 | RCA | VAL10367 | album | |||
| A Breath Of Country Air | 1982 | RCA | VAL10377 | album | |||
| Big Country Muster | 1983 | RCA | VAL10430 | album | |||
| Take My Hand | 1985 | RCA | VAL10492 | album | |||
| How's Your Memory | 1986 | RCA | VPL10623 | album | |||
| The Bushland That I Love | 1986 | RCA | VPL10635 | album | |||
| Country Style With Buddy Williams | 1970 | RCA | CAMS-152 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams – Make Yourself At Home | 1981 | RCA | DPL-607 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams – Reflections | 1987 | RCA | SPLP1023 | album |
Extended plays
| Title | Released | Label | Format | Chart peak | Sales | Certifications | |
| Wedding Bells | 1951 | EMI Columbia | SEGO 70035 | EP | |||
| "It Sure Makes You Wonder, Don't It?" / "Christmas Boogie" / "Rocky Roundup Show" / "Our Wedding" | 5 Oct 1956 | Regal Zonophone | G25460 | LP | |||
| The Kelly Gang | 1957 | EMI Columbia | SEGO 70047 | EP | |||
| Cattle Train | 1966 | RCA | 20390 | 45 rpm EP | |||
| The Old North Queensland Line | 1968 | RCA | 20470 | 45 rpm EP | |||
| Buddy's Country | 1983 | RCA | TEP0424 | 12-inch EP |
Singles
| Title | Released | Label | Chart performance | Sales | Certifications | |
| "They Call Me The Clarence River Yodeller" / "Where The Jacarandas Bloom" | Private Recordings | |||||
| "That Dapple Grey Broncho Of Mine" / "They Call Me The Rambling Yodeler" | 7 Sept 1939 | Regal Zonophone | G23854 | |||
| "Lonesome For You Mother Dear" / "Give A Little Credit To Your Dad" | 7 Sept 1939 | Regal Zonophone | G23855 | |||
| "The Orphan's Lament" / "My Moonlight Lullaby" | 7 Sept 1939 | Regal Zonophone | G23856 | |||
| "Happy Jackaroo" / "Dreaming of My Mother" | 14 May 1940 | Regal Zonophone | G24026 | |||
| "A Cowboy's Life Is Good Enough For Me" / "Under The Old Wattle Tree" | 14 May 1940 | Regal Zonophone | G24027 | |||
| "The Australian Bushman's Yodel" / "There's An Empty Bunk in the Bunkhouse" | 14 May 1940 | Regal Zonophone | G24028 | |||
| "The Shearer's Goodbye" / "Memories of Home" | 25 Nov 1940 | Regal Zonophone | G24187 | |||
| "The Newsboy's Message" / "Going Home" | 25 Nov 1940 | Regal Zonophone | G24221 | |||
| "The Wandering Gambler" / "Happy Cowboys" | 25 Nov 1940 | Regal Zonophone | G24326 | |||
| "Headin' For The Warwick Rodeo" / "Can A Black Sheep Be Forgiven?" | 14 Nov 1941 | Regal Zonophone | G24382 | |||
| "The Crepe Upon The Little Cabin Door" / "The Maple on the Hill" | 14 Nov 1941 | Regal Zonophone | G24409 | |||
| "When The Candle Lights Are Gleaming" / "Let's Grow Old Together" | 14 Nov 1941 | Regal Zonophone | G24482 | |||
| "The Dying Soldier's Prayer" / "I'll Be Back Never Fear" | 20 Nov 1941 | Regal Zonophone | G24506 | |||
| "The Face On The Bar Room Floor" / "Wingie The Railway Cop" | 20 Nov 1941 | Regal Zonophone | G24545 | |||
| "Down By The Old Beaten Trail" / "The Australian Hillbilly" | 20 Nov 1941 | Regal Zonophone | G24554 | |||
| "What A Pal My Mother Might Have Been To Me" / "Where The White Faced Cattle Roam" | 18 May 1942 | Regal Zonophone | G24596 | |||
| "My Pretty Quadroon" / "Wonder Valley" | 18 May 1942 | Regal Zonophone | G24632 | |||
| "Blazin' The Trail" / "A Mother's Plea" | 18 May 1942 | Regal Zonophone | G24670 | |||
| "Where The Roly Poly Grass Rolls O'er The Plain" / "Music In My Pony's Feet" | 22 Dec 1942 | Regal Zonophone | G24822 | |||
| "Stockmen In Uniform" / "Sunny Australian Sweetheart" | 22 Dec 1942 | Regal Zonophone | G24851 | |||
| "Riding Home At Sundown" / "Bushland Of My Dreams" | 22 Dec 1942 | Regal Zonophone | G24883 | |||
| "Brown Eyed Sweetheart Of Mine" / "The Bushman's Rodeo" | 16 March 1945 | Regal Zonophone | G24929 | |||
| "The Drover's Song" / "Where The Lazy Murray River Rolls Along" | 16 March 1945 | Regal Zonophone | G24947 | |||
| "Bushland Paradise" / "Rhythm In The Saddle" | 16 March 1945 | Regal Zonophone | G24963 | |||
| "The Overlander Trail" / "Over Hill Top And Hollow" | 19 Sept 1946 | Regal Zonophone | G25052 | |||
| "Riding Down The Valley" / "The Mountain Barbecue" | 19 Sept 1946 | Regal Zonophone | G25069 | |||
