Bill Mack born 4 June 1929

Bill Mack (June 4, 1929 – July 31, 2020) was an American country music songwriter, singer, and radio host.

Born William Mack Smith, Jr., in the panhandle town of Shamrock, Texas, he was the oldest of two boys of Irene and Ernest Smith. His father worked in real estate; his mother was a homemaker. 

As a boy, fascinated by radio, he landed a cleaning job at the little station in Shamrock that led to a spot on the air. While still in his teens, Bill Mack formed a band (in which he played guitar and harmonica) to play dances at Shamrock High School. He majored in speech at West Texas State College and worked for radio KEVA during his student years. At 19, he was news-director for radio KLYN in Amarillo. Bill got his first break of his multi-faceted career in Wichita Falls, Texas, where his own show 'The Big Six Jamboree' played over KWFT-TV in the early 50s. He emceed 'The Old Hadocol Western Barn Dance' on KWFT-TV and in 1951 this led to a contract with Imperial Records.

                                 

Mack cut a neat CD-sized bundle of 30 tracks for Imperial and came close to capturing the blue-collar aggression of primal rockabilly on tunes like "Sue-Suzie Boogie" and the 1952 piano- drenched "Play My Boogie" (Imperial 8174). Stints in broadcasting co-existed with further recordings for Starday ("Kitty Cat" and "Cat's Just Got in Town" represent Texas rockabilly at its best), Philips, United Artists, MGM and a host of smaller labels.

He signed with Hickory in 1970 and had an almost hit with 'Ladonna'. This, and other Hickory and MGM sides, were gathered up on the Discus album, 'Best Of Bill Mack (If There Is Such A Thing)'. His best known songs include 'Clinging To A Saving Hand' (Connie Smith) and 'Drinking Champagne' (Cal Smith, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Strait).

In March 1969, Mack joined Fort Worth's WBAP which beamed its 50,000 watt, clear channel signal all over the USA and was probably the most listened to country station of them all. His all-night 'Open Road' show attracted a fanatical audience of truckers, who anointed him “the midnight cowboy,” airline pilots and country entertainers. Its opening theme music was an instrumental rendition of "Orange Blossom Special", performed by Felix Slatkin and his orchestra. Because of WBAP's clear channel signal range via skywave at night, Mack's show was heard over most of the continental United States. In addition, Mack hosted the syndicated radio show Country Crossroads, heard on more than 800 stations across the country, and a similar cable television show on FamilyNet.

He also hosted the Overdrive Top Ten Countdown, a weekly one-hour country music countdown geared toward truckers, in syndication. 'Country Music Magazine' called him the last real radio star. While at WBAP Radio, Mack initiated the Bill Mack Million Mile Club for truckers achieving one million miles of accident-free over-the-road driving. Mack left WBAP to join XM Satellite Radio on its Open Road channel (XM 171). Two of the other main personalities on Open Road, Dave Nemo and Dale "The Truckin' Bozo" Sommers, were Mack's primary competitors before all three left their AM radio stations to join XM. Mack's radio program was heard weekdays on XM channel 13 from 12 Noon to 3 PM Eastern, and rebroadcast from Midnight to 3 AM Eastern. On April 29, 2011, Mack announced that Sirius/XM had terminated his contract to make room for a merger of two of the channels The Roadhouse and Willie's Place into one channel and that this was his final show.

Merle Haggard, Charlie Pride & Bill Mack

In the country music industry, Mack was also a songwriter. His best-known song is "Blue," one of LeAnn Rimes' biggest hits. The song won Mack the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1997. He encouraged the much-seized upon media hook that the song was intended for Patsy Cline who never got to record it although lots of people had including Roy Drusky, Kathryn Pitt, Polly Stevens and yodelling Kenny Roberts. Mack also wrote "Drinking Champagne," which has been recorded by numerous artists. The song was a hit for Cal Smith in 1968, and again for George Strait in 1990 on his album Livin' It Up. Some of his other songs have been recorded by Dean Martin, Ray Price, Jerry Lee Lewis and George Jones.

In 2000, Mack won the media category award given by the Grand Ole Opry. He was named to the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Country Music DJ and Radio Hall of Fame in 1982. His autobiography, 'Spins And Needles', was published by Travis Press in New York in 1970 (now out of print). He received keys to various cities, there were two “Bill Mack Days” in his city of Fort Worth, he was an “Honorary Kentucky Colonel.” and, now, there is “Bill Mack Street” in his hometown, Shamrock, Texas.

In his later years Mack been suffering from dementia and lived in a memory care facility when he was diagnosed with COVID-19. He was rushed to the Baylor Scott & White Medical Center, Irving, Texas, where he died two days later om July 31, 2020. He was 91 years old.

(Edited from This Is My Story, Wikipedia, New York Times & 5NBC)