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He says he got the name Grey Ghost back when he was hired to play in various small towns. Someone would meet every arriving train or bus, but
Williams was never aboard--yet mysteriously he would show up in time to perform. "They said like a ghost I come up out of the ground, and then I was gone,"
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The City of Austin proclaimed
December 7, 1987, as Grey Ghost Day, and he was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 1988. Williams performed regularly until the time of his death in Austin at the age of 92.
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In 1965, archivist Tary Owens (1942–2003) recorded several Grey Ghost songs. After decades of relative obscurity, Owens tracked down Grey Ghost again in the mid-1980s. Williams had tired of traveling and settled in
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in 1987, but also convinced
Williams, now 84, to start playing again and introduced him to a new generation of blues fans. Owens arranged for Williams to make a CD of new recordings at the age of 89. The resulting
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he grinned. "I had come and gone by freight train. I would put overalls over my suit and tie, and that's the way I traveled."
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made a live recording of
Williams singing "Hitler Blues," a song written by Williams. The song received mention in
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solo album was released on
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and other venues that catered to the
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Elizabeth A. Moize, "Deep in the Heart of Texans: Austin".
116:(December 7, 1903 – July 17, 1996) was an American
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184:in 1940 about the American musical response to
351:"Austin Music Database - The Austin Chronicle"
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481:20th-century African-American musicians
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208:and began driving a school bus for the
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246:"The Dead Rock Stars Club 1996 - 1997"
114:Roosevelt Thomas "Grey Ghost" Williams
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372:Steve McVicker (23 October 2006).
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399:December 26, 2005, at the
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248:. Thedeadrockstarsclub.com
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376:. Bestof.houstonpress.com
285:Encyclopedia of the Blues
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34:Roosevelt Thomas Williams
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77:(1996-07-17)
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232:References
190:nightclubs
153:roadhouses
99:Instrument
55:1903-12-07
44:Grey Ghost
30:Birth name
222:eponymous
192:like the
178:BBC Radio
397:Archived
161:nickname
157:boxcars
127:History
121:pianist
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206:Austin
149:dances
89:Genres
217:label
118:blues
103:Piano
93:Blues
382:2015
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