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About Billy Farmer...
I was born in Seattle Washington on May 19, 1961. I was adopted as William Gregory Farmer by Joyce and Gerald Farmer of Tacoma, Washington on May 25th 1961 (my dad’s birthday!)
My earliest recollection of life was in our family home in north Tacoma and then, later, out to the family home by the Narrows. My sister Judi and brother Michael both came along a few years after me and we had a happy and typical Christian upbringing centered on family activities; church, athletics and community.
When I was just maybe four or five I was absolutely enthralled by Dick Latimer with his guitar singing old lively folk songs and old-timey stuff to me when it was time for bed. I remember this family friend singing one in particular called “Hey Lidy Lidy Lidy… hey Lidy, lidy lo…” or something like that. Dick would make up verses for each member of the family and I would just laugh uncontrollably at his wit and how the music carried the humor and love.
I became aware of another musician in my life named Nancy Doughty. She was my mom’s pal and my brother’s Godmother. Our families shared the same church and we often visited their home as they and my parents were PLU alumni. She dressed up like an old man or a hobo and sang a song called “I’m My Own Grandpa” and it fascinated me to no end. I can STILL hear her singing that song in the church basement on FAMILY NIGHT 40 years later. She was impressive with guitar or banjo and costume. I loved her ability to perform and I often thought of her through the years when a big show of mine would come along.
In boyhood I became a soccer player. I was as dedicated to soccer then as I am to music now. I really believed, and I told anyone that’d listen that I would someday be Pele’s teammate. I played the game all year long and was on a very competitive team named “The North End Searchers”. My whole world revolved around that team and my teammates. I also played baseball, basketball quite well and ran track & field events. I wrestled in Jr. High and was in Scouting until my 12th year.
As a second and third grader I really gained a love for reading and drawing. I was obsessed with OLD SHIPS and would draw the Spanish sailing ships day after day. I would read entire series of books and planned to become an artist and draw boats for my living -- when I wasn’t playing soccer that is.
My love for art and soccer culminated when I drew and finished the design for the team LOGO and it was silk screened onto some sixty jackets and uniforms all through our team’s career.
I’ve always been able to sing and it seemed natural to me from the years of singing in church and singing with my grandpa or with Dick Latimer. But when I was offered a seat in Emmanual Lutheran’s Junior Choir I took it to heart. My choir director (and best friend Todd’s mom) Jan Larson taught me to sing in time with the choir. It was fun and before long I was singing a solo called “Steal Away.” I wore a white open - collared sport shirt that Sunday in the last year of the sixties and I can clearly remember being so nervous my vibrato was out of control. Jan’s eyes helped me through that song. I think of her sometimes when I get nervous for a big number.
Junior Choir led into “CHAPEL SINGERS” our church’s teen contemporary Christian folk group modeled after “Up With People”. I was barely a teen when I’d found my medium: guitar based folk music with strong melody. I loved “Up With People” and found their albums to be some of the most satisfying of my childhood. The Chapel Singers would tour for a few weeks each summer and I caught the travelling bug from one of those many jaunts down the coast or over into the Inland Empire. Our director, Mary Foege, would encourage me to join my school choir, which I did, and that introduced me to Mr. Neal Smith.
He really taught me how to sing a “part” and how to develop my grown-up man’s voice. He was a marvelous teacher and he prized anthems like “Sunrise, Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof and songs from “Westside Story” that weren’ outdated at the time. He could sing Neil Diamond songs, too, and I remember him warming us up through ALL the vowels and teaching us keen pitch exercises which I’m SURE, beyond all doubt, have helped me on my career path more than anything else I learned in schools besides how to read and do basic math.
In the summer of 1970 I went on an extended vacation with my aunt Mona and Uncle George and two cousins Heidi and Angela. What a trip that was! We saw the whole west… up close. I gained a love for travelling and became a person who appreciates the “out of the way places” and how to read a map and how to know where tomorrow will be.
Meanwhile soccer was still king. My team won title after title and my family became best friends with my coach Rufus. Our family vacation of 1971 was an adventure to Baja Mexico for three weeks of beach camping & surfing. I attribute this trip to my sole connection with a rambling spirit vagabond lifestyle. I also learned to LOVE popular radio music on this long trip and became a BIG radio fan. I have listened to at least 20 hours of radio each week for the rest of my life. I love radio. That summer so many great songs adorned the air… from “Uncle Albert” to “Ain’t No Sunshine” …. “Heart of Gold” and “Sunshine on My Shoulders”. I remember them all from that year and I memorized the songs… from “Puppy Love” ( I looked a remarkably similar to Donny Osmond) to “Summer in the City” it was POP music for me and it began to dominate my brain. I remember getting in trouble at school from a teacher who asked me what I kept singing over and over… “You’re So Vain… I bet you think this song is about you” was what I was singing under my breath. I went from being obsessed with soccer and art to being obsessed with popular song.
