Podcast with Wil Reid of Wilson Fairchild — two sons of Statler Brothers — playing Saturday at Star-B-Q Salem 2012
WilsonFairchild, from left: Langdon Reid and Wil Reid, opening for George Jones in November 2011 at Salem Civic Center. They used their middle names to create their band name | Photo courtesy Salem Civic Center
Wil Reid and first cousin Landgon grew up Statler — Wil’s father is Harold Reid, and Langdon’s father is Don Reid. If you don’t know those names, you are not old-school country. Harold and Don Reid are Country Music Hall of Fame members with the Statler Brothers, from Staunton.
The Statlers made music history with such songs as “Flowers On The Wall,” “Class of ’57,” “I’ll Go To My Grave Loving You” and more. And lets not forget their side act, Lester “Roadhog” Moran and the Cadillac Cowboys — Harold Reid was the “old Roadhog.”
To the younger Reids, it all seemed normal.
“We thought everybody’s dads had pointy boots and wore a tour buses,” Wil Reid said.
The two sons grew up to make their own country act, Wilson Fairchild, which opened last year for George Jones at Salem Civic Center. Wilson Fairchild returns to town on Saturday for Star-B-Q Salem 2012. Young country chanteuse Lauren Alaina is the headliner. Opening the show is the Roanoke Valley’s own Rutledge.
“The thing that’s always been tough for us is we kind of look like our dads,” Wil Raid said in a thick baritone not far downrange from his father’s. “Our voices kind of sound like our dads. sometimes it’s tough to get people to get past that. But we never wanted to ride coattails. And we’ve had a lot of good success ourselves.”
That success includes writing songs for such acts as Dailey & Vincent (huge Statler Brothers fans, who will hit New River Community College soon with that act’s Jimmy Fortune) and Ricky Skaggs.
Hear more on this podcast, including streaming music from the act’s newest CD, “Get Your Country On.” The Reid boys decided to avoid getting involved with a record label on this one, content instead to be DIY country guys.
“It is definitely working better for us than ever, that we are just doing what we do,” he said. “And we don’t have to fit into a mold of what Nashville or a record label thinks you should be doing. If there’s enough fans to support what you do, then you can do it.”
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September 26, 2012 - 2:39 PM
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