Bosquebillmusic.com
Internet Home Of Gene Mize Hamilton
aka "BosqueBill"
Gene Mize Hamilton, aka "BosqueBill" is an Americana Singer/Songwriter who lives in the DFW area of Texas.He has 35 plus years playing music,and is rooted in the traditions of music which are the genres that have largely influenced Americana.They are in no certain order- traditional country,bluegrass,various styles of folk music,rockabilly, the blues,&western and cowboy music,maritime styles and sea chanties.He derived his stagename,"BosqueBill",from the Central Texas county,and river, where he had spent many days during his youth visiting relatives,while fishing,riding horseback,and being exposed to the simple joys of rural farm and ranch life,loving the slower pace of small town,and country living.
He started playing guitar at a young age, keeping tempo for his dad,an old-timey fiddler,and learning many of the old songs that his dad and mother ,knew.He was also influenced by the cowboy songs that his maternal grandfather sang,and developed an early love for that style of music. His grandma sang a couple of traditional Irish folk songs that were passed down,and he grew to love old folk music, Gene became infatuated with story songs,and they are still his forte,whether it be a cover song,or one of his own original compositions.BosqueBill incorporates many of his favorite cover songs into his repertoire,most of them being the songs of singer/songwriters who influenced his style along the way.Songs like The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzerald,(Gordon Lightfoot), City of New Orleans ( S.Goodman),and Pancho and Lefty (Townes Van Zandt) are among his favorites to perform,and he puts his own original spin on them.Rather than copy others,Gene has developed his own style,and sings cover songs as though they were his own,but always crediting the writer by name.
You can purchase one of his original CDs at the venues where he plays for $12.00 (or by mail-order for $15.95,personal check or money-order;price will include postage anywhere in the continental U.S)
Just email your order with name,address,zip and he will send you a track listing by email.The Americana Music of"Bosquebill",Volumes 1&2 are currently available.Gene Mize Hamilton (aka "BosqueBill") has over 100 songs listed with performance rights company,BMI and although he has written numerous love songs,he always tends to gravitate more towards the story songs,most of which are about the characters he imagined that were inspired sometimes by real folks he met or heard,or read about.Check out the links below,where many of his songs are posted .
http://www.myspace.com/Bosquebilltheamericanasongman
http://www.youtube.com/user/BosqueBill
Email- gene.hamilton@ymail.com
Cell #-(817) 991-4562
| Date | Time | Event |
| June 30,2012 | 9am-11am | Keller Farmers Market,Town Hall Fountain |
| " " | 1100 Bearcreek Pkwy.,Keller,Texas |
( See page 2 for pic of "BosqueBill" by the river bridge in Iredell,Bosque County,Texas)
"We used to catch a lot of fish in the Bosque River.My grandpa tried to not pay for bait anymore than he had to,so we had to seine our own minnows from the creeks ,or low water crossings on the river.The Bosque runs southeast towards Waco,from the Stephenville area for a good 90 miles or so.It goes into Lake Waco,now,but it used to dump into the Brazos,and was considered one of its tributaries.
My "Paw Paw "liked to tease me and give me a hard time as much as he could.When I was about 6,he started taking me down to the river to fish.I was probably 7 when he caught me throwing minnows in the river,from the bucket.They were still live ones,and he was'nt ready togo yet.He asked me why I was turning the bait loose,and i said I felt sorry for them.He gave me a hard time about that incident (kidding me),until I wasin my twenties,at least.I remember him stopping by the side of the road,and having me fetch a roadkill jack-rabbit,and he would cut it up to use for catfish bait. They say some fish will eat most anything,and I'm inclined to believe it.That still won't stop me from eatingfish,though.He loved to catch fish,but he sure loved a good mess of fried catfish,perch, bass,drum,or whatever he caught.He would fry carp up so brown,he could chew up the bones.He did'nt really mess with fileting whenever he cleaned a fish,.He went fishing so much,that he built up a good repu-tation,and folks would buy them from him.I think every stray cat in town knew where he lived. He would get out there super early in the morning,too,and could tell pretty quick if they were going to hit.He'd say 'They ain't a gonna' bite ' and he'd start loading his stuff up to go home.He was'nt out there to just enjoy the great outdoors,because he'd spent plenty of time out there,on a regular basis.If he did'nt soon catch him some fish,buddy,he was goin' to the house !
