Home - Legacy - Music - In Concert - Workshops - Audio - Discography - Reviews - Letters

Bill's Legacy Bill's initial musical influence was undoubtedly when his mother sang to him as an infant. Then, upon hearing his cowboy hero Gene Autry sing and play guitar, Bill knew he wanted to sing and play, too. A few years after receiving his first guitar, he began performing in a local dance band called the Marcy Trio named after Mount Marcy the highest peak in New York State. Later on, his older brother Jim, a pianist and instrumental music teacher, became his role model in regard to music and education. In 1974, Jim encouraged Bill to enroll in a guitar class with the legendary Chet Atkins. During Bill's growing up years, his father had to hunt and fish to help put food on the table. Bill spent a lot of time with his father learning the skills of being a woodsman and a guide. Along with his music, Bill loved hiking in the High Peaks and boating on the Hudson River. It's plain to see why Bill Hall's distinctive style of composing came to life when the music he studied and the heartbeat of nature became one. Bill is the fifth generation in a family of Adirondack guides dating back to the 1800s. Oddly enough, Bill's first musical instrument was a harmonica that was given to him by Noah LaCasse. LaCasse had been guiding Theodore Roosevelt on Mount Marcy at the time Bill's great-grandfather Harrison Hall located the vice president. Harrison actually found Roosevelt just three-quarters of a mile below the summit of Marcy, at Lake Tear of the Clouds, the highest source of the Hudson River. Harrison made the nine-mile trip on foot in just three hours. The message informed Roosevelt that he must return to Buffalo as soon as possible. After returning to the Upper Works, Roosevelt was taken by buckboard to the North Creek station. A relay of three drivers accomplished this mission. A special train was awaiting then Vice President Roosevelt. At fifteen, Bill retraced Harrison's journey up Mount Marcy while spending time at Lake Tear of the Clouds where his great-grandfather had located the twenty-sixth president to be. Bill has performed at Roosevelt celebrations involving the towns of Newcomb, Minerva, and North Creek since 1958. His song "Teddy" is featured on his first album A Place in America, which was released in 1984. During the Roosevelt Centennial Celebration in 2001, Bill sang "Teddy" during his televised performance at the MacNaulton Cottage where Roosevelt stayed in 1901. A ballad he composed about his great-grandfather Harrison Hall is found on his cassette tape A Place in America Part II.   © 1999-2014 Bill Hall. All Rights Reserved.