The Artists of Country Showcase
Billy Reasons
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Biography
In July 2002, Billy Reasons was electrocuted and nearly died.
He blacked out while he was in direct contact with live voltage, and the damage to his body and his mind would have been enough to dissuade anyone from ever picking up a guitar again. For a guy who owns 19 guitars, and had been a professional musician in both Country and Contemporary Christian music for decades, that's a brutally tough pill to swallow.
Some doctors feared they'd have to amputate his hand. Others told him the chances he'd ever keep the hand were less than 5 percent. But on and on Billy went battling depression so bad that he couldn't even look at his guitars, and rarely left a dark closet in his house. He endured nine different surgeries on his right hand, each one improving his range of motion.
Now Billy has a screw in his right thumb, and no feeling on the inside of his right forearm, thumb and first two fingers. He cannot finger-pick as he once did. He actually glues a pick to his thumb and finger with the longtime baseball substance of pine tar to enable him to play and his music hits a home run every time.
Reasons has practiced so hard at times he's left blood on his guitars, and has rehearsed vocals so much that he's sung himself hoarse. The result is an album which is, to put it mildly, worth waiting for. This is the best work of what was already a fine career long before Reasons' accident; and fans are catching the buzz that Billy's back and stronger than ever.
While performing throughout the US and around the globe, Billy has had an overwhelming response. During a Recent Armed Forces Entertainment tour in the Middle East, Billy had the honor of being the first music artist to ever perform aboard the USS San Antonio.
I've taken Country influences into my music my whole life, Billy says during a conversation at Nashville's famed Longhorn Steak House, a stone's throw from Music Row. George Strait and Earl Thomas Conley were some of my favorite singers. So was the Gospel star Phil Keaggy, a hero of Billy's from his contemporary Christian music days, and a man who inspired and encouraged Reasons dramatically over the last few years.
Perhaps the most crucial step in Billy's recovery from depression came when he realized something about those 19 guitars: They are my best friends, he says now. He has repaid that friendship a thousand fold.
Billy's guitar style, because of physical limitations, is different from his earlier work but no less satisfying. The chords he plays now, like those of Bill Evans' jazz piano, give Billy's music a unique, full sound and one that's instantly recognizable.
Reasons could easily have given up in the wake of tragedy; the fact that instead, he has returned with his strongest work to date will be a delight for Country Radio programmers and fans for years to come.
