William Toliver Carlisle (December 19, 1908 – March 17, 2003), better known as Bill Carlisle and Jumpin' Bill Carlisle, was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer, songwriter, comedian, and guitarist popular in the late 1940s and 1950s but who influenced the genre for more than 50 years. He is a member of the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

Biography

Carlisle was born in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

, Kentucky southeast of Louisville. He performed in the 1920s with his older brother,

Cliff Carlisle Cliff Carlisle (May 6, 1903 – April 5, 1983) was an American country and blues musician, singer and songwriter. Carlisle was a yodeler and was a pioneer in the use of the Hawaiian steel guitar in country music. He was a brother of country mu ...

, on radio stations WLAP-AM in

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

and

WNOX-AM WNOX (93.1 FM, "Awesome 93.1") is a commercial radio station licensed to the suburb of Karns, Tennessee, and serving the Knoxville metropolitan area. The station is owned by SummitMedia and airs a classic hits format. WNOX's studios and of ...

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...

. His first solo single and hit was the 1933 recording of "Rattlesnake Daddy," released on

ARC Records American Record Corporation (ARC), also referred to as American Record Company, American Recording Corporation, or ARC Records, was an American record company. Overview ARC was created in January 1929 by Louis G. Sylvester, president of Scran ...

. That year he formed the Carlisle Brothers with Cliff, and in 1938 they signed with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

and continued performing on Kentucky country radio programs. He created an

alter ego An alter ego (Latin for "other I", " doppelgänger") means an alternate self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other self, one with a differen ...

for the WNOX's ''Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round'' and ''Tennessee Barn Dance'' shows called Hot Shot Elmer, a bumbling buffoon in costume who would "interrupt" Carlisle's own performances. His leaps on stage won him the moniker "Jumpin' Bill." Carlisle's guitar style was noted for its precision and speed, and he employed

yodel Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from th ...

ing as a vocalist. Like his brother, he released many songs which included humorous, veiled references to sexuality. The duo signed with King Records after World War II, and hit big with the

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, "Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), m ...

cover, "A Rainbow at Midnight", in 1946. Carlisle had a solo hit in 1948 with "Tramp on the Street". Cliff retired from the business about 1950, and Bill put together a backing ensemble, The Carlisles, though none of them was related to him. Among its members were singer

Martha Carson Martha Carson (March 19, 1921 – December 16, 2004), born Irene Amburgey, was an American gospel-country music singer most popular during the 1950s. Biography Early life and rise to fame Amburgey was born in Neon, Kentucky (since absorbed int ...

and songwriter

Betty Amos Betty Amos (July 27, 1934 – September 30, 2021) was an American guitarist, banjoist, and bluegrass/country musician. She was one of the earliest women to play Scruggs-style banjo, and played in many different bands, including The Carlisles, Lu ...

. Carlisle signed with

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

and continued to release novelty song hits in the 1950s, such as "Too Old to Cut the Mustard", a top ten country hit in 1951 later covered by artists including

Rosemary Clooney Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as " Botch-a-Me", " Mambo Italiano", ...

and

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

. Other hits included the number one smash "No Help Wanted" (their biggest) and the top ten "Taint Nice (To Talk Like That)", both 1953. That year the Carlisles were invited to join the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

. In the mid-1950s, Carlisle was a regular performer on ABC-TV's ''

Ozark Jubilee ''Ozark Jubilee'' is a 1950s United States network television program that featured country music's top stars of the day. It was produced in Springfield, Missouri. The weekly live stage show premiered on ABC-TV on January 22, 1955, was renamed ' ...

''. He also wrote the gospel song "Gone Home," which has been recorded by

Flatt & Scruggs Flatt and Scruggs were an American bluegrass music, bluegrass duo. Singer and guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs, both of whom had been members of Bill Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys, from 1945 to 1948, formed the duo in 1948 ...

, Ricky Skaggs, and the Jerry Garcia Acoustic Band. Carlisle said he never recorded the song himself because he "just did so much better with the novelty stuff."

Personal life

In 1953, Carlisle, his wife, and children, Bill, Jr. (born 1942), and Sheila, moved to

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

in Webster Parish, Louisiana, to be near the Louisiana Hayride in

Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...

. At the time

Tillman Franks Tillman Ben Franks, Sr. (September 29, 1920 – October 26, 2006), was an American bassist and songwriter and the manager for a number of country music artists including Johnny Horton, David Houston, Webb Pierce, Claude King, and the Carli ...

of Shreveport was his manager."Nationally Famous Folk Song Writer Moves to Minden", ''Minden Press'', October 2, 1953, pp. 1, 16 His children became members of The Carlisles group in the 1960s; his last hit was "What Kinda Deal Is This", released in 1965. After his fame receded, he continued as a regular at the Opry, appearing less than two weeks before his death on March 17, 2003 in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

, Tennessee.

Legacy

Carlisle was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in September 2002.

Chart singles

References

External links

Bill Carlisle biography at CMT.com
*
Bill Carlisle recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The DAHR provides some of these original recordings, free of charge, via audio streaming, along with ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlisle, Bill 1908 births 2003 deaths American country singer-songwriters American country guitarists American male guitarists Grand Ole Opry members Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Members of the Country Music Association Country musicians from Kentucky People from Spencer County, Kentucky People from Minden, Louisiana King Records artists Decca Records artists RCA Victor artists Mercury Records artists Columbia Records artists Hickory Records artists 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Kentucky 20th-century American guitarists Baptists from Louisiana Singer-songwriters from Louisiana Guitarists from Kentucky Guitarists from Louisiana Baptists from Kentucky Country musicians from Louisiana 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century Baptists American male singer-songwriters