Gary James' Interview With Bill Engelhart Of
Little Bill And The Blue Notes



His group was the first Rock 'n' Roll band in Tacoma, Washington. And did they draw crowds! The City Council passed an ordinance that forced the band to play outside Tacoma's city limits. In 1959, the nation got to hear what Tacoma had been hearing all along. The group's recording of "I Love An Angel" made the Billboard charts (#66). The group we are speaking of is Little Bill And The Blue Notes, fronted by Bill Engelhart. We should also mention that Bill wrote his autobiography titled, So Anyway... Bill Engelhart talked with us about his Rock 'n' Roll journey.

Q - Bill, I guess the obvious question - Where did this name Little Bill come from?

A - What happened is The Blue Notes were doing a recording in Seattle and ended up recording "I Love An Angel", and the guy running the studio said, "Who wrote that song?" And I said, "I did." And he called up a guy who played a guitar and another who owned his record label. So, when they got ready to put it together and put it out, they asked is name of the band Little Bill? One of the guys in the band said, "Well, his grandmother calls him Little Bill because his grandfather has the same name." It's that simple. It's hung on me for years, I'll tell you.

Q - When did you put the band together?

A - 1955. We had no idea what we were doing. One of the guys in the band, he and I went to a movie and we saw these two guys standing near us that we recognized from school. So, we got to talking to them. It turned out one of them played steel guitar and one of 'em played drums. I played bass. When we recorded "I Love An Angel", Bob Reisdorf said, "What's the name of your band?" Somebody said, "Bill Engelhart." He said, "That didn't catch me." And so, one of the other guys talked about my grandmother and he's the one who said that my grandmother called me Little Bill. And Bob Reisdorf said, "I like that. That's a good name for you." That's how that happened.

Q - When you put this group together, did you have an understanding of what a band was? There were Doo Wop groups that sang and danced, but an actual band was a fairly new thing, wasn't it?

A - Fairly new. The way I ended up being a musician had a lot to do with Dad's cousin, who was Al Pruit. He played guitar. And so whenever my grandmother would have a get-together with the family he always showed up. There was one time in particular. I was probably about 14 and Al came to my grandma's with his guitar. We opened the guitar case, it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen at that point. I'm sure that's when I decided I wanted to do that. I was so taken with Al. The guitar was beautiful. So Al, a few times, came to our house and showed me some things, but mainly I kind of taught myself, just like chord changes. Things like that. But Al was probably the reason. Al was the reason I wanted to be a musician.

Q - Is it true that when your group would practice in your father's garage, people would stand outside to listen?

A - Whoever wrote that kind of embellished it. It was probably about ten or fifteen kids outside. Robin came into the garage and said, "You guys got to come out and look at this." We had barely just started having a band. We went outside and these kids were dancing in the street. We were the first Rock 'n' Roll band, not in Washington, but a good part of the state, 'cause bands were popping up everywhere.

Q - What song were you playing that the kids were dancing to?

A - I think we were playing a song called "The Boogie", 'cause that was really easy and I had written it. It was very simple. I don't know this for a fact, but if I had to decide, I would say it was "The Boogie".

Q - Where were you and The Blue Notes playing in Tacoma? Were you playing school dances?

A - No. We were renting halls. We were really young and I don't know where we got the money. It probably didn't cost that much, but we were renting halls and my girl friends would make up the posters. We did it all ourselves and what was amazing was kids started to come to the places and listen to us play 'cause we were the only teenage Rock 'n' Roll band in the area. A couple were in Seattle, but in Tacoma we were the first ones.

Q - You were really ahead of your time on that one Bill. Bands would rent a hall later on and charge admission.

A - Yeah. We charged admission. I forget how much it was. It wasn't very much actually 'cause these were teenagers.

Q - And you probably sold soft drinks too and made money on that?

A - I don't recall that. I think the only money we made was not very much. Maybe $15. Something like that.

Q - Would any famous musicians of the 1950s have come through Tacoma? I'm talking Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Elvis?

A - No. One of the guys in the band and I went downtown to the record store in Tacoma. It was owned by a Black man. There were all these posters on the wall. And so we were looking at the posters and it said James Brown would be at a little hall in Tacoma City. Bands would come through there. They were all Rhythm And Blues bands. And we were hooked. We saw everybody you could imagine. Anybody that was a big deal in Rhythm And Blues at that time. That's when we found our style, the Blues. I continued singing Blues until I retired a couple of years ago. That's how the music happened for us. When we went to the Evergreen Ballroom we saw James Brown, B.B. King, and on and on and on. When we saw B.B. King we hung around after the show was over. We were standing by the stage and he was on the stage putting his gear away and he walked over to us and said, "You guys like the music?" "Yeah, we loved the music." He said, "Are you musicians?" We said "Oh, yeah." We were just barely musicians. And he said, "Well, what kind of music do you like?" I said, "We like Blues." I'll never forget that because he didn't need to stop and talk to us. He'd done his show. It was get back on the bus and go to the next one. He actually took a few minutes to come and talk to us. I think that inspired, I can't speak for the other people in the band, but it inspired me. That's what I wanted in my life, Blues and music. One thing I should tell you. My dad was completely against it. When the record came out, that's when my dad really took interest in what I was doing, which meant a lot to me.

Q - What did your father think you should have done with your life?

A - Oh, get a job in a store or get a job in a place that made things. He looked at me and I can remember him saying, "You're going to end up just like Al Pruit." Well, Al Pruit was a heavy, heavy drinker. But once "I Love An Angel" came out on record, that all changed with my dad. I can understand that. That looked like more of a possibility than anything else.

