Before that I used a broom, pretending it was a guitar and I would strum the straws and sing Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb songs, I'd heard on the radio. My Mom and Dad, both played guitar, and showed me the chord position's. By the time I was eight I was playing good enough to play and sing in front of the church congregation.
At school I played assemblies and at other school functions. When I left school, I tried a number of different jobs, but it always came down to some how some way , I'd get a pick'in gig.. I quit many a job to go play guitar,and sometimes it paid less than I was making at the day job. But I was playing music.. It was around this time I became Bill Sterling. It always seemed no one could ever say Popejoy the same way twice, well this solved that problem. In 1963 a friend of mine"Rufus Shoffner" also known as Kelly Rogers and I put together a band.. We called ourselves "The Country Travelers" Rufus played the bass and Speedy Rodgers played rythum guitar, I played the lead guitar. We all sang and had a great following around the Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio area. In 1965 we decided to move to Nashville.
Well it didn't take me long to realise, that, "Guitar picker's" were a dime a dozen and no one had a dime! I went to work at a garage , but soon found a pick'in gig with some struggling artist. In 1966 I went to work for the "Lumberjack Man" Hal Willis. Now that was an experience! I'll have to say we did have a good time. Hal did help me alot, taught me alot about the music business. and how to book shows. He also booked me on my first single tour thru Quebec, Canada. In 1970 My Friend Speedy introduced me to John Denny who owned Jed Records and Cedarwood Publishing Co. My first release on the label was "The Mechanic's Life" followed by a number of others.. In 1974 John and I penned a hit "What's Tootsie Gonna Do" Which recieved a lot of air play across the country. Stonewall Jackson recorded one of our songs also "Jesus took the outlaw out of me" I would like to thank John , for helping me achieve some of my dreams For it was he that pulled the right strings and got me a guest shot on The Grand Ole Opry, and working Grand Ole Gospel Time with Jimmy Snow.

 

 

In 1981 I went with Blossom Gap Records, and put out a song "Man Made Dream" written by two of my friends who both worked for me at one time or the other the late Don Andrews and Sonny Bennett It made the top 100 list in Cash Box Magazine.. Well by this time I've been thru one divorce, and getting ready for another...It's 1984 I'm 46 years old , and I made the decision to hang it up. So I went back into the automobile repair business. I met my best friend around this time and we got married on April Fools day 1986......Well here it is 2004 . Thanks Janice..I love you. Well it's been nearly 20 years I still love music very much, so I bought this MRS1266 Multi=trac recorder, Tuned up my old guitars and layed down some tracks for fun..Wrote a song " Almost A Lifetime" for the title song of this album ....I play every noise you hear on this CD and some I wish you couldn't hear HA!HA! Let me tell you .. It was fun...I hope you enjoy it. 

Bill Sterling