Johnnie Lee Wills
Musician · 1912–1984 · Hall County, Texas
Best known for
Songwriter
Johnnie Lee Wills was a Texas-born Western-swing fiddler and bandleader who, as his older brother Bob Wills’s right hand, played banjo and later fiddle in the Texas Playboys before taking over the Tulsa half of the operation in 1940 and fronting Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys for the next forty years. His 1949 co-write “Rag Mop” gave the Ames Brothers a 1950 No. 1 pop hit.
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- Born September 2, 1912, in Hall County, Texas, the second of four sons of tenant farmers John and Emma Wills.
- Joined his older brother Bob’s Texas Playboys on banjo in 1934, the year the band started broadcasting from KVOO Tulsa.
- Founded his own group, the Rhythmairs, in 1939; returned to the Playboys in 1940 when Bob split the band in two and named Johnnie Lee leader of the Tulsa half.
- Renamed his group Johnnie Lee Wills and All the Boys after Bob moved to California in 1940 and switched from banjo to fiddle.
- Co-wrote “Rag Mop” with steel guitarist Deacon Anderson in 1949 and cut the original version on Bullet Records in early 1950.
- The Ames Brothers’ cover of “Rag Mop” on Coral became a 1950 No. 1 pop hit.
- Represented Oklahoma at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. in 1982.
- Died in Tulsa on October 25, 1984, at age 72.
