It’s a musical mystery that cannot be solved. No, I’m not talking about “Why is Panic at the Disco! suddenly popular again?” or “Why does Cardi B yell at us in every song?” or even “What kind of shoes is Jay Ferguson wearing on the cover of the Thunder Island album? Are those macramé crocs?”
No, this mystery is even more puzzling. If it were a Quinn Martin Production or an Encyclopedia Brown story, it would be “The Sudden Disappearance of Sons of Bill.”
Sons of Bill are (or were… still trying to figure that out) a band out of Charlottesville, Virginia, featuring three brothers, all sons of a UVA professor named Bill Wilson. (So it’s no mystery how they came up with their band name.)
My buddy Joe put them on my radar several years ago, and I really liked their sound. We even saw them in concert at the Southgate House in 2012, and ran into the lead singer James Wilson prior to the show – nice guy. We spoke with the other two brothers, Sam and Abe, after the show. They’re super-friendly too. And I really liked their 2012 release Sirens, and their 2013 album Love & Logic.
They were never even close to the big time, but it seems like they had a decent following. Last summer, they released a new album called Oh God Ma’am, put out a promo video… and then promptly vanished from the face of the earth.
Seriously, they just ghosted on us. Even in the age of the Interwebs, where you can find out anything and everything about anyone with just a few clicks, Sons of Bill have pulled a disappearing act that would make Houdini proud. Their website touts the album from last summer. Their last Facebook post is from July 10th of 2018. Their pinned tweet is from April of last year. After a relative flurry of press for the album release last spring, it’s been radio silence.
I’m sounding the clarion call… detectives, assemble! Let’s get the entire NBC Sunday Mystery Movie lineup on the case too.
Find Sons of Bill! ASAP!!!
