Bill Bolick of the popular Blue Sky Boys, died March 13th. Bill and his brother Earl, were a cornerstone of country music’s greatest vocal traditions: the brother duet. The brothers were impeccable, precise, and their poignant harmonies, accompanied usually by only a guitar and mandolin, won them a host of fans in their own day and captivated listeners who discovered them in the wake of the 1960s folk revival. The Blue Sky Boys performed on WCYB’s Farm and Fun Time in Hickory, NC.

Bill and Earl were known long before the ’60s however as their music and song preceeded the revival by nearly 30 years. Bill and Earl performed most of their memorable material during the ’30s and ’40s. They could easily have been called the most popular country group of their period.

Bill and Earl performed many of the songs made famous by the Carter Family and others of the region. Songs such as the “Sunny Side of Life,” “Hymns My Mother Sang,” and “The Chapel In The Hills”. The brothers made nearly 125 recordings during their prime on Bluebird and RCA Victor records.

The duo regained their fame during the Folk Revival as others found their music and began to replay it and to learn from it. That tradition still holds true today as their music is found being played and recorded by folk and traditional groups today.

The brothers were raised in East Hickory, North Carolina, in a family of six children. Their parents, who were deeply religious, taught them to sing hymns and gospel music while children. A neighbor taught Bill to play banjo, and Earl soon followed suit, though he would eventually decide on the guitar instead. The pair performed as a duo locally, and Bill played with an ensemble called The Crazy Hickory Nuts, who began playing on Asheville radio in 1935.

Bill retired from music and became a railway postal clerk in 1951. Eleven years later, Starday released some of their material from early radio and the brothers rejoined to create two new albums. Bill and Earl continued to play music festivals. They retired a second time in the late 1960s and only recorded one more session, one for Rounder, in 1975. (from Bob Cherry)