Rev. Billy C. Wirtz
Billy C. Wirtz is a teacher, gifted pianist and American musicologist
who defies easy classification.
Wirtz was born in Aiken, SC, on September 28, 1954. His mother was
the first woman officer hired by the Aiken police department and some
of his earliest musical influences came from the inmates in the jail
listening to the gospel programs on WRDW from Augusta, GA.
In 1963, his family moved to Rockville, Maryland, a suburb of
Washington, D.C. The Washington DC music scene produced some of
Americas’ great Soul and Blues players, from the late Sixties on. Wirtz
soaked it all in and began working in record stores, skipping school and
spending every dime on music, In 1971, he landed a job at Glen’s Music,
a downtown store which catered to black music and clientele. “I spent all
day long listening to James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and Richard Pryor. “I
was in heaven,” said Billy. In 1971, he attended a gospel concert back in
Augusta, Georgia. “It was a revelation to experience something like that
live. It left an indelible impression on me, it changed things!”
While working at Glen’s he was also inspired by recordings of Blues
pianists Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Big Maceo, and Otis
Spann. He began playing piano while in high school, but it wasn’t until
the tail end of his college career at James Madison University (from
which he graduated with a degree in special education) that he began to
seriously study music.
After graduation, as Wirtz was filling out applications to start a career in
teaching, Chicago blues pianist Sunnyland Slim came through Virginia
on tour. After attending a performance, Wirtz introduced himself and
discovered Slim was headed to the next gig via Greyhound Bus. Billy
volunteered to chauffeur the blues legend to the next show and struck up
a lasting friendship. Later, Sunnyland wrote thanking Billy and invited
him to stay at his home if he ever made it to Chicago – an invitation that
found Billy heading to the Windy City in 1979, to accept. He stayed
with Sunnyland Slim, learning directly from the master, going to
Chicago nightclubs and meeting blues artists he revered as a youngster.
This taste of the musicians’ lifestyle ignited the idea that he himself
might make a living playing the piano. His first official blues band was
Sidewinder, a group from his college town of Harrisonburg, VA,
followed by a stint with the Charlottesville All Stars, his first nationally
touring ensemble.
As the 80’s dawned, Billy Wirtz had already earned the reputation of
being a gifted sideman and became much sought after by many
Washington, D.C area roots bands, including the legendary Root Boy
Slim & the Sex Change Band, Evan Johns and the H-Bombs, and the
Nighthawks. By 1982, Billy had grown weary of the incertitude of
freelancing and decided to embark on a solo career. About the same time
Billy declared his independence his first solo LP was recorded live in a
bar in Hickory, N.C., Salvation Through Polyester, on the No Big Deal
label of Atlanta. In 1988, Wirtz released Deep Fried and Sanctified on
the Kingsnake label – a turning point for him in many ways. “I think we
originally pressed about 2000 copies of this before leasing it to Hightone
in 1989 and it marked my long and productive association with that
great label,” said Billy.
Writing career: Along with touring he began writing occasional articles
for local music publications. “I guess it all began about 1993 when I
was living in Nashville and documented the passing of Gospel Pioneer,
Thomas A. Dorsey,” The obit got real nice reviews, and along with
touring, a writing career began to evolve. In 1992, after a chance
encounter at South By Southwest with Bob Doershauck, editor
of Keyboard magazine, Bob suggested that he contribute a regular
column entitled “Road Stories. When Doerschauck left Keyboard in
1995 to become senior editor of Musician magazine, he invited Billy to
reprise his former role with regular installments to the “Backside”
section. Somewhere in the middle of all this, there was also a side career
in professional wrestling, Wirtz tells that story in “Red Headed Geek,
My Brief and Painful Career as a ‘Rassln’ Manager” published in 2012
by MrExcel Publishing.
Over one hundred columns later, The Rev. continues to “connect the
dots” researching Southern music and documenting the stories of those
who made it. After the COVID break of 2020, he is back playing live
shows, producing a weekly syndicated radio program, and writing
columns. His 2021 articles have been featured in Living Blues, Forum
Magazine (Florida Council for the Humanities) and The Blues Festival
Guide.
Teaching:
His teaching career also continued with Blues In the Schools Programs,
especially in Ottawa, Canada. He developed what he called his “Head,
Hands and Feet” method for teaching younger students the basics of all
music and received numerous accolades for his efforts. In recent years,
he developed “Shake, Rattle and Roll” a multimedia history of the
Chitlin’ Circuit and its’ artists. Billys’ work continues to this day at
schools, colleges and festivals.
He lives in Ocala, Fl. With his wife Linda and eleven rescue cats.
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