Q - Sometimes a parent will frustrate you and sometimes they will encourage you. And sometimes the frustration will lead to even more determination.

A - Yeah, exactly. We were probably two or three years in playing dances when we had the record. We didn't want to do a record. We wanted to go someplace to hear what we sounded like. There was a guy in Seattle who had a recording studio and I asked him if we could come up and do that and he said, "Sure." We went to Seattle and in his basement or bottom floor he had a whole setup where he recorded. We recorded some instrumentals 'cause that's basically what we were playing at the time 'cause that's what was happening. He said, "Who wrote that song?" And I said, "I did." He said, "I want you guys to sit down and hang out. I got some people I'm gonna call to come down and hear this." He sent down the people who owned this record company. They listened to it and we were off to the corner. I heard 'em say something about a record. So, I went over and said, "Are you saying something about we're gonna have a record out?" And he said, "Yeah, you are." It was amazing. We couldn't believe it. We just couldn't believe it.

Q - What record label did "I Love An Angel" come out on?

A - Delta Records. They also had a group called The Fleetwoods, who really sold a lot of records. There was another Rock 'n' Roll group, I can't recall their name. It was a small operation, but that's how I got started with recording.

Q - You released a live version of "Louie Louie", didn't you?

A - Yeah, and I wish I wouldn't have. (laughs)

Q - Many people believed the lyrics to that song were dirty.

A - Oh, yeah.

Q - Since you were singing the words to that song, you would know. Were the words to that song dirty?

A - No. We played it real straight. I get what you are saying. I remember hearing that. Our words were just real straight.

Q - You could've said anything and who would have known?

A - Nobody knew. You could've sang anything. I put it out in I believe on Jerdan and it just didn't happen for me. If fact, after I did it I wished that I wouldn't have done it because by then other groups were recording it and they were more popular than we were at that time. I did record it. No dirty lyrics.

Q - Did you leave Tacoma in the early 1960s?

A - No, I didn't leave Tacoma. That's where my parents lived. After the record came out, it seemed like I was getting asked to open for everybody that came to town and this is after The Blue Notes and I had parted. I was doing a single and I opened for almost everything that came to town. I left Tacoma when I was a grownup or close to.

Q - Bill, you were really on the ground floor of Rock 'n' Roll. Did you ever have a follow-up to "I Love An Angel"?

A - No. I was a "One Hit Wonder". (laughs) I did a lot of recording after that, but none of it ever did anything.

Q - What would it have taken to get you even more famous? Writing a hit song like "I Love An Angel" or somebody writing a song for you?

A - No. Nothing like that happened.

Q - You made your mark!

A - That's right. There have been times in my life when I thought why didn't I keep going? Why didn't I do more? In Tacoma they named a street after me.

Q - That's quite an honor!

A - Yeah. (laughs) I don't know where it is. I worked with so many big stars.

Q - What big stars did you share the stage with?

A - Not so much shared the stage with, but like an opening act.

Q - That's what I meant. Opening act.

A - Okay. I don't remember all of 'em. B.B. King. You name 'em and I'll know 'em. I traveled with The Fleetwoods a lot. We opened for Little Richard one time. Some of 'em weren't as big as stars as the ones I just told you. Some of 'em were just going through town and stopped at a place in Tacoma, a hall. It was pretty low key. I did a Mid-West tour with The Ventures and Bobby Vee. That was great. I had a great time on that. I was on tour with all these guys and this lady came to one of our shows. She said, "Can I take you to lunch tomorrow?" I said, "Sure, great." She was older than me. I was in my twenties. So, she came and got me at the motel. We were going to have coffee. All of a sudden we're on the freeway. I said, "Is this someplace down the freeway?" She said, "No. We're going to New York." She said, "I love you." I said, "Okay." I'm starting to panic. I have no idea what's going on. I said, "Why are we going to New York?" I knew I was in trouble right there. There was something wrong with her. She said, "We're just going to live together and be happy." I said, "God, how am I going to get out of this?" So I said, "Well, I'm all for it. I'm all for going with you." She said, "Do you love me?" I said, "I love you very much, but I need to go back and get my clothes." And she bought that and drove back and stopped at the motel we were at. I went in and got Don Wilson (of The Ventures) and told him the story. He started laughing and I told him this wasn't funny. "What do I do?" So he went out and all he said to her was, "He's part of the show and we need him for the show. So, he can't go to New York with you." And she said, "Okay," and drove away. I swear to God that's an actual true story.

Q - That was one aggressive groupie!

A - Yeah, she was. She was pretty aggressive alright. I often wonder what happened to her.

Q - What city did that happen in?

A - I'm not sure. We toured all over the Mid-West.

Q - At one point you were singing Country music?

A - Yeah. Well, I like Country music. Up until recently I was doing some Country music at places I was working. I like the real Country, the old Country, not the new stuff.

Q - So Bill, just to wrap things up, you are now retired, correct?

A - I just retired a couple of years ago (2020) and the reason I did retire is I was having trouble with my memory. I always worked with real good musicians. I think I played music for seventy years. So, that's enough. (laughs) I worked with a guitar player, the best guitar player I ever worked with in all my years. And we were playing a job and I said let's play whatever the song is, and he said, "Let's skip that one Bill." I said, "Are you afraid I'll screw it up?" We both laughed, but on the way home that day I thought, "I've gotta stop now." I had a long career, a good career, and it's time to check out. And I'm glad I did.

© Gary James. All rights reserved.



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