Cecil Gill

Born September 19, 1912 died 1978 A popular country music balladeer on Fort Worth radio stations in the 1930s and 1940s, Also referred to as; Cecil (The Yodeling Country Boy) Gill In 1945 that Cecil had a show on KFJZ at 6:30pm in 1945. His sponsor was a local clothing store. She noted in another article that the show was on Monday through Saturday and then he also had a 2:15pm Sunday afternoon show. In 1930 Gill moved to Fort Worth and signed on at KTAT. For the next twenty-plus years, “The Yodeling Country Boy” was a constant presence on Cowtown radio stations—on WBAP, then KFJZ and KGKO. After World War II he appeared on KXOL, KCUL, KCNC, and KJIM. The daily broadcasts featured Cecil and his guitar serving up songs from the past such as “The Ship That Never Returned,” “Utah Carroll,” and “The Engineer’s Child.” In 1941 he opened Cecil Gill’s Eat Shop, and he started an independent laundry pickup service in 1957. Gill was still operating the laundry service when he died suddenly of a heart attack on March 28, 1978. While Cecil may have been more a regional or local artist, Floy does report in several articles that he was a fixture on the big shows at the Coliseum in the Fort Worth area when the Grand Ole Opry acts were touring through the area such as Ernest Tubb, Eddy Arnold and Pee Wee King. Gill’s recording career was brief. He waxed six songs in 1946 for the local Silver Star Record Company. “Teardrops in the Rain”/“Say Goodbye” (Silver Star 101) proved popular enough to be reissued in 1949 on Rich-R’-Tone Records, a Tennessee label specializing in bluegrass music. By 1947, we were finding that Cecil's career had taken him to radio station WGAD in Gadsen, Alabama. A 1948 Billboard article mentions Cecil was recording on the Bluebonnet record label. But by 1949, Cecil was back in Fort Worth on radio station KXOL. He did not return to the studio until 1963 to record four albums worth of favorites from his radio days for Bluebonnet Records in Fort Worth. In 1971 he recorded a gospel album, How Big Is God, for Arlington-based Inspiration Records.