CHARLESTON - When Wheeling musician Roger Hoard opened a show for Doc Williams in 1971, little did he realize he would one day induct Williams into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
Wheeling country music and Capitol Theatre legends Doc Williams and his late wife Chickie - along with Moundsville native Frank DeVol - were honored with induction into the hall Saturday at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston.
In addition to their many years selling records and performing in Wheeling, Doc Williams also sold about 200,000 copies of his "Guitar Instruction Book."
Article Photos
Doc Williams poses with a picture of his wife, Chickie. Both were inducted into the West
Virginia Music Hall of Fame on Saturday.
(Photo by
Casey Junkins)
Doc Williams poses with a picture of his wife, Chickie. Both were inducted into the West
Virginia Music Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Photo by
Casey Junkins
Doc and Chickie's daughter Karen McKenzie accepted Hoard's presentation of her parents into the hall.
She then took on the role of her mother, with Hoard taking the place of Doc, for a rendition of Doc and Chickie's song, "One Heart, One Life."
Hoard said Chickie, who passed away in 2007, and Doc who resides in Wheeling, are very deserving of their honors.
"They bring a lot of history to the (Wheeling) area," he said. "It is not easy to find people like them."
Due to health reasons, the 95-year-old Doc Williams was unable to attend the Saturday ceremony. He did, however, issue the following statement regarding the inductions.
"It is a real pleasure and honor for my wife, Chickie Williams, and I to be inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. Chickie and I proudly carried the name of Wheeling and West Virginia and the Wheeling Jamboree with us throughout our lengthy careers in country music.
"Wheeling became my adopted home in 1937 when I first joined the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree. Chickie was born in Bethany, W.Va., and when we married in 1939, she moved to Wheeling where we raised our three daughters.
"I am sorry I could not be at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and stage show due to health reasons. However, I know my daughter, Karen McKenzie, along with Roger Hoard, will do a great job of representing Chickie and I .
They plan to sing a song Chickie and I wrote called, 'One Heart, One Life.' The song speaks of our love (Chickie's and mine) for each other, as we had been married for 68 years when she passed on in 2007.
" Thank you, West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, and thank you West Virginians."
Doc and Chickie's grandson, Wheeling Mayor Andy McKenzie, was pleased to see his grandparents recognized for their contributions to the Mountain
State's cultural history.
"It really is a great honor to see my grandparents recognized like this,"
he said. "It is nice for them to be included in a ceremony with such a variety
of musical talent like this."
Though Doc and Chickie found fame in the Ohio Valley, DeVol went on to
Hollywood success after being born in Moundsville in 1911. He is probably best-
known for composing the themes to the TV shows "The Brady Bunch," and "My
Three Sons."
In presenting DeVol for induction, actor Fred Willard described his
longtime as "a hipster in square clothes."
"Frank DeVol was way ahead of the curve," Willard said.
The Bailes Brothers, Larry Combs, Nat Reese, Don Redman and Hawkshaw
Hawkins were also inducted.
Cross Lanes native and Grammy Award Winner Kathy Mattea performed at the
event, as did Charlie McCoy, Jean Shepard, Nat Reese and Phil Wiggins, Tim
O'Brien, Mollie O'Brien, Larry Combs and the Montclaire String Quartet, Homer
Bailes, Robert Dransin, Butch Miles, Bob Thompson, fiddler Earl White and 9-
year-old singer Jasihia Daniels.
Michael Lipton, executive director of the hall, said he is currently
searching for a permanent home for the body. He noted one of the
organization's primary goals is to encourage Mountain State children to apply
their musical talents.
"We want children to know that music can change and enhance lives," he
said.
The 2009 inductees join 2007 Hall of Famers Leon "Chu" Berry, George
Crumb, Hazel Dickens, Little Jimmy Dickens, Johnnie Johnson, Clark Kessinger,
Molly O'Day, Blind Alfred Reed, Billy Edd Wheeler and Bill Withers, as well as
2008 inductees Ann Baker, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper, Phyllis Curtin, Robert
Drasnin, The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover, Charlie McCoy, Maceo Pinkard, Red
Sovine and Frankie Yankovic.