| "Chain Lightning The Outlaw" / "The Orphan Boy And His Dog" | 19 Sept 1946 | Regal Zonophone | G25078 | |||
| "Down The Old Bush Track" / "Pioneering Days" | 25 Mar 1948 | Regal Zonophone | G25224 | |||
| "The Stockman And The Outlaw" / "My Sunny Southern Home" | 25 Mar 1948 | Regal Zonophone | G25237 | |||
| "The Chicken Song" / Eureka" | 23 Apr 1948 | Regal Zonophone | G25218 | |||
| "Dear Old Aussie Blues" / "Beneath The Queensland Moon" | 21 Sept 1950 | Regal Zonophone | G25284 | |||
| "Riding Down The Wallaby Trail" / "Always Call Me Darling" | 21 Sept 1950 | Regal Zonophone | G25286 | |||
| "My Darling River Rose" / "Little Jackeroo" | 21 Sept 1950 | Regal Zonophone | G25287 | |||
| "Wedding Bells" / "Murrumbidgee Blues" | 18 June 1951 | Regal Zonophone | G25305 | |||
| "The Black Sheep" / "Freight Train Blues" | 18 June 1951 | Regal Zonophone | G25306 | |||
| "I'm Gonna Tear Down The Mailbox" / "Beyond The Setting Sun" | 18 June 1951 | Regal Zonophone | G25307 | |||
| "The Flying Doctor" / "A Mother As Lovely As You" | 30 Oct 1951 | Regal Zonophone | G25323 45-DO-4047 | |||
| "There's Another Angel In Heaven" / "Too Many Parties And Too Many Pals" | 30 Oct 1951 | Regal Zonophone | G25341 | |||
| "I Can't Stand Sitting In A Cell" / "Gambling Polka Dot Blues" | 30 Oct 1951 | Regal Zonophone | G25342 | |||
| "Too Old To Cut The Mustard" / "Back Street Affair" | 18 Nov 1952 | Regal Zonophone | G25344 | |||
| "My Mother Must Have Been A Girl Like You" / "I Love You A Thousand Ways" | 18 Nov 1952 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "Christmas Bells" / "Dear Old Dorrigo" | 18 Nov 1952 | Regal Zonophone | G25356 | |||
| "Somebody's Stolen My Honey" / "Blue Since You've Been Gone" | 18 Nov 1952 | Regal Zonophone | G25357 | |||
| "Death Of Hank Williams" / "Missing In Action" | 3 July 1953 | Regal Zonophone | G25368 | |||
| "Pentridge Jail" / "Spirit Of Progress" | 3 July 1953 | Regal Zonophone | G25383 | |||
| "I Can't Forget My Memories" / "Swagman's Friend" | 3 July 1953 | Regal Zonophone | G25391 | |||
| "The Old Sundowner" / "Australia's Kitty Gill" | 3 July 1953 | Regal Zonophone | G25392 | |||
| "Honeymoon On A Rocket Ship" / "The Ring" | 2 Oct 1953 | Regal Zonophone | G25376 | |||
| "The Blacksheep's Return To The Fold" / "The Kelly Gang" | 2 Oct 1953 | Regal Zonophone | G25387 | |||
| "In Daddy's Footsteps" / "I'd Rather Have A Pony Than A Girl" | 2 Oct 1953 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "I've Mortgaged The Farm Again" / "Sailor Boy" | 22 June 1955 | Regal Zonophone | G25416 | |||
| "Away Out On The Plain" / "Ben Hall The Bushranger" | 22 June 1955 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "Busy Buzzin' Round" / "A Yellow Dog's Love" | 22 June 1955 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "There's Sunshine On My Side Of The Street" / "She Left Me For The Joys Of Gold" | 22 June 1955 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "Little Red Bonnet" / "Kings Cross Boogie" | 5 Oct 1956 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "Answer To Missing In Action" / "The Ringer" | 5 Oct 1956 | Regal Zonophone | G25462 | |||
| "Mareeba Rodeo" / "Poison Darts" | 5 Oct 1956 | Regal Zonophone | G25463 | |||
| "Mummy Didn't Tuck Me Into Bed Last Night" / "Lest We Forget" | 5 Oct 1956 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "Flynn Of The Inland" / "My Dream Of Hank And Jimmie" | 29 Aug 1958 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-3987 | |||
| "I'll Stroll Down Memory Lane With You" / "Don't Forget Me Little Darling" | 29 Aug 1958 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO–3988 | |||
| "The Prisoner's Song" / "On An Ocean Of Broken Dreams" | 29 Aug 1958 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-3989 | |||
| "In The Doghouse" / "Bowlegged Stockman" | 29 Aug 1958 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-3990 | |||
| "Hank, It Will Never Be The Same Without You" / "Aren't I Lucky" | 18 Sept 1959 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4104 | |||
