Here's a Billy Edd short bio from another website:Born and raised in Boone County, West Virginia, Billy Edd Wheeler graduated from Warren Wilson Jr. College at Swannanoa, North Carolina, in 1953, and Berea College at Berea, Kentucky, in 1955. Wheeler also did graduate study at Yale's School of Drama under John Gassner, majoring in playwriting. He has lived in Swannanoa since 1963, except for a two-year stint managing United Artists Music Group in Nashville, 1968-70.
Billy Edd has received 13 awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and was recently nominated to the Hall of Fame by Nashville Songwriters Association International (inducted, Oct. 2001 - rr). His folk-flavored songs have been recorded by Judy Collins, Bobby Darin, The Kingston Trio, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Kenny Rogers, Elvis, and 90-some others here and abroad. The songs include Jackson, The Rev. Mr. Black, High Flying Bird, The Coming of the Roads, Ode to the Little Brown Shack, and Coward of the County that was made into a movie.
Wheeler is author of 21 plays and four outdoor dramas that include the long-running Hatfields & McCoys at Beckley, West Virginia, and Young Abe Lincoln at Lincoln City, Indiana. His new one, Johnny Appleseed, will premiere at Mansfield, Ohio, in 2002. He has co-authored several books of humor, including Laughter in Appalachia, now in its 13th printing. Currently self-employed, he says "I'm still writing songs, which is my first love, but I've discovered a new way to go broke: I'm writing novels!"
The recipient of Distinguished Alumnus awards from Warren Wilson College and Berea College, other awards include "Best Appalachian Poetry" from Morris Harvey College, and Billboard Magazine's "Pacesetter Award for Music and Drama."
Married to the former Mary Mitchell Bannerman, the Wheelers have two children, Lucy and Travis, and continue to live in Swannanoa.
rich r