William "Casey Bill" Weldon (February 2, 1901 or December 10, 1909 – September 28, 1972) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

musician. Some details of Weldon's life are unconfirmed. According to some sources, he was born in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...

, and later lived and worked in Chicago. He reportedly made his way to Chicago via Kansas City, which gave rise to his nickname, a version of K.C. He was one of the early musicians who recorded playing slide guitar. He played upbeat,

hokum Hokum is a particular song type of American blues music—a humorous song which uses extended analogies or euphemistic terms to make sexual innuendos. This trope goes back to early blues recordings and is used from time to time in modern Ameri ...

and

tunes. Playing a National steel guitar flat on his lap Hawaiian style, he was known as the "Hawaiian Guitar Wizard". According to some sources, Weldon was married to the singer and guitarist

Memphis Minnie Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being "Wh ...

in the 1920s, but this is now believed to be a misidentification. Only recently it has been widely accepted that he is not the musician, Will Weldon, who recorded between 1927 and 1928 as a member of the

Memphis Jug Band The Memphis Jug Band was an American band (music), musical group active from the mid-1920s to the late-1950s. The band featured harmonica, kazoo, fiddle and mandolin or banjolin, backed by guitar, piano, washboard (musical instrument), washboard, w ...

. Weldon cut over 60 sides for

Bluebird The bluebirds are a North American group of medium-sized, mostly insectivorous or omnivorous birds in the order of Passerines in the genus ''Sialia'' of the thrush family (Turdidae). Bluebirds are one of the few thrush genera in the Americas. ...

and

Vocalion Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

. He was also an active session guitarist, performing on records by

Teddy Darby Theodore Roosevelt Darby, better known as Blind Teddy Darby (March 2, 1906 – December 1975), was an American blues singer and guitarist. Darby was born in Henderson, Kentucky. He moved to St. Louis with his family when he was a child. Hi ...

Bumble Bee Slim Admirl Amos Easton (May 7, 1905 – June 8, 1968), better known by the stage name Bumble Bee Slim, was an American Piedmont blues singer and guitarist. Biography Easton was born in Brunswick, Georgia, United States. Several original sources con ...

Peetie Wheatstraw William Bunch (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941), known as Peetie Wheatstraw, was an American musician, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers. Early life and career William Bunch was the son of James Bunch and Mary (Burns) Bunc ...

, and

. On Memphis Minnie's last recording for Bluebird Records, in October 1935, Weldon accompanied her for the first time. He played on two sides, "When the Sun Goes Down, Part 2" and "Hustlin' Woman Blues". He had solo hits with his two best-known songs, "Somebody Done Changed the Lock on That Door" and " We Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town". According to some sources, after his divorce from Memphis Minnie, he married the blues singer

Geeshie Wiley Geeshie Wiley was an American country blues singer and guitar player who recorded six songs for Paramount Records, issued on three records in April 1930.Death Certificate for Thornton Wiley, dated December 13, 1931 According to the blues histor ...

. They disappeared from the public eye soon after, and he had stopped recording by 1938. He is believed to be the William Weldon who died in Kansas City in 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weldon, Casey Bill 1900s births Year of birth uncertain 1972 deaths Country blues musicians American blues guitarists American male guitarists People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Guitarists from Arkansas Vocalion Records artists Bluebird Records artists African-American guitarists 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Chicago 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century African-American musicians