From the Sunday Hickory Record:
Last of famous local brother duo dies at age 90
From Staff re****ts
Hickory Daily Record
Sunday, March 16, 2008
HICKORY -- The last of Hickory's Blue Sky Boys died Friday. William
A. "Bill" Bolick was 90.
He and his late brother, Earl Bolick, grew up in west Hickory, where
their
father's battery-powered radio and a $4.95 mail-order banjo ignited a
spark
that boosted the brothers first to statewide radio fame and later to
national stardom.
Bill Bolick eventually got a guitar, too, but traded it for his
brother's
mandolin. The two instruments and the two west Hickory voices created
a
style that stood out from the many brother duets of the 1930s and
'40s.
Alan Justice, a second cousin to the Bolick brothers, particularly
likes
the way country music scholar Bill Malone described the Blue Sky Boys'
sound: "the prettiest and smoothest harmony ever achieved in country
music."
The Blue Sky Boys had radio shows in Asheville, Atlanta, Raleigh,
Greenville, S.C., Bristol, Va., Rome, Ga., and Shreve****t, La., before
and
after recording for RCA Victor. The record company called them "the
new
hillbilly kings." The pictures seem to say something different. Maybe
the
Bolicks started off in plaid ****rts and straw hats but they ended up
in
suits and ties, their hair slicked back and their smiles confident.
It's the same confidence they carried into the U.S. Army in 1941,
expecting
to be back on the radio in a year. Bill Bolick, who served in the
Pacific
Theater, wasn't discharged until Christmas Day, 1945. He returned home
three months after his brother. They were back on the radio by March
1946.
In a 1994 interview, Bill Bolick recalled, "We really didn't know what
to
do. We started entertaining so early in life that we never learned any
other type of work."
The Blue Sky Boys retired from the music business in 1951. Earl Bolick
moved to Georgia with his wife and two sons. He became a machinist
with
Lockheed Aircraft.
Bill Bolick went to work with the railway mail service in Wa****ngton,
D.C.,
and then transferred to Greensboro. In February 1957, he married Doris
Wallace. He remained a devoted husband until his death last week, says
Justice, who inherited Bolick's old instruments, records and
songbooks. In
one of the man's boxes, Justice found what he guesses are 100 cards -
every
one Doris ever gave her husband. He saved them all.
Justice hopes people will remember that about his cousin - the World
War II
vet was more than a smooth tenor and a smooth smile.
"He was really as true a gentleman as anyone I've ever met," Justice
says.
http://hickoryrecord.com/servlet/Satellite?
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On Mar 14, 5:45 pm, "Barry M." <br...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Another source:
>
> http://www.cbaontheweb.org/read.asp?messageID=26754&curPage=1&search=
>
> On Mar 14, 1:40 pm, Tony Russell <tonyruss...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Can anyone confirm the re****t that Bill Bolick has died?
>
> > TR- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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