Classic Country & Bluegrass

Bill Drake grew up in Cental Texas.  When he was nine years old he began playing the harmonica and fell in love with music making from an early age.  He felt the patriotic call to serve this great Nation at an early age and he joined the United States Navy from 1951 to 1956.  He served his country with pride and ended up marrying his life-long mate in California.

In 1969 Bill and his wife, Alene, moved to Arkansas to pursue his chosen profession of construction.  Along the way he became involved in wood crafting, building hand-made crafts for friends and family.  In the 1970's, Bill became heavily involved in the popular explosion of CBer's and was elected the President of the Tri-County CBer's Association.  As a result, he organized and promoted several local music shows as fund raisers.  He fondly recalled one particular concert at the Washington County Fairgrounds where he booked the ever popular Grand Ole' Opry famed Louvin Brothers and the exciting "King of the Strings", Joe Maphis. 

Other music events followed and Bill's appetite for promoting music was born.  When he retired from construction in 1999, Bill decided that he wasn't going to just sit around and get old in a rocking chair.  So he quickly fell back into his love of music and promotions. 

By 2002 he was promoting music shows to benefit the Washington County Meals on Wheels, a program designed to deliver meals to needy elderly people on a daily basis.  Bill formed the popular "Bluegrass & BBQ", drawing on local talent to perform as a benefit to raise money.  Out of necessity, Bill began another side-line as a local sound engineer, providing live sound amplification for the bands he booked.  In 2007, he was recognized locally and by the State of Arkansas for his achievements in benefiting the Meals on Wheels program.  He raised $10,000.00 in 2006 single-handedly!  He was featured in the local Springdale Morning News and he was also a Senior Arkansan Hall of Fame nominee for his outstanding contributions to senior Arkansans in 2007.

Bill couldn't hardly sit still despite these achievements, so he helped to promote and initiate several other musical venues.  He recruits country, gospel and bluegrass bands for music shows in the NW Arkansas area at functions such as the Mud Day Festival in Lowell, AR.  Bill assisted with promoting a country music show in 2004 at the Springdale Sr Center called "Country Your Way" as well as "The Morning Show" in 2005.  He put together another country show called "Springdale Classic Country".  He also recently organized the "Classic Country Express Band" in 2008.  He is the band manager and plays and sings. 

Now, as if this weren't all enough, Bill blossomed in recent years as a song writer and he has written some great songs that really should be someone's next big hit!