Tim Spencer
1994 WMA Hall of Fame Member

Tim Spencer was inducted into the Western Music Hall of Fame as an individual western music songwriter. Although Tim Spencer was previously inducted into the Hall of Fame as a member of the Sons of the Pioneers, the contributions he made to the western music field as a songwriter qualify him for this individual recognition. Tim Spencer was born July 13, 1908, in the mining community of Webb City, Missouri. When Tim was about five, his father moved the family to New Mexico, settling near Springer, New Mexico, where they homesteaded a section in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.

It was during this period that Tim acquired his long-enduring feeling for this pioneer country. His love and admiration for the grandeur of this wild and lonesome land is felt in many of his songs. As young Tim rode the back trails with his father, visions rose of bygone days, which one can feel in the haunting refrains of many of his compositions. When he was thirteen, Tim purchased a banjo ukulele on credit and started singing and writing songs. Completing school, Tim found work in the mines, but an ore car accident landed him in the hospital with a cracked vertebra. Not able to return to mining or ranching, Tim arranged to play his banjo and sing in a night club called the Bucket of Blood. Displaying considerable talent, and despite the urging of his father to return to other work, in 1931 Tim took a train to Los Angeles to see if his talent could be used. Not long after his arrival in California, Tim Spencer, Bob Nolan and Roy Rogers agreed to join together, calling themselves the Pioneer Trio. Everything is history after that with the completion of the group and the new name, the Sons of the Pioneers.

Tim's first composition was published in 1934, when he wrote "Will You Love Me When My Hair Has Turned to Silver," dedicated to his wife, Velma. The second effort, "Over the Santa Fe Trail" was inspired by his early days in New Mexico. He felt his finest composition was "The Everlasting Hills of Oklahoma." His most popular commercial song was "Room Full of Roses," which was the #1 song in pop music in 1949 and again the #1 song in country music in 1974. His other more famous songs include: "Blue Prairie" (written with Bob Nolan), "Bunk House Bugle Boy," "By a Campfire on the Trail," "Cigareets, Wuhusky, and Wild, Wild Women," "Circuit Ridin' Preacher," "Cowboy Camp Meeting," "When the Prairie Sun Climbs Out of the Hay," and "Timber Trail."

Vernon Tim Spencer died April 26, 1974, at his home in Apple Valley, California.

Biographical information courtesy of Ken Griffis' book Hear My Song.