Bill Gates was born April 28, 1930 in Tucumcari, New Mexico.  Folks of that era had only the family radio for entertainment, and Bill was no exception.  He spent his young life listening to stations in Clovis and Amarillo, and to everyone’s favorite, the “Outlaw” station in Del Rio, Texas.  As soon as Bill got a taste of western swing music, he was hooked.  At 13 he learned the lap steel and formed a high school band called th”the Westenaires”, copying the styles of their heroes Bob wills, Spade Cooley, and other western swing greats of the day.  This band was featured in many of the dance halls and honky-tonks around Clovis, Tucumcari, and Amarillo.

In 1950, Bill joined the Navy.  During his Navy stint Bill played his western swing with several service bands.  Discharged in 1954, Bill returned to Tucumcari where he rejoined “The Westernairs”.  Having spent time at Naval Base Whidbey in 1956, Bill decided to return to the Northwest and settled in Anacortes, WA.  For the next 30 years Bill played with several local bands, one of which was with The Cascade Ramblers with P.O.W.S. member Lloyd Hooper.  Bill also played many dates with P.O.W.S. member Bill O’Conner who says, “…the hardest part of playing with Bill Gates is getting him to play something other than western swing!!”  Bill also played with bands backing Little Jimmy Dickens, Faron Young, Merle Haggard, and for six months with Loretta Lynn.  He also performed many times on the Buck Owen’s Show in Tacoma.

In 1957 Bill started a disc jockey career at KAGT in Anacortes.  A person could always hear Country music by tuning in Bobby Wooten on KAYO, Jack Roberts, or Buck Ritchey on KVI, but if you wanted Western Swing Music you HAD to tune in to Bill’s show on 1340 AM - KAGT!!  He and Ed Burnett kept Western Swing alive in upper northwest Washington for many years.  In 1960, Bill became the first disc jockey to play a Loretta Lynn record on commercial radio, and was instrumental in helping her contact D.J.’s across the country.  Later Loretta introduced Bill in the front row of Ralph Emery’s “Nashville Now” show, and was a guest on his radio show at WSM.  Loretta and Bill remain close friends today.

Over the years Bill has built custom steel guitars and belongs to the Pedal Steel Guitar Association, the Southwest  Steel Guitar Association, & the Western Swing Music Society of Seattle.  He retired from playing professionally in 1986 because of his health.