PaPa Albert (Mize) was a character in and of himself.He could sing old cowboy songs (like Utah Carroll),that had 16 verses.I guess thats why I wind up writing such long songs! Anyway,he was kind of a tightwad,but I guess thats how he grew up,and of course he was a grown man,trying to raise four kids during the Great Depression,too.I remember how he would go into a department story in
Hico,the nearest "big town" and look at a new pair of shoes or a hat.If the store sign said $10.00,by golly,thats what it was going to be when he went to pay for it ! I've seen him argue with the clerk when they charged him for the tax on the purchase.If they said $10.50,he would say,the sign said $10.00! And he'd either go put it back,or tell them he did'nt want it.He was just set in his ways,and there was'nt any changing him.By the time I was a kid,he mostly made his living by peddling vegetables.He had "retired" working at the many different profesions that he had worked at overthe years.He was drawing an"Old-Age Pension",as they used to call it,and did odd jobs such as the fruit/veggie vending and had run a "2nd-hand" store,until the Bosque flooded in 1959,and they had to evacuate the premises. It was real close to the river,and the sign where the above picture was taken.He and my grandmother lived in the back of the shotgun-style building,and had to get a house more close to the main highway,on higher ground.My "maw maws" brother had a nice farm outside of town,and a few rent houses in the small settlement,and always let them stay in a pretty good house,for a very cheap sum of money.
Papa was a veteran of WW1,and would'nt ever admit to his German heritage,citing the Irish ancestory on his mothers side of the family.In looking up the genealogy of the Mize family,one of my mothers cousins discovered that my great,great grandfather had immigrated to Texas from Germany in 1825.I remember once when my parents went on vacation along with my sister and my grandparents and I,down to the Galveston/Houston area.We went to the Battleship Texas,which was dry-docked there for years and was once a popular tourist attraction(but now in dire need of restoration,and closed,due to lack of maintainance) We tryed to get my grandpa to go aboard with us,but he wanted to just set there on a seat at the pier,and look at it from afar.We could'nt coax him on it in any form or fash ion.He flatly stated"I was on a ship like that when I went to fight Germany in France.If you've seen one ship,you've seen 'em all! ." We've laughed about that a lot,and retold that story time and again.We had another good laugh on him once,when we had all went to see my uncles in California. My grandmother was always up for going "sight-seeing",but PaPa was usually of the same attitude he had about the ship,or did'nt want to spend any money,unless it involved some fishing.We had gone to Knots Berry Farm,and while there,saw some old cowboy western figurines on a bench outside a mocked-up saloon.We got MawMaw to sit between them,and snapped a polaroid picture or two. When we returned back to my uncles house,we showed my grandpa,what fun my grandma had at the amusement park.He got kind of mad at them "fellers" for trying to flirt with his wife of fifty years,and we did'nt let him in on the joke for a long time..Man,was it funny to rile him for a change.I could go on and on with stories about my grandfather.He had done farm work,cowboyed on ranches,worked in the oil fields,picked cotton etc.You name it.When it came to the so-called unskilled labor of that day and time for an uneducated man to do,he had probably tryed his hand at it.Him and his brother used to trap on the rivers in eastern Oklahoma (then Indian Territory),and also down in East Texas,before he moved out west.He had even "grappled" or noodled for catfish in his younger days,getting them out of rivers and creek bottoms with his bare hands(Some still do that today)
Well,he inspired me musically,and so did some of his close "kin".He had a brother who rode the rails in the Great Depression era,and I wrote a song about a hobo,and his dog,after becoming intrigued by the hobo mystique.One of PawPaws nephews was a security agent on the Alaskan Railroad for over 30 years.I got to know him pretty well,too,and he could really tell you some stories ! One he told me,about a world traveler,adventurer type guy,wound up being the inspiration for my song"Far-Rangin' Wand'rer."The memory of my grandfather and the legacy of influence he had on me and my music won't soon fade away from my
thoughts .He was a legend in my mind".-B.B
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Gene Hamilton played his music in a "low-key" manner for years,entertaining at family gatherings,and church functions.He had played for college dorm-mates who
thought he should pursue the dream he had long had of making a career out of being a singer/songwriter.But the plans were soon tabled,for he got married after
dropping out of school,having met his sweetheart at a place of employment.He had planned on finishing college,and trying a career in public relations/advertising.He figured that would be more stable employment than the life of a songster.Kids soon came along,and the music had to take a backseat to providing for a family.A good job finally came along with a major automotive company,after years of paying dues in the general sweat shop environment.The job has bought the groceries,and put a roof over the heads of the family for over 20 years now,but the kids are grown,and retirement close at hand.Gene Mize-Hamilto,aka "BosqueBill" now has a plan.After years of song writing and perfecting/polishing his craft,he hopes that his health will remain stable enough to pursue the lifelong dream,once again.
