May 1, 1971: Bobby Willard and the Chargers
A portrait of a singer well on his way to becoming a pillar of the country music community. And, as you’ll see in the Footnote at the end, he not only did that once, but left town and came back to become a pillar all over again.
May 1, 1971
‘Hardest Business in the World’
But Bobby Willard Enjoys Playing
“You know,” my lady Laura says last Saturday night, “Bobby
Willard’s different from those other country singers we’ve seen. He’s
smoother.”
Sure enough, instead of coming at you like a rough-and-ready
barroom buddy, Bobby Willard radiates the easy hospitality of a bright young
political hopeful. The president of the Jaycees instead of an all-night poker
player.
A portrait of a singer
well on his way to becoming a pillar of the country music community. And, as
you’ll see in the Footnote at the end, he not only did that once, but left town
and came back to become a pillar all over again.
His clean, almost boyish good looks are set off by a cheerful
shock of sandy hair, a white shirt with gently flowing sleeves and an
immaculate Gibson hollow-body electric guitar.
* * *
AND THE
stage. Most stages are repositories of all sorts of musicians’ trash – broken
drumsticks, old lists of songs, cups, cigarette butts and odd cellophane –
mouldering in a layer of dusty neglect. But not this one.
Bobby’s been working this stage at the Park Inn, a longtime
country oasis overlooking
“I’m a bug for appearance,” Bobby will tell you. “I wouldn’t
even have a cord showing if I could help it. That’s my way of showing respect
for the audience.”
* * *
BOBBY
estimates his fans number between 600 and 800 and about a quarter of them are
here tonight – it’s an older crowd Saturdays – in a panorama of souls from 1948
to 1971. They applaud each song.
“Everybody who comes down to watch an entertainer perform is
a potential entertainer himself,” Bobby says. “They can’t just go out and touch
Marty Robbins or Sonny James or Merle Haggard, so they come to their local
place.
“The entertainer’s job is to satisfy this need for contact.
You have to understand your audience, you have to know them and you have to
like them.” He beats emphasis into each point with his hand on the table.
“A successful entertainer is a good politician,” he adds. “He
meets people and he makes friends. He’s got to respond to the people. If he
doesn’t, he goes out of business.”
* * *
ON STAGE,
Bobby’s in complete control – introducing personalities in the audience, giving
a little talk about Merle Haggard before “Okie From Muskogee,” snapping the
Chargers into their next song.
Even though the band is in a transition period (drummer Sam
Davis is in his fourth week), the sound is tight. Vocals and guitars are out
front, punctuated by Sam’s energetic drumming and Bob Chavers’ easy-going bass
slapping.
“He’s the only guy in town who slaps an electric bass,” Bobby
says.
“That’s from the days when I played bass on my guitar and
tuned all the strings down an octave,” Bob replies. “I had to slap them to keep
them from buzzing.”
* * *
THIS IS lead
guitarist Danny Jackson’s last night and he’s making it a good one. He turns a
bluegrass picking thing into an echoey masterpiece. And when he sings
“Snowbird” or his own “I’m What the Song’s All About,” his uneven voice is full
of pleasant naturalness.
Nothing uneven about Bobby Willard’s voice, however. Hear him
do “It’s Only Make Believe” or Sonny James’ 1956 hit “Young Love.” That little
cry in his voice, the perfect turning of each sound.
“I figure most people like what I like,” he says. “Sometimes
I like something that’ll make me jump and sometimes I like something that will
make me cry. I usually know about six numbers ahead.”
* * *
THIS IS part
of the public confidence he gained from Toastmasters International. When he
started singing 3½ years ago, he was actually shy, a result, he says, of his
childhood.
Born in
“I was never lied to, never taught to fight,” he says. “The
kids used to steal my suspenders and then and then hit me while I tried to keep
my pants up. Little by little, I started to think of myself more on the outside
of things.
“It made me super-sensitive. You start to think more about
life when you’re on the outside. I guess it takes this to make an artist. The
trick is not being bitter.” He thumps the table.
* * *
HE OPENED up
a new channel late last year after an article on him appeared in the local arts
magazine “Voice of the Alchemist.”
“It seemed a shame we didn’t have something like that for
country fans,” he says. “I felt we could get something going and boost country
music.”
