Biography
Born in Senath, Missouri, on November 10, 1921, Onie Wheeler pursued traditional country, bluegrass, and rockabilly for Sun Records across a long career that began with a modest Missouri radio program and eventually reached the Grand Ole Opry. As a youngster he took up guitar and harmonica yet waited until after World War II service before turning professional. Starting in 1945 he appeared on broadcasts in Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, and Kentucky. Five years later he assembled the Ozark Cowboys alongside Ernest Thompson and brothers A.J. and Doyal Nelson. The group worked Texas clubs in 1952, where Little Jimmy Dickens urged them to head for Nashville.
Once in Music City, Onie Wheeler and the Cowboys secured a Columbia contract. Wheeler cut sides in 1953 that made little impact, yet Lefty Frizzell scored a Country Top Ten hit the following year with Wheeler’s “Run ’Em Off.” By the middle of the decade Wheeler’s material shifted toward rockabilly; he joined Sun Records in 1957 and shared bills with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. Part of the late fifties found him in California, after which he returned to Nashville and recorded for Epic, Starday, United Artists, and Musicor throughout the sixties. He traveled with the ensembles of George Jones and Roy Acuff, then charted modestly himself when “John’s Been Shucking My Corn” appeared in 1973. Around the same time his daughter Karen notched three chart singles during the mid-seventies. In the late seventies and early eighties Wheeler ran a guitar repair shop while making occasional Grand Ole Opry appearances with Acuff. During a May 1984 performance at the Opry alongside Rev. Jimmie Snow, he collapsed onstage and died.
Once in Music City, Onie Wheeler and the Cowboys secured a Columbia contract. Wheeler cut sides in 1953 that made little impact, yet Lefty Frizzell scored a Country Top Ten hit the following year with Wheeler’s “Run ’Em Off.” By the middle of the decade Wheeler’s material shifted toward rockabilly; he joined Sun Records in 1957 and shared bills with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. Part of the late fifties found him in California, after which he returned to Nashville and recorded for Epic, Starday, United Artists, and Musicor throughout the sixties. He traveled with the ensembles of George Jones and Roy Acuff, then charted modestly himself when “John’s Been Shucking My Corn” appeared in 1973. Around the same time his daughter Karen notched three chart singles during the mid-seventies. In the late seventies and early eighties Wheeler ran a guitar repair shop while making occasional Grand Ole Opry appearances with Acuff. During a May 1984 performance at the Opry alongside Rev. Jimmie Snow, he collapsed onstage and died.
Albums
