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By Russell Williford, Jr.
Russell Williford was born April 2, 1933 in Dunn, North Carolina. His family moved to Norfolk, Virginia soon after WWII started because of the work and shipyards there. When he was ten years old, Russell taught himself how to play guitar.
He served in Korea from 1953-55, and there he played with Roger Miller on a radio show in Seoul for the soldiers. In fact, Russell still has a rare, unrecorded reel-to-reel Roger Miller song from their days together in Korea.
When he came back to Norfok, he played at local clubs and met Tex Davis. In those days Russell played a 1953 Fender Squire, and he and Cliff Gallup had a reputation as being the hottest guitar players in the area. When Cliff left The Blue Caps, Tex asked Russell if he would meet Gene Vincent in Washington, DC for a show at the Casino Royale and then go to Hollywood with him to do the movie "The Girl Can't Help It."
When they arrived at the Los Angeles airport, they met Elvis Presley and took pictures with him. After doing the movie they played the Shrine Auditorium in Hollywood and the Paladium in San Diego. Then they went east to Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and into Canada. After that, Gene took some time off; the record label wanted Cliff to do the next album, but Gene came back to Russell to go with him to Las Vegas where they played until they had to cancel the last few shows due to Gene's leg problems.
In 1957, while Gene was healing, Russell put his own band together called Russ and the Go Boys (later changed to The Go Boys), and around 1959 they recorded some songs in Washington, DC. Russell and the boys played the Baltimore/Washington, DC area, and there he met and became friends with Roy Clark of "Hee Haw" fame, Jimmy Dean of "Big John" fame (as well as the "Sausage King"), and Charlie Daniels.
Later, in 1961, Go Boys evolved into The Palisades, and in 1961-62 they played the world-famous Copacabana in New York City, where they played shows with Wayne Newton. They also made a few recordings; their biggest hit was "Lean Hornet," which got moderate airplay. Russell was well known on the East Coast and was called to fill in at shows in the 1960s for Patsie Cline, Lefty Frizzell, and Tommy Cash.
Russell would not see Gene again until early 1971, when Gene walked into a club that Russell was playing in Norfolk and got up on stage and did three or four rockin' songs. Afterwards he gave Russell a copy of his new album on Karma Sutra records and asked Russell if he would join him if Gene could get the Blue Caps back together. The Palisades ten-year run was nearing its end, so Russell agreed to join him. But Gene died a few months later.
After the Palisades broke up in 1972, Russell moved to Nashville and played the Grand Ole Opry with Tex Ritter. Playing the Grand Ole Opry nearly every week, he played with Little Jimmy Dickens, Jean Shepard, the Wilburn Brothers, Justin Tubb, and others. He also toured with Tex and did some session work with him, and from 1977-1979 he joined Stonewall Jackson and played with him as well.
Russell has always been a songwriter and has written hundreds of songs. He had a moderate hit in 1977 with "Walk Out on Me," sung by Charlie Borchert, bass player for Stonewall and cousin of Bobby Borchert. In 1981 he moved back to Norfolk where he has been writing songs and playing music till today. Dickie Harrell and Jack Neal have come out to hear him play, and the three of them still remain good friends. Recently, Russell made an instrumental CD, called "Pickin' & Pedalin'," which includes a Gene Vincent medley featuring "Bee-Bop-a-Lula."
- Russell Williford JR - Rustywilli@aol.com
