Whisperin’ Bill Anderson

Whisperin' Bill

You must have JavaScript enabled to watch this video.

Transcript from "Whisperin' Bill"

(Laughing) Yeah, I remember. I was doing a syndicated television show in the '60s, late '60s, and there was a little comedian on my television show named Don Bowman. And Don Bowman hung that name on me because I used to do a lot of songs,well, I mentioned “Still” a while ago and some of my early records where I’d talk a little bit and sing a little bit and…uh…I just have a naturally soft voice and when I would talk on these records I didn’t want to sound like I was selling used cars, you know, I wanted to try and, you know, put the warmth into it if I could. And, I guess, it kind of came out as a whisper or a glorified whisper or something. Well, Don Bowman used to tease me about it and he’d start calling me “Whisperin’ Bill”…”the Old Whisperer”…there’s…okay…get up there and whisper us a song, you know, and …Ralph Emery at the time was the all night disc jockey on WSM radio in Nashville and every disc jockey in America listened to Ralph at night so they’d know what to say on their shows the next day all across the country. Well, Don Bowman got to calling me “Whisperin’ Bill” to Ralph and Ralph thought it was funny and Ralph picked up on it and he started calling me that and then pretty soon here’s this whole avalanche of radio people all around the country calling me “Whisperin’ Bill”. In the beginning, it kind of bothered me. I was sensitive to it. I thought they were making fun of me. And then I came to realize something and it’s probably one of the greatest things that ever happened to me, because Bill Anderson is a very common name. You can look in any phone book in America, you’ll find a Bill, a Billy, a William, sometimes you’ll find 15 or 20 of them. Go to Minnesota and you’ll find three pages of them. (Both laugh) But, “Whisperin’ Bill” is a unique little handle. I didn’t have to change my name to Conway Twitty or anything like that to have that little unique handle. Bill Anderson, a lot of people…a lot…there are a lot of…you’d be amazed how many people today, they think Bill is my middle name. They think Whisperin’ is my first name. (Both laugh)