Wild Bill Emerson
Wild Bill Emerson is a country singer and songwriter who made a run of singles and albums in Nashville in the 1970s, most of them produced by Earl Richards. He is a different man from the bluegrass banjo player Bill Emerson, who was born the same year, 1938, and the two are often confused in record databases.
His earliest known records, from about 1965, were two singles for the Topic label, “Judge Her Gently” with “Money Makes a Man Careless” and “Big Old Town” with “Goin’ Out to Hollywood.” From 1972 he recorded in Nashville for Ace of Hearts with Richards producing: “Blue’s Grass,” “Harlan County,” “Muddy Mississippi River Water” and “Widow Julie” came out on singles in 1972, “Texas Bull” and “A Walk in Jodie’s Garden” were recorded with Jody Emerson in 1973, and “Who’s Gonna Tie My Shoes” was paired with “Harvest Time” in 1974.
Those sides, with others cut between 1972 and 1974, filled two albums on the RPA label in 1976. Bull Mountain Lad took its name from one of the new songs and also gathered “Harlan County,” “I Do My Playing at Home” and “Widow Julie”; it was reissued in 1982 as Harlan County. Got a Hit in My Pocket collected “Harvest Time,” “Crawdad,” “Scottish Lady” and “Texas Bull.”
In about June 1975 George Jones and Earl Montgomery produced a single for him on Avco, “Have You Seen My Chicken” with “Touch of Wilderness.” A Column One single followed around 1976, and around 1978 he recorded “Willie B” and “Mother Maybelle” for Goldust. Goldust also issued Christmas in the Mountains (1978), made with Jody Emerson and produced by Richards, with songs including the title track, “The Story of Silent Night” and “Pretty Paper.”
Songs written by Wild Bill Emerson and by his wife, Martha Jo “Jody” Emerson, have been recorded by country artists including George Jones, Hank Williams Jr. and John Anderson.
