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'''Willard Robison''' (September 18, 1894 – 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]] 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", "'Taint So, Honey, 'Taint so" and "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>Bush, John. Allmusic Biography. [{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p264578/biography|pure_url=yes}}]</ref>
In the early 1920s, Robison led and toured with several territory bands in the Southwest. He met [[Jack Teagarden]] in this period, whom he befriended. In the late 1920s, Robison organized the Deep River Orchestra, later hosting a radio show entitled ''The Deep River Hour'' in the early 1930s.
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During the 1920s, Robison recorded extensively for [[Perfect Records]], with scores of vocal recordings accompanying himself on piano (displaying his rather eccentric stride piano style), as well as "Deep River Orchestra" recordings using standard stock arrangements (including many popular and obscure songs) An interesting recording was his fox trot arrangement of George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody In Blue'' on both sides of Perfect 14825 and Pathe 36644.<ref>Art Deco: The Crooners, Various Artists, Sony, CD, 1993. Liner notes by Michael Brooks.</ref>
In 1926-1927, Robison recorded an interesting series of 8 moody foxtrots with the umbrella name of '''American Suite''':
* After Hours (American Suite No. 1) (Perfect 14728/Pathe 36547) 10/1/26 (unfortunately this was the only recording of the 8 that was acocustically recorded)
* Piano Tuner's Dream (American Suite No. 2) (Perfect 14743/Pathe 36562) 10/22/26
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