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Tim Spencer was inducted into the
Western Music Hall of Fame as an individual western music
songwriter. Although Tim Spencer was previously inducted into
the Hall of Fame as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, the
contributions he made to the western music field as a songwriter
qualify him for this individual recognition. Tim Spencer was
born July 13, 1908, in the mining community of Webb City,
Missouri. When Tim was about five, his father moved the family
to New Mexico, settling near Springer, New Mexico, where they
homesteaded a section in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo
mountains.
It was during this period that Tim
acquired his long-enduring feeling for this pioneer country. His
love and admiration for the grandeur of this wild and lonesome
land is felt in many of his songs. As young Tim rode the back
trails with his father, visions rose of bygone days, which one
can feel in the haunting refrains of many of his compositions.
When he was thirteen, Tim purchased a banjo ukulele on credit
and started singing and writing songs. Completing school, Tim
found work in the mines, but an ore car accident landed him in
the hospital with a cracked vertebra. Not able to return to
mining or ranching, Tim arranged to play his banjo and sing in a
night club called the Bucket of Blood. Displaying considerable
talent, and despite the urging of his father to return to other
work, in 1931 Tim took a train to Los Angeles to see if his
talent could be used. Not long after his arrival in California,
Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan and Roy Rogers agreed to join together,
calling themselves the Pioneer Trio. Everything is history after
that with the completion of the group and the new name, the Sons
of the Pioneers.
Tim's first composition was
published in 1934, when he wrote "Will You Love Me When My Hair
Has Turned to Silver," dedicated to his wife, Velma. The second
effort, "Over the Santa Fe Trail" was inspired by his early days
in New Mexico. He felt his finest composition was "The
Everlasting Hills of Oklahoma." His most popular commercial song
was "Room Full of Roses," which was the #1 song in pop music in
1949 and again the #1 song in country music in 1974. His other
more famous songs include: "Blue Prairie" (written with Bob
Nolan), "Bunk House Bugle Boy," "By a Campfire on the Trail," "Cigareets,
Wuhusky, and Wild, Wild Women," "Circuit Ridin' Preacher,"
"Cowboy Camp Meeting," "When the Prairie Sun Climbs Out of the
Hay," and "Timber Trail."
Vernon Tim Spencer died April 26,
1974, at his home in Apple Valley, California.
Biographical information courtesy
of Ken Griffis' book Hear My Song. |
Hal
Spencer, chairman of the Western Music Association advisory
board, president and CEO of the Manna Music Group, and son of
Tim Spencer, one of the founding members of the Sons of the
Pioneers.