Casey Bill Weldon - 'We Gonna Move'

 

"A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma"
—Winston Churchill

According to Big Bill Broonzy, William "Casey Bill" Weldon was born on February 2, 1901.  That said, many blues historians believe it was December 10, 1909.  Everyone agrees it in Pine Bluff Arkansas.

Casey Bill Weldon should not be confused with Will Weldon, who was a member of the Memphis Jug Band, and mistakenly believed by many to have been married to Memphis Minnie.

Casey Bill Weldon was one of the most talented, yet enigmatic, blues slide guitarists of the early twentieth century.   Known as the "Hawaiian Guitar Wizard", he played a range of material that covered rag, hokum, and blues, though the majority of his more than 100 recorded songs are considered blues.  Though he had a solid body of recordings and played with some well-known performers and bands of his day, much of his life is still shrouded in mystery. 

From 1935 to 1938, Casey Bill Weldon is known to have recorded extensively.  During this period, he wrote and recorded three songs that are blues staples, including "Somebody’s Got to Go", "Somebody Changed the Lock on My Door" and "We Gonna Move on the Outskirts of Town".

Casey Bill recorded with other great artists, including Big Bill Broonzy, Tampa Red, Ollie Rupert, Leroy Henderson, Arnett Nelson, Charlie and Joe McCoy, Amos Easton a.k.a. "Bumble Bee Slim", Blind Teddy Darby, the Hokum Boys, the Brown Bombers of Swing, Washboard Sam, and Peetie Wheatstraw.

After 1938, details of Casey Bill’s career become even murkier. [if such a thing is possible—Ed]  He is said to have performed using an electrically amplified guitar in 1941.  It has also been speculated that he moved to Los Angeles, California, sometime after the early 1940s, providing uncredited incidental music for movie soundtracks.  Around 1960, guitarist Ted Bogan said that he ran into Casey Bill in Chicago, and Casey Bill told Ted that he had given up music and was doing other work. 

Various documents indicate that Casey Bill had two legal names, William Weldon and Nathan Hammond, and that he may have employed a variety of other names, in addition to claiming an array of birthplaces, including Plumerville, Arkansas.

The place where Weldon died has long been a mystery [now there's a surprise—Ed], but blues historian Jim O’Neal uncovered information suggesting that Weldon died on September 28, 1972, and is buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.  That said, many blues historians believe it was September 28, 1970.

'We Gonna Move' (To The Outskirts Of The Town) was released in 2021 by Hannes Folterbauer's Austrian label, Wolf Blues Classics.
It was remastered and edited by Fabian Wessely, at Soundborn Studio in Vienna, Austria.

The 24 tracks on this CD document Casey Bill’s work during the timeframe from 1935-38.  They also illustrate why he's of the foremost bottleneck lap steel guitarists, singers, and songwriters of the Prewar Blues Era.

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