Singer/songwriter Bill Wilson spent the late '60s in Austin, serving in the military at Bergstrom Air Force Base (which has since become Austin's sprawling municipal airport). Wilson met Sonobeat owners Bill Josey Sr. and Rim Kelley (Bill Josey Jr.) through Cody Hubach, with whom Wilson performed on weekends in South Austin bars and clubs and for whom he later wrote a tribute song, Ballad of Cody.

	Master tape box for side 2 of Bill Wilson's song demo album, to which producer Bill Josey Sr. taped a printer's proof of the album label

Wilson's first work with Sonobeat, in 1969, was to record a demo album showcasing his original compositions. Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Bill Wilson, Composer, featured 11 folk, country, and pop tunes. Sonobeat pressed 100 copies of the album to circulate to the national record company A&R departments, hoping to solicit covers by major recording artists. Prolific Sonosong composer Herman M. Nelson was so impressed with Wilson's demo album that when he began work on Songs from the Catalog of Sonosong Music Company: Herman M. Nelson, Composer, Volume 2, he asked Josey to engage Wilson to perform the 12 songs on it.

Bill pauses during a recording session at producer Bill Josey's home in Austin

Wilson was as impressive a blues and rock singer as he was a composer and was tapped by producers Josey and Kelley for Sonobeat's legendary Mariani sessions in 1970. Wilson contributed his strong and distinctive vocal talents to two songs on Mariani's only album, the officially unreleased Perpetuum Mobile. Wilson's powerful performances on Last Milestone and I Can't Hurt Myself (we present a sound bite on the Mariani page) are reminiscent of Blood, Sweat & Tears' great vocalist David Clayton-Thomas.

After completing his tour of duty in the Air Force, Wilson returned to his hometown, Bloomington, Indiana, where in '72 he joined folk-rock group The Pleasant Street Band, who he brought back to Austin to record an album at Sonobeat. Wilson enjoyed a banner year in 1972, when, partially on the strength of his Sonosong demo album and his work with The Pleasant Street Band, Columbia Records commissioned his first solo album, Ever Changing Minstrel. But a change in Columbia's management just as the album was released in '73 interrupted Wilson's career on the label. Bill formally resigned from The Pleasant Street Band in '74 and formed Bill Wilson and Friends. He went on to record three indy albums (none recorded at Sonobeat), Talking to Stars, Made in the U.S.A., and the unreleased Traction in the Rain.

Because Wilson performed his demo album with only guitar and harmonica accompaniment and because the sole purpose of the album was to promote Wilson's songs and not Wilson as a performer, producer Bill Josey Sr. required only monaural mixes, which are all that remain in the Sonobeat archives. Nonetheless, Wilson's vocal performances are solid and convincing. We present sound bites demonstrating the broad range of his songwriting and singing talents. Wilson's joined in harmony vocal by Cindy Reynolds on The Merry-Go Man, a song about living an ignorant life that addresses the Viet Nam war but that also may have been inspired by but remains distinctly different from the Beatles' Nowhere Man.

Wilson died suddenly on November 25, 1993, victim of a massive heart failure, a tragic loss to family, friends, and the music community. His dedicated fans keeps his music alive at the Bill Wilson Project web site.