1. Bill Clifton was born on William August Marburg; April 5,1931 and is an American bluegrass musician and singer who is credited with having organized one of the first bluegrass festivals in the United States in 1961.
13 Facts About Bill Clifton
1. 2.
Bill Clifton began singing and playing the guitar by age 12.
3.
Bill Clifton met banjo player Johnny Clark through Sadler and soon formed a band that began playing on many local radio stations.
4.
Bill Clifton published a songbook in 1955 called 150 Old Time Folk and Gospel Songs, which soon became one of the most influential songbooks of its time.
5.
Bill Clifton had many connections throughout old-time, bluegrass, country, and folk music - which reflected his unique repertoire and sound.
6.
Bill Clifton's singing style was deemed to have more of a folk revivalist influence rather than a "hillbilly" sound - which was the popular sound of the previous years.
7.
However, by the time Bill Clifton was ready to record, Kilpatrick had moved on from Mercury Records in order to take over WSM Artists' Service Bureau manager position.
8.
Therefore, he referred Bill Clifton to Pierce who was interested, but said that Mercury-Starday would not finance the recording.
9.
In 1956, Bill Clifton paid for the recording time in RCA studios to cut four songs with this band.
10.
In 1957, Bill Clifton released two of these songs to Starday, who issued them on a "trial basis".
11.
The success of his release helped Bill Clifton to be moved to Mercury-Starday for his next session in Nashville of April 1957.
12.
On July 4,1961, Bill Clifton organized one of the first bluegrass festivals at Oak Leaf Park in Luray, Virginia.
13.
In 1963, Bill Clifton's family moved to England and he toured all over Europe playing in local folk clubs.