"Someone You Should Know"

Billy Ross, "Okie Bill", Panhandler Productions may be unfamiliar with you or maybe not. Billy Ross is a very low profile gentleman that has made a few waves in the Country music industry and now resides in Cushing, OK.

He sings, he performs comedy, he has his own publishing company and he excels in song writing. His business cards read "Okie Bill Music....Lies verified, Guitars played, Bars emptied, Gas tanks siphoned, Tigers tamed, Music enjoyed, Revolutions started, Jokes told and Governments run. "

You know right away he values having a good time, but it doesn't take long to realize this mild mannered man has a very serious side to him. A member of the Tulsa Songwriters Association, he has recently had a song in the hands of the Garth Brooks Company. "I doubt if anything will happen, but at least they are looking", said Ross.

It would not be the first time Okie Bill, who is from Texas, has had self penned songs recorded. He has had sixteen recordings and has seventeen songs under contract with various publishers at this time and has written approximately 150 songs. He is the first to say "No hits". After reviewing a tape of some of his songs, I and others do not agree.

I believe I was the first writer to use the line, "Storms Of Life" in 1973. My song was "In The Storms Of Life, Talk To Jesus". The first song I wrote was, " Why Do The Women Do The Things Women Do" in 1951.

Ross, who has placed high in several song writing contests, has appeared on shows with Earnest Tubb, Marty Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Dean, Norma Jean and many others.

After a bout with bad health, Billy says "I've just about had it and don't play well anymore". (I don't believe audiences will agree with this statement.)

His favorite song he has written is " 'I'll Hold Your Hand.' I wrote that one for my wife for Mother's Day." "Empty Chairs" was written about the Oklahoma City bombing. Other inspirational songs I've written are "Don't Burn My Flag" and "Favorite Uncle Sam".

Ross can go from such romantic words as "I know you'll be mine till I'm through getting old" and start singing "I'm telling you dear my trouble ain't beer, what's slowing me down is my glands", taken from the "Beer Belly Song." From one of his songs entitled "Come What May" is a line that asks "will you love me if I'm not famous?"

With the look in Mrs. Ross' eyes when he sings, I'm sure she will........ after all, where does famous start or end?

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