After his job was transferred to the Midwest,he made a thousand-mile-move with the family,putting down some temporary roots in the northland of Illinois.
He and the family made some good friends while there,and the overtime was steady.Strangely enough,when in theMidWest,Gene somehow reconnected with the folk roots he knew he had always had.He had been talking to a couple of co-workers about music preferences,and the fact that he played and sang.He expressed an interest in adding some different cover songs to his repertore of songs he knew.
One guy told him that he could write down the lyrics of "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzerald" for himThat was one right down his alley.After he received the hand-written copy,he recorded the song on cassette.Upon hearing it played at work,some of the guys thought they were listening to Gordon Lightfoot singing his original on the radio.As time passed,he was invited to entertain at a couple of corpora-te parties,and the old urge to entertain,had him 're-hooked".Also,Gene had the opportunity to play a talent show at his local congregation,and received some rave reviews among the membership for his performance.
Before moving to Illinois,he had made a pilgrimage to Nashville,after having been invited as a result of having played a performer showcase in Dallas.At both events,he had been tagged by a producer as having promising potential in a music career,and was approached about a recording project.However,the up-front cost was prohibitive to his financial situation,and that kind of set off a redflag,that maybe he would not get his moneys worth,anyway.He figured that even if he could borrow the money,the production company might not promote him to the extent that they had assured him they would.Not one to be discouraged,Gene had pitched songs here and there,at a local level in the DFW area,and had been promised by the publishing agent of one prominent artist that he woud "give a listen to his song,and get back to him".
Nothing ever happened on that deal,and others that had seemed like they were the big break,never materialized.
Most of the selections were love songs,that were already a dime-adozen,anyway.Gene Mize-Hamilton had started coming into his own,as a stylist,and story-song writer.
He decided that his mark in music would be made as a story-teller,and that nobody could interpret them any better than he could.BosqueBill felt like that he would eventually find his niche as far as a genre,and had always been folk-oriented,He knew thats what he basically was ,at heart,a folk singer/songwriter.By the time he had found out about guys like Tom Russell(who is credited with being the one who single-handedly started the Americana genre),BosqueBill was entrenched in that general style,himself.He always shunned the over-produced/slick Nashville sound anyway, his preference being the more simple arrangements.He did however,,start working out some more complex chord progressions,rather than the 3 chords --and-the-truth formula of the standard traditional country song.Pretty soon he came to the conclusion that he had a pretty extensive catalogue of material to draw from,with his originals and covers that he could do well,.He started planning out set lists that would have slow songs,alternating with those of faster tempo,and not using back-to-back songs of the same key.Funny songs he had written,were interspersed with love songs,and the story songs for variety.He could throw in some jokes for good measure,and he was all set. BosqueBill wants to travel some playing his music,and would'nt mind landing in his own theater someday,maybe in Branson,if it worked out that way.Then again,maybe he'll stay in Texas,having some sort of resort to play at,and the people come to him.One way or the other,he has faith that it will all work out.The music is inside him,and he wants to share it with the world.BosqueBill won't let this digital age pass him by.He wants to make his presence known to the Americana/folk music lovers of the world and get his songs out there for them to hear. He figures thats the best way to go about it.And if that don't work,he'll have to find out where its legal to play on the street,selling your CDs and let the people come to hear him there.Times a wastin' !
My wife Lawanna's favorite of my originals.(dedicated to her).Playing background on the flute was my nephew,Matt Hester,recently down on vacation from where he lives in Wisconsin.We don't get the chance to jam together much,and I enjoyed the short session.