Starting with nothing more than an idea, Bobby lined up ads
and a printer, then rushed the freshly-minted magazine around to advertisers to
collect money to pay for printing it.
Now “Frontier Country,” sharing the “Alchemist” offices,
takes only about 15 hours of Bobby’s time a week. Its fourth issue is just out,
filled with features on national and local country artists and small-town
newspaper-type items and local personalities and goings-on.
* * *
“THE FORMAT’S
still being formed,” Bobby explains. “We’re not sure how to develop this,
ourselves. I think we should let the public tell us how they want it.
“The philosophy of the magazine is that
“Where do I go from here? It’s hard to tell. Music is the hardest business in the world. There’s so many intangibles, so much you don’t have control over. Every day something comes up and slaps you. But I love it, there’s no end to the challenge.”
The box/sidebar:
Got the Singing Bug
Pertinent and impertinent
information about Bobby Willard & The Chargers:
Bobby Willard, 35, vocals and rhythm guitar, born in
Bob Chavers, 47, bass and “a little bit of hollering,” born
in
Sam Davis, 34, drums, attended
* * *
“I NEVER pictured myself as an entertainer,” Bobby recalls. “I was in debt, working two full-time jobs and it was killing me. Then these friends invited me out to sing and I sang and I kinda got the bug.
“Then I picked up guitar. For the first six months, I couldn’t play, but you learn real fast on stage. It MAKES you learn it.”
From stand-in to five-night-a-week entertainer was a short
hop of Bobby. To overcome his shyness, he joined Toastmasters International and
soon became local president, then an area governor.
“I learned to work with an audience,” he explains. “I learned
to speak with confidence and most of all I learned to listen. Now I find I’m
really a ham. I love it. I’m sorry I waited so long to find it out.”
* * *
BOB CHAVERS,
a former rhythm guitarist with Emmit Jarvis and a country musician locally
since 1950, replaced the original band’s female bass guitarist about three
years ago.
The other two players left only recently. Replacing them are
guitarist Jimmy Gishlander, who begins this week, and Sam Davis, a former jazz
drummer who started playing country with Ernie Weber and was with Billy Lee
& The Bad Companions 3½ years.
“I lost two great guys,” Bobby says. “They did a lot to get
me started. I was sorta ignorant and they protected me, and back when I had no
following, theirs kept us going.
“But I’ve become very serious about this and they wanted to
stay weekend musicians. You know, bowling on Tuesday nights and picnics on
Sundays. I feel this is one of the things you gear yourself for, so they said:
‘Well, Bobby, what you want is someone a little more dedicated.’”
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE: Bobby Willard left us 19 years ago. My colleague Tom Prohaska wrote him up for The News:
Robert S. Willard, 66, a counselor and country singer,
died Friday (Dec. 21, 2001) in Roswell Park Cancer Institute,
Willard was born in Hamilton, Ala.
He entered the Navy in 1954 and served a four-year
tour of duty.
He then was employed for 16 years as an engineering
assistant at the Tonawanda plant of Western Electric Co.
Willard then moved to Elizabethtown, Ky., where he was
a department manager at a Dodge dealership.
Returning to Western New York, Willard earned a
psychology degree in 1984 and a master's degree in counseling in 1987 from
Willard was coordinator for the Consortium of Niagara
Frontier Colleges at the
Willard also was a professional singer, leading the
country group Bobby Willard and the Southernaires for 27 years. The group's
records included some songs written by Willard himself.
In 1974, he was named the Northeast's most promising
male entertainer by the Eastern States Country Music Association.
He performed at Artpark,
For many years, Willard published the
He enjoyed fishing, woodworking and gardening.
Survivors include his wife of 15 years, the former
Judith Skurski; his mother, Jettie Mae Newlin of Newfane; two sons, Robert of
Lewiston and David M. of Orchard Park; a sister, Sue Forstman of Bessemer,
Ala.; and four grandchildren.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. Monday in Hardison
Funeral Home,
* * *
POSTSCRIPT: Bobby put out
a couple of singles with the Chargers. The one on Frontier Records – “Let It
Go,” which he wrote, with “I Am Lonesome” on the flip side, is offered for $60
on the Internet. A second single, “Is It Over” and “You’re Not Mine,” was
released on Mark Custom Records from the Mark Custom Recording Service in
Clarence.
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