The Carlisles

Bill Carlisle headed up the group. Bill organized his own group, which he eventually named the Carlisles. Signed to Mercury Records, the Carlisles recorded a string of what Bill called his “crazy songs,” beginning with the #6 novelty hit “Too Old to Cut the Mustard” in 1951. This was followed in 1953 by the #1 smash “No Help Wanted,” on which Bill heightened the rhythmic impact of his guitar by putting paper in the strings, thereby providing a solid foundation for Chet Atkins’s jazzy electric guitar accompaniment.

Other Carlisles hits of 1953 included “Knothole” (#3), “Is Zat You, Myrtle” (#2), and “Tain’t Nice (to Talk Like That)” (#5). These recordings took Bill and the group first to Shreveport, Louisiana’s KWKH Louisiana Hayride, and then, in November 1953, to WSM’s Grand Ole Opry


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His children became members of The Carlisles group in the 1960s. In 1953, Carlisle, his wife, and children, Bill, Jr. (born 1942), and Sheila, moved to Minden in Webster Parish, Louisiana, to be near the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport. At the time Tillman Franks of Shreveport was his manager.