| "Rocking Alone In An Old Rocking Chair" / "Rhythm Of The Roundup" | 18 Sept 1959 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4105 | |||
| "Polling Day" / "Dave Sands" | 18 Sept 1959 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4106 | |||
| "Anybody's Lover" / "The Nightmare" | 24 March 1960 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4133 | |||
| "Christmas Blues" / "What's The Use" | 24 March 1960 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO–4134 | |||
| "The Snowy Mountains" / "Ten Years" | 24 March 1960 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4135 | |||
| "Under Western Skies" / "When The Cactus Is In Bloom" | 22 Sept 1960 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4160 | |||
| "The Panther" / "The Spice Of Life" | 22 Sept 1960 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4161 | |||
| "My Sleepy Valley Home" / "Roley" | 22 Sept 1960 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4162 | |||
| "Mother Went A-Walking" / "Crazy" | 1 Dec 1961 | Regal Zonophone | DO-4163 | |||
| "I Went Home To Mother" / "Teardrops" | 1 Dec 1961 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4252 | |||
| "Journey's End / Gonna Ride Till The Sun Goes Down" | 1 Dec 1961 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4253 | |||
| "True Friends Are So Few" / "Rockin' Cowboy" | 1 Dec 1962 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4384 | |||
| "Gonna Ride Till The Sun Goes Down" / "My Sleepy Valley Home" | 1 Dec 1962 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "Please Light The darkness For Me" / "I've Forgotton How To Cry" | 20 May 1963 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4381 | |||
| "Snow On The Mountain" / "Back To Alice Springs" | 20 May 1963 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4383 | |||
| "When Jesus Calls" / "The Cross Of Jesus" | 20 May 1963 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4382 | |||
| "The Rules Of Love" / "Horse Teams" | 1979 | Regal Zonophone | ||||
| "Way Up North" / "Pal Of My Heart" | 26 Feb 1964 | Regal Zonophone | 45-DO-4462 | |||
| "I'm Moving Out" / "Pretty Girl" | 26 Feb 1964 | Regal Zonophone | DO-4463 | |||
| "I've Been Around" / "A Letter To Slim" | 26 Feb 1964 | Regal Zonophone | DO-4464 | |||
| "Chapel Bells" / "We're Both Sorry Now" | RCA | 101604 | ||||
| "Lofty" / "My Windflower State" | RCA | 101682 | ||||
| "Les Dingo" / "Lucky Horseshoe" | RCA | 101724 | ||||
| "Wild River" / "This Particular Baby" | RCA | 101597 | ||||
| "That Old Gum Tree" / "Black Diamond" | RCA | 101605 | ||||
| "The Big Banana Land" / "Who Can Make A Flower" | July 1969 | RCA | 101855 | |||
| "The Sounds Of The Bush At Night" / "The Sad Eyed Zebu Steer" | RCA | 101857 | ||||
| "Back O' Bourke" / "Spider From The Gwydir" | RCA | 102097 | ||||
| "Buddy Williams At The Opera House" / "Mighty Moonbi Range" | 1974 | RCA | 102399 | |||
| "The Wreck Of The Tasman Bridge" / "35 Wonderful Years" | RCA | 102748 |
Compilation albums and special releases
| Title | Released | Label | Format | Chart performance | Sales | Certifications | |
| Buddy Williams Sings Jimmy Rodgers | 1962 | EMI | 330SX 7665 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams Sings Outback Ballads | unknown | EMI | 330SX 7644 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams "I'll Stroll Down Memory Lane With You" | 1978 | EMI | EMB.10402 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams "Bushland Of My Dreams" | 1979 | EMI | EMB.10441 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams "Blazin' the Trail" | 1983 | EMI | EMB.10509 | album | |||
| Buddy Williams "Over Hilltop and Hollow" | 1985 | EMI | AX 701217 | album | |||
| The Immortal Buddy Williams "Away Out On The Plain" | 1987 | EMI | AX 701370 | album | |||
| Headin' For The Warwick Rodeo | 1981 | EMI | EMI-601 | 45 rpm single | |||
| Buddy Williams "Under Western Skies" | 1991 | EMI | 8380202 | CD | |||
| Buddy Williams Regan Zonophone Collection – Vol 1 | 1997 | EMI | 3-CD set | ||||
| Buddy Williams – Last Outback Entertainer | 12 July 2011 | Rocket Group Party | 3-CD set |