Cousin Wilbur Wesbrooks of the Bluegrass Boys

FindAGrave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19805247/willie-egbert-wesbrook...

Records by Cousin Wilbur & Blondie Brooks:

"Blues Stay Away From Me": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqdSHT9xA8Q

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The following letter was written on the back of a signed photo of "Cousin Wilbur & Blondie Brooks". The photo was taken at CBS radio station KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana.

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Howdy Friends,

  Here are the answers to some of your questions that have been asked since we have been here on KWKH.

On March 5th, 1911 in the hills of Gibson County, Tennessee a baby boy was born to Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Westbrooks, and he cried so loud that he alarmed the neighborhood and it seems he still does the same thing. He started radio in 1927. Has been heard on about 300 radio s5tations including WSM's Grand Ole Opry and NBC.
He met Blondie Brooks on one of his personal appearances in North Carolina. It was love at first sight. They were married July 5, 1947 before an audience of four thousand people on a 50,000 watt station over the air on what is known as the Carolina Hayride, WBT Charlotte, North Carolina.
Now they have a baby son, his name is Wilbur, and believe me they are very proud of him.
Blondie is from Hickory, North Carolina, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Leatherman. She is twenty-five years old has blonde hair and blue-green eyes.
Hope you are very happy with this picture. Your pals,
Cousin Wilbur and Blondie Brooks.
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liner notes on record album:

As laughter came from the wings of back stage of the Grand Ole Opry we knew that when we saw Cousin Wilbur in his baggy pants we would have a good show.

He knows what it takes to make a good show. Artists come and they go but he is still around. This is the same Cousin Wilbur Show that has been entertaining since 1934.

He came to the Grand Ole Opry in 1940 as the featured comic for seven years. I was the announcer for his show. In listening to this album you will feel you are in the audience watching the show. He has capped the down to earth country music all these years.

Featured in the album you will hear the golden voice of Blondie Brooks, not only one of the stars on the show, she is Mrs. Cousin Wilbur. They met on one of his personal appearances at Hickory, North Carolina. They have been married happily for 18 years. They have two sons, Wilbur, Jr., and Rickie.

She is very versatile not only as a very fine singer, M. C. and running the show when Cousin Wilbur isn't around.

For shows unchanged for many years Cousin Wilbur's show is truly country entertainment.

I hope that all of our friends will enjoy this album as much as I have enjoyed Cousin Wilbur and Blondie Brooks for many years.

            Your Friend,

Grant Turner -- WSM
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Cousin Wilbur Wesbrooks

b. Gibson County, Tennessee, March 5, 1911, d. August 13, 1984

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Bill E. "Cousin Wilbur" Wesbrooks was a comedian and bass player who played an important role in a number of country careers, and whose own work ranged from rural TENT SHOWS to television. He began his performing career as a singer on radio at WTJS in Jackson, Tennessee, and by 1936 he had organized a band that included a young EDDY ARNOLD and fiddler Speedy McNatt.

    Coming to Nashville in 1940, he got a job as a bass player with BILL MONROE's band and played on the first Blue Grass Boys recording session (for RCA Victor Records) later that year.  By 1945 he had his own Grand Ole Opry troupe, Cousin Wilbur & the Tennessee Mountain Boys, which traveled widely. In 1947 he married fellow entertainer Blondie Brooks, who became his performing partner. The 1950s saw them working on the WWVA Jamboree and on their own television show in Asheville. In later years they often toured military bases and were active in various country reunion efforts. In 1979 Wesbrooks penned a fascinating and underappreciated autobiography, "Everybody's Cousin."

