Bill Caswell was a

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 and musician active since the early 1980s. Together with his wife Rosi Caswell, the duo from

Bartlesville, Oklahoma Bartlesville is a city mostly in Washington County in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 37,290 at the 2020 census. Bartlesville is north of Tulsa and south of the Kansas border. It is the county seat of Washington County. The Can ...

perform on rare old style instruments including the

ukelin The ukelin is a bowed psaltery with zither strings made popular in the 1920s. It is meant to be a combination of the violin and the Hawaiian ukulele. It lost popularity prior to the 1970s because the instrument was difficult to play and often ret ...

, mandolin-guitar, bell-harp, and

tremoloa The tremoloa , plural tremoloas, is a stringed instrument belonging to the fretless zither family. It was produced in United States in response to the rapid increase in popularity of Hawaiian music during the 1920s, and continued to be produced u ...

. In the 1980s he performed his music on television in ''

Hee Haw ''Hee Haw'' is an American television variety show featuring country music and humor with the fictional rural "Kornfield Kounty" as the backdrop. It aired first-run on CBS from 1969 to 1971, in syndication from 1971 to 1993, and on TNN from 199 ...

'' and on live radio in ''

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

''. The two together performed at

Dollywood Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the gateway to The Great Smoky Mountains. Hosting nearly 3 ...

Gatlinburg, Tennessee Gatlinburg is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, United States. It is located southeast of Knoxville and had a population of 3,944 at the 2010 Census and a U.S. Census population of 3,577 in 2020. It is a popular vacation resort ...

for five seasons. Bill began his career in the early 1980s as a songwriting protégé of

Rodney Crowell Rodney Crowell (born August 7, 1950) is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album '' Diamonds & Dirt''. ...

and developed a reputation as one of the best songwriters in the business. Working for Tree Record, as a staff writer. He co-wrote KENTUCKY HOMEMADE CHRISTMAS with Kin Vassy. Kenny Rogers included the song on his first Christmas album. It went "Platinum" in 3 weeks. His recent albums include
Oklahoma Backroads
' and
Love Lost and Found
'' In 1983, Bill Caswell appeared along with Crowell on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

music television program ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...

'' for a "Songwriters Showcase" episode. Bill co-wrote some songs with other top country songwriters, such as Alan Rhody, with "''Just When''" which was recorded by

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

on his 1985 album ''

Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes? ''Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes'' is the 45th studio album by American country music artist George Jones, released in 1985 on the Epic Records label. The album is best known for the title track and its classic video, which would go on to win the ...

'', and "''Somebody To Care''", recorded by

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

on her 1986 album '' Girls Like Me''.Alan Rhody biography
AlanRhody.com In recent years, Bill and Rosi Caswell performed at the September 30 to October 2, 1999, annual

Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival The Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival is held annually in Guthrie, Oklahoma. The festival was founded as a nonprofit organization by Guthrie resident Byron Berline and Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okal ...

Guthrie, Oklahoma Guthrie is a city and county seat in Logan County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City Metroplex. The population was 10,191 at the 2010 census, a 2.7 percent increase from the figure of 9,925 in the 2000 census. First kno ...

. Died February 16,2023 in Bartlesville Oklahoma.

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Bartlesville, Oklahoma American bluegrass musicians American country singer-songwriters Country musicians from Oklahoma Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-stub