Americana Music Magazine – Bluegrass, Roots, Folk, Blues, and Old-Time
Kansas City, Missouri is home for musician, Bill Abernathy. Like many, Bill started playing music and writing songs in his early teens, and played music through his high school and early adult years before adulting stepped in and put music on the sideline. As life does to folks, Bill became a family man and had a business career. But on the other side of that, he picked up the guitar again and rekindled his love for music.
“I always tell people I’m doing this music thing backwards,” Bill quipped. “The idea is that you do music when you’re young, right? And I did that, doing the touring and traveling thing when I was a young pup. But for a myriad of different reasons, I chose to step away from that. I never really quit writing and playing music though. In each of the homes I had along the way, I always had a music studio, but the lifestyle of two kids that were both Division-I athletes does not lend itself to a lot of spare time to sit around and play guitar.”
Once that season of Bill’s life settled down, he realized that he had books full of songs he had written. “I had this thought,” Bill said; “I just wonder …,’ then we took some of those songs and recorded them, and people seemed to really like them, and they even won a few awards. So we followed that up with another one.”
That record, Find A Way, was release in 2017, reaching number five on the Roots Music Report Traditional Folk Album chart, and the single, “Goodbye Will Never Come Again” reached number one on the singles chart.
In December 2018, Billboard Magazine named him an Emerging Artist. And his latest album, Crossing Willow Creek, has already enjoyed some success. The first single, “Cry Wolf,” reached the iTunes Top 100 Rock Songs chart, while hitting the Top five on New Music Weekly’s country chart.
“Inspiration for my music comes from a variety of the many parts of my life,” Bill said. “I find it interesting and rewarding to let my imagination wander through the memory and spirit of life events and see where it takes me.”