-Stacey Wolfe (for "The encyclopedia of country music")
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According to their 1957 book "A Visit at the Country Store", Cousin Wilbur & Blondie Brooks, along with their 8-year-old son little Wilbur, talk about their Asheville TV show, which was on the air in 1955-1956. Bassist and comedian Bill "Cousin Wilbur" Wesbrooks was born on 3/5/1911 in Gibson, Tennessee. He started radio in 1927 on WTJS in Jackson Tennessee. By 1936 he had formed a band that included a young Eddy Arnold. He first came to fame as a member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys where he replaced Amos Garren in 1940, and he appeared on all of Bill Monroe's Victor recordings. Born Willie Egbert Wesbrooks, he was better known in later years under his stage name, Cousin Wilbur. After Stringbean joined the Blue Grass Boys, the two of them performed comedy routines together. He sings lead on the Blue Grass Boys' recording of one of his featured novelty numbers, "The Coupon Song". After leaving the Blue Grass Boys in 1944, Cousin Wilbur continued on the Grand Ole Opry as a solo performer, and in 1945 he had his own Opry troupe Cousin Wilbur and the Tennessee Mountain Boys. He met Blondie Leatherman on one of his personal appearances in North Carolina. Blondie is from Hickory, North Carolina, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Leatherman. They were married July 5, 1947 before an audience of four thousand people on a 50,000 watt station over the air on what is known as the Carolina Hayride, WBT Charlotte, North Carolina. They began performing together as the Cousin Wilbur and Blondie Brooks Show. In the 1950s they worked in television on the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling WVA, and also had their own television show on WLOS TV in Ashville, North Carolina. They continued to perform together throughout the 60s and 70s until Cousin Wilbur’s death on 8/13/1984. The 14 page book, including the inside covers, measures approx. 8.25 x 11 inches, and contains a one page letter from the performer and 13 pages of black and white photographs, 9 of them being full page. The book is a wonderful collectible of old time country western music. As you can see from the scans, the book is in Very Good condition, with very little wear and just some very slight edge wear to the covers, and some age toning to the margins of the inside back cover. The interior pages are otherwise clean bright and unmarked. This book is a must have for your country western music collection. This photo book appears to be very rare as I could not find another copy of it available for sale on the internet. However, I am starting the auction at a VERY low opening bid and the book is OFFERED WITH NO RESERVE. Please note that I am selling several other vintage country items on eBay this week and I will be happy to combine postage if you win more than one auction. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: WSM is the callsign of a 50,000 watt AM radio station located in Nashville, Tennessee . Operating at 650 kHz, its clear channel signal can reach much of North America and various countries, especially late at night. It now bears the distinction of being the only clear channel station in the eastern U.S to broadcast music; practically all the others employ a news/talk format. The WSM-FM callsign is also assigned to an FM station in Nashville, and were shared by Nashville's then co-owned television Channel 4, now WSMV , until 1981 . WSM has been nicknamed "The Air Castle of the South". WSM broadcast in (C-Quam) AM stereo from December 6 , 1982 thru 2000 , which could be heard over several states at night. It first signed on in 1925 and is primarily associated with the popularization of country music through its weekly....

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    Cousin Wilbur (Wesbrooks) was the bass player in the Blue Grass Boys when Stringbean was a member.  The two worked up “double comedy” routines to add variety to the band’s shows. One bit revolved around the two men being competitive farmers. The punch line was that Stringbean’s crops were better because they were grown in the town where the band was playing that night.

“And he could never remember the name of the town where we were,” recalled Cousin Wilbur. “We’d get the audience to laughing, and he’d ask me out of the corner of his mouth, “What’s the name of this town?” Id tell him . . . So we hit a town in Arkansas, and I really fixed Stringbean up that night. We liked to tore that audience to pieces! The name of the town was Rector, Arkansas. And Stringbean says, ‘What’s the name of this town?’ Out of the corner of his mouth. So I told him it was Rectum, Arkansas.
“That’s what Stringbean up and said, “Rectum, Arkansas. Right here, folks, in Rectum.’ And he liked to wrecked the audience. They must have laughed for fifteen minutes. And I got so tickled that Stringbean got broke up, and he was not supposed to laugh . . . I looked backstage, and there was Bill Monroe and Honey Wiles — Honey was a great big fat guy — and they were backstage . . . lying on the ground just holding their stomachs - dying laughing. I’ll tell you right now, we really tore that audience apart, and all I had to do the rest of the show was just ask Stringbean, “What did you say the name of the town was where your farm was?”
“He would play the deadpan part, and I would play the kind of smart alecky part, you know. We worked together for two years. And he was a fine feller. And we never had a cross word the whole time.”
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From “Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain: Tales of Romance and Tragedy” by Grand Ole Opry, Robert K. Oemann