Willard Robison: Difference between revisions

'''Willard Robison''' (September 18, 1894 &ndash; June 24, 1968) was an [[United States|America]]n vocalist, pianist, and composer of popular songs, born in [[Shelbina, Missouri]]. His songs reflect a rural, melancholy theme steeped in [[Americana (music)|Americana]] and their warm style has drawn comparison to [[Hoagy Carmichael]]. Many of his compositions, notably "[[A Cottage for Sale]]", "Round My Old Deserted Farm", "[[Don't Smoke in Bed (song)|Don't Smoke in Bed]]", "'Taint So, Honey, 'Taint So" and "[[Old Folks (1938 song)|Old Folks]]", have become standards and have been recorded countless times by jazz and pop artists including [[Peggy Lee]], [[Nina Simone]], [[Nat King Cole]], [[Billy Eckstine]], [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Mildred Bailey]]. "A Cottage for Sale" alone has been recorded over 100 times.<ref>[{{AllmusicAllMusic|class=artist|id=p264578/biography|pure_url=yes}} Bush, John. AllMusic Biography.]</ref>

In [[Alec Wilder]]'s definitive study, ''American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900–1950'', the songwriter and critic writes of Robison: <blockquote>He, if ever there was one, was the maverick among song writers. Everyone loved him and many tried to help him, among them [[Johnny Mercer|John Mercer]]. [[Mildred Bailey]] revered him and sang every song of his she could lay her hands on...He did manage, during his almost euphoric life, to write a few successful songs--''[[A Cottage for Sale]]'', and ''<nowiki/>'Taint so, My Honey, 'Taint So''--but generally his songs were known only to a few singers and lovers of the off-beat and the non-urban song. He had a special flair for gentleness and childhood, the lost and the religious.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=American Popular Song: The Great Innovators, 1900-1950|last=Wilder|first=Alec|publisher=Oxford|year=1990|isbn=0-19-501445-6|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanpopulars00alec/page/460 460–461]|orig-year=1972|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/americanpopulars00alec/page/460}}</ref></blockquote>''<nowiki/>''

Wilder concludes that although Robison's songs may not have significantly influenced the development of American popular song, "[I]f they could so much bolster John Mercer's conviction that there was more to write lyrics about than city life, that the world of memory, of remembered sayings and scenes, was as evocative as the whispered words of lovers, then he did make a contribution." <ref name=":0" />

* "Dem Deming Blues" ("The Sandstorm Division is Coming") (1918) {{OCLC|10186775}}<ref>''[https://www.loc.gov/item/2009371693/]'' Library of Congress digital images of "Dem Deming Blues" sheet music</ref><ref>''[http://demingnewmexico.genealogyvillage.com/CampCody/hst09.htm Camp Cody,],'' by Rick Phillips, ''The Enterprise Magazine,'' (© June 24, 1982)</ref>

*[{{AllmusicAllMusic|class=artist|id=p264578|pure_url=yes}} Willard Robison at AllMusic]

[[Category:MaleAmerican male jazz composers]]

[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]