WILLS, JOHNNIE LEE (1912–1984). Johnnie Lee Wills, guitar and banjo player, was born in Limestone County, Texas, in 1912. He was the son of John and Emmaline Wills and younger brother of Bob Wills.^qv In 1913 the family loaded their possessions into two covered wagons and moved across the state to Hall County in the Texas Panhandle. Johnnie Lee soon established his position within the musically talented Wills family. At the outset of the Great Depression,^qv he got a job as a truck driver for Burrus Mills and Elevator Company of Fort Worth, which sponsored Bob Wills and the Light Crust Doughboys.^qv When Johnnie Lee was fired over a dispute with his foreman, Bob hired his younger brother to play tenor banjo in the group, though manager W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel^qv objected. Bob and several members of the band eventually left the Lightcrust Doughboys to form the Texas Playboys.

Johnnie Lee remained a member of the Texas Playboys until 1940, when he began performing with his own band, Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys. The group became quite popular throughout North Texas and Oklahoma and included many of the same well-established musicians that were part of the Texas Playboys, such as Jesse Ashlock^qv and Joe Holley. In 1940 Johnnie Lee Wills and His Boys began recording for Bullet Records. With the songs "Rag Mop" and "Peter Cottontail," the band gave Bullet its two all-time best-selling country hits. Johnnie Lee went on to record for RCA, Decca, and other labels, and for several years he ran the popular nightclub Stampede in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He died in Tulsa on October 25, 1984.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Fred Dellar, Alan Cackett, and Roy Thompson, The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music (London: Salamander Books, 1986).Charles R. Townsend, San Antonio Rose: The Life and Music of Bob Wills (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976).

Gary Hartman