"Big Bill" Lister (January 5, 1923 – December 1, 2009) was an American honky tonk country music singer. Born Weldon E. Lister, he was nicknamed "Radio's Tallest Singing Cowboy," standing over 6-foot-7 without his cowboy boots and hat.
Bill Lister, ‘Tallest Singing Cowboy,’ ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', December 5, 2009, Big Bill Lister Website

Life and career

During most of 1951, he traveled with

Hank Williams, Sr. Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

, as the opening act for Williams and his "Drifting Cowboys." As a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry thereafter, Lister worked with most of the stars of the day, including

Little Jimmy Dickens James Cecil Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015), better known by his stage name Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer and songwriter famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size (4'11" 50 cm, and h ...

, String Bean, Minnie Pearl,

Del Wood Polly Adelaide Hendricks Hazelwood (February 22, 1920 – October 3, 1989), known professionally as Del Wood, was an American pianist.Whitburn, Joel (1996). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits'', p.366. . Early life Hendricks was bo ...

, The Carter Family, and others. He was also a recording artist for both Everstate and Capitol Records. He is best known for his ties to Williams' song " There's a Tear in My Beer." Lister recorded the song in 1951, after Williams gave him a demo recording that he realized his record producer would not permit him to record professionally. Nearly four decades later, after Lister's wife found the old demo recording in their attic. Shortly after their discovery, Lister gave the recording to Williams' son, Hank Williams, Jr., who soon recorded an overdubbed version of the song in 1988, in which father and son seemed to be singing together (some 40 years apart). In 1989, the dual recording peaked at #7 on Billboard's Hot 100s country chart, as well as a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

and a

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

Award. The record also served as the sound track of a music video by the same title, which garnered six major awards, including the CMA Vocal Collaboration of the Year, Vocal Event of the Year, and Music Video of the year, the ACM Music Video of the Year, the TNN/MCN Music Video of the Year, and the Country Music Video of the Year. The video utilizes a television kinescope (movie) that captures the elder Williams singing a different song (Hey Good Lookin') that he wrote and recorded with the same time signature but with a faster tempo and, of course, different words. After the video's producer solved both of those problems, he made it appear that the senior Williams was actually performing the song that would appear on the video. After the elder Williams technologically sings the first half of the song as presented in the video, the younger Williams seemingly appears to walk into the picture next to his father, where he joins him in completing the performance. After leaving professional music in the early '60s, Lister became one of the best firearms engravers of his generation. Other Lister recordings included "RC Cola and a Moon Pie," recorded for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

in 1951. Big Bill Lister's return to commercial recording came in 1983 with the album "Sho' 'Nuff Country Stuff! (The Second Time Around)," produced for

Slim Richey David Michael Richey (February 11, 1938 – May 31, 2015), known professionally as Slim Richey, was an American jazz guitarist, fiddle player, bandleader, and publisher. Early life Richey was born in Atlanta, Texas, and became a jazz enthusias ...

's Tex-Grass label by D. Lee Thomas and Michael H. Price, with accompaniment by the Salt Lick Foundation, a Texas string band that includes Lister's nephew, Harris Kirby. Lister performed extensively during 1983 in Dallas and Fort Worth with the Salt Lick Foundation and with Michael H. Price and

's jazz ensemble, Diddy Wah Diddy.

Discography

References

External links

Official Website of Big Bill Lister

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lister, Big Bill 1923 births 2009 deaths American country singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas 20th-century American singers Country musicians from Texas