Billy Grammer, the singer, is also one of country music’s great guitar players. And a notable brand of flat-tops, the Grammer Guitar, was the product of the company he started.
Grammer was born one of 13 children to a coal mining family in Illinois. He spent his childhood on a farm, fishing the Wabash River and dreaming of becoming a mechanical engineer.
But music was a big part of Grammer’s family life, and he often played fiddle, guitar, or mandolin for family gatherings and local events. “Daddy played the fiddle, or violin, if you like, and we entertained at the social functions around home,” he remembers.
After high school he served in the Army and took on an apprenticeship as a toolmaker. After the war he found himself like thousands of other soldiers—out of work. Hearing word of a possible opening with Connie B. Gay, a disc jockey and promoter in the Washington, D.C., area, Grammer hitchhiked to Arlington, Virginia, auditioned, and got the job.
His skills as a musician won him stints in the bands of artists such as Hawkshaw Hawkins and Grandpa Jones and a sideman role on Jimmy Dean’s television show. He then formed his own band and began performing as a solo artist. In early 1959, he recorded his memorable, folksy hit “Gotta Travel On.” Its success led to membership in the Opry cast.
A superb instrumentalist, Grammer has always been in great demand as a session picker. “I’ve got a little more of a broad sense of music than the average guy coming up playing country music,” the 46-year Opry member says. “Musicians I have talked to through the years have told me that I have a little extra punch, a little extra push.”
His exceptional guitar style has been featured on albums including Gospel Guitar, Country Guitar, and Sunday Guitar.
During the 1960s, Grammer turned his talents to developing what was once called “the finest flat-top guitar on the market”—the Grammer Guitar. The first such instrument came off the production line in 1965. A guitar Grammer presented to Johnny Cash in the ’60s recently sold for more than $131,000 at auction.
In 1990, Grammer was inducted into the Illinois Country Music Hall of Fame along with Tex Williams, Lulu Belle & Scotty, and Patsy Montana.
Grammer and his wife of over 60 years, Ruth, make their home in Southern Illinois.
Latest CD
Gotta Travel On: The Best of Billy Grammer