I could recite entire anthems. I memorized songs and began to collect 45’s. Along with baseball cards and 45’s, Yo-Yo’s and Sport’s Illustrated magazines I had nice collections of ‘things’. Then it happened: Christmas of my tenth year I got “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” AND “Let it Bleed” on the same night. Dad got me the Beatles album and my grandpa bought me the Stone’s all-time great. I fell hard for the Beatles and although they HAD already broken up… I was their big fan. I got every Beatles record I could and then it became a way of life … in no time at all I was TOTALLY smitten by songs, singers and the record album covers showing the world those songs and singers came from.
I took up guitar at 12 and although I never really played hard and serious until I was 15 or 16, I kept dabbling in lessons and learning folk songs. I never knew I could learn a Beatles song or a “radio” song for that matter. Too may chords and too musical. I was just happy to sing along with the hits of the day.
I developed a little too much of an aggressive personality in my mid teens and eventually got booted out of my Jr. High for repeated fist –fighting. I landed up on Brown’s Point going to Meeker Jr. High. From there I decided I wanted to go to Stadium High School. By the time I graduated from Stadium in ’79 I’d become a fine batik artist, a writer of songs and formidable self-taught acoustic guitarist. While at Stadium I became close friends with two brothers Jim and Terence O’Hara. I consider Terence a master musician. I’ve come to know him as a musical mind of great depth and color. My choir singing days were replaced by the made-up band phase and I kept forming and re-forming bands from ’79 to ’82 with the highlights being the times I spent in the country band from Puyallup; “BOOTLEG”.
Bandleader BILL MILLER gave me the lead-guitar job and I played slide-lead for the group for two years. We played steady at “The Brouwers” club and many Eagles Lodges and freestandings. In those times I had to have a special pass to play in the bar and had to be OUTSIDE in the cab of Bill’s truck on band breaks.
BOOTLEG broke up in ’81 and they sold me their P.A and Jim O’Hara and I bought it for $150. We had a revolving door of band mates throughout the ‘80’s and kept our band “SWAY” going for many years practicing weekly and sometimes all weekend at our rented “warehouse”. I was working for a string of cabinet and plastic molders until I took the’great leap of faith’ into music professionalism in 1983. Subsequent stints with “Shades of Jade”, “Trivia” and “The Dewey Parker Group” led me to a string of out-of-state tours and eventual cruise ships.
Soccer was still a strong presence in my lifestyle as I coached the boys league team ‘THE NORTHEND REBELS’ to three District titles and one state championship in 1989. I continued to play indoor league with friends and past teammates well into the late 80’s. I was a BIG fan of the Tacoma Stars and our family had season tickets and I went to just about EVERY game.
In 1989 I took the full-time musician life to the next level when I spent the entire year from fall to spring as a traveling, musician. Subsequent tours of Canada in ’90 , ’91 & ’92 had me fronting my own band of six under the name SOCIETY.
In 1992 I formed “Way Out West.” Myself and long time drummer friend from the Dewey Parker group, Martelle Singletary, toured constantly until 2001. We would log some years with 34 thousand gigging miles and 52 weeks of shows. I met and became lifelong friends with Reina who joined up with me in ‘95. That next year we recruited Jim Haase and for a while in ’96 we had the best sounding band in the entire mountain west. Listening to Reina’s voice every night was my favorite time in my touring band life. Jim and I began to write songs and eventually released a GREEN TAPE in 1998, which, to this day, I am most proud of. That release features the song “She Loves Dancing” that still is my fan’s favorite.
After many years of touring I decided to buy a motel in Montana. I kept the motel until 2003 when I moved back to Tacoma to help with my family.
I am currently proud of many of my friends and the music we make together as groups, duos, shows and jams.
I am currently putting the finishing touches on my newest CD titled “OUR TIME” which will release THIS summer. Bryan Bell is producing and engineering the entire project and I am more optimistic that words can explain. He’s a genius and a great friend and mentor. I have many opportunities that continue to present themselves to me in this great life… I hope to see you out at a live venue sometime soon.
Your Friend, Billy
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