Tiny Moore

Billie "Tiny" Moore, was a western swing mandolin / fiddle player, vocalist, and arranger. Born May 12, 1920, in Hamilton County, Texas; died on stage December 15, 1987 in Jackpot, Nevada. Moore played semi-professionally from childhood at barn dances with other family members and in high school band The Cloud Hoppers After a 1937 move to Port Arthur, Texas, he started playing with the Port Arthur Jubileers. In 1940 he was with Lloyd Ellis's Jazz Trio in Mobile, Alabama. In Rayne, Louisiana, he accompanied Cajun band the The Rainbow Ramblers. By 1943 he had moved to Houston where he played in the Crustene Ranch Gang band. Moore enlisted in the United States Army Air Force and served from 1943 to 1945. From 1946 to 1950, he was a member Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. In 1949 or 1950 Moore married Dean McKinney of the McKinney Sisters, with whom he had three children. The couple settled in Sacramento, California, where Moore managed Bob Wills' Wills Point Ballroom in Sacramento, California. Along with Billy Jack Wills, he put together and led Billy Jack Wills And His Western Swing Band, active until 1955. From 1956 to 1962 he also hosted and regularly performed on Ranger Roy and the Anna Banana Show, a locally televised children's program. In 1961 Moore opened the Tiny Moore Music Center, where he gave lessons on mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. He focused on teaching throughout much of the 1960s and wrote an instructional book called Mandolin Method. Moore joined Merle Haggard for a 1970 tribute to Bob Wills, , and the joined Haggard's backing band The Strangers (5) from 1973 to 1976. Through the late 1970s / early 1980s he recorded and performed on his own and with other artists. He had a fatal heart attack onstage while playing with the Cadillac Band at a club in Jackpot, Nevada, on December 15, 1987. Inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame along with his wife Dean McKinney Moore in 1995. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as "Early Influence") as a member of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys in 1999 Listed as a Music Legend in the Museum of the Gulf Coast’s Music Hall of Fame in Port Arthur. The Tiny Moore Western Swing Memorial Scholarship was established in his honor at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas.