{{Short description|American blues pianist (1903-1996)}} {{for|the American football player|Roosevelt Williams (American football)}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | name = Roosevelt Williams | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Roosevelt Thomas Williams | alias = Grey Ghost | birth_date = {{Birth date|1903|12|7}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1996|07|17|1903|12|7}} | death_place = Austin, Texas, United States | birth_place = Bastrop, Texas, United States | genre = Blues | instrument = Piano | occupation = | years_active = }}
'''Roosevelt Thomas''' "'''Grey Ghost'''" '''Williams''' (December 7, 1903 – July 17, 1996)<ref name="Dead">{{cite web|url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1996.html|title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 1996 - 1997|publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com|accessdate=18 January 2015}}</ref> was an American blues pianist, with a 70-year career spanning from the 1920s through the 1990s. He was part of the "Santa Fe Group", a loose ensemble of black blues pianists who played in the many juke joints abutting the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.
==History== :"He says he got the name Grey Ghost back when he was hired to play in various small towns. Someone would meet every arriving train or bus, but Williams was never aboard--yet mysteriously he would show up in time to perform. "They said like a ghost I come up out of the ground, and then I was gone," he grinned. "I had come and gone by freight train. I would put overalls over my suit and tie, and that's the way I traveled".<ref>Elizabeth A. Moize, "Deep in the Heart of Texans: Austin". ''National Geographic'' 177:6 (June 1990), p. 63</ref>
Williams was born in Bastrop, Texas, United States,<ref name="LarkinBlues">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Who's Who of Blues|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1995|edition=Second|isbn=0-85112-673-1|page=153}}</ref> and received only basic musical training when he was a teenager. He traveled to the area dances and roadhouses by riding empty boxcars.<ref name="LarkinBlues"/> He would seem to appear out of nowhere and then disappear immediately after performing, which earned him the nickname "Grey Ghost."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-w-uGwm_LhcC&q=hitler+blues&pg=PA379|title=Encyclopedia of the Blues|accessdate=18 January 2015|isbn=9780415926997|year=2006|last1=Komara|first1=Edward M.}}</ref> In this fashion Grey Ghost was part of the "Santa Fe Group", a loose ensemble of black blues pianists who played in the many juke joints abutting the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.<ref name="LarkinBlues"/>
In 1940, author William A. Owens made a live recording of Williams singing "Hitler Blues," a song written by Williams.<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1032}}</ref> The song received mention in ''Time'' and was broadcast by BBC Radio on a program hosted by Alistair Cooke in 1940 about the American musical response to World War II. This did not make Williams famous, but he became a regular in nightclubs like the Victory Grill and other venues that catered to the African-American community during racial segregation in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/AMDB/Profile?oid=oid:168385|title=Austin Music Database - The Austin Chronicle|publisher=Austinchronicle.com|accessdate=18 January 2015}}</ref>
In 1965, archivist Tary Owens (1942–2003) recorded several Grey Ghost songs. After decades of relative obscurity, Owens tracked down Grey Ghost again in the mid-1980s. Williams had tired of traveling and settled in Austin and began driving a school bus for the Austin Independent School District. Williams was long retired, but Owens not only issued the 1965 recordings on his Catfish Records label in 1987, but also convinced Williams, now 84, to start playing again and introduced him to a new generation of blues fans. Owens arranged for Williams to make a CD of new recordings at the age of 89. The resulting eponymous solo album was released on October 10, 1992, on Owens' Spindletop label.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://bestof.houstonpress.com/2000-01-13/news/lost-legends/3|title=Lost Legends|author=Steve McVicker|date=23 October 2006|publisher=Bestof.houstonpress.com|accessdate=18 January 2015}}</ref><ref>[http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/taryowens_obit_092203.html] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051226055057/http://www.austin360.com/music/content/music/taryowens_obit_092203.html |date=December 26, 2005 }}</ref>
The City of Austin proclaimed December 7, 1987, as Grey Ghost Day, and he was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 1988.
Williams performed regularly until the time of his death in Austin at the age of 92.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.wirz.de/music/greyghos.htm Illustrated Grey Ghost discography]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Roosevelt}} Category:1903 births Category:1996 deaths Category:American blues pianists Category:20th-century American male pianists Category:African-American pianists Category:Musicians from Texas Category:People from Bastrop, Texas Category:20th-century American pianists Category:Bus drivers Category:20th-century African-American musicians