alias label article_title past_members background origin name
oklahoma wranglers starday the willis brothers
 james willis charles willis john willis joe willis group_or_band oklahoma , usa the willis brothers
the willis brothers

the willis brothers were a country music ensemble from oklahoma , consisting of several brothers .
three of the willis brothers -lrb- james , charles , and joe -rrb- played together as teenagers from the early 1930s under the name oklahoma wranglers .
they were regulars on shawnee , oklahoma station kgef through the decade , but in 1939 , joe married and exited the group .
john -lrb- vic -rrb- joined , and soon after the group moved to kansas city , where they appeared on the brush street follies through 1942 .
all three members fought in world war ii separately , preventing them from continuing as a group until war 's end , but in 1946 they reunited and played the grand ole opry .
they became members of the opry in the 1940s .
signing with sterling records , they began recording both as the oklahoma wranglers and as a backing band for hank williams .
in 1949 the group left the opry and toured nationally with eddy arnold through 1957 .
they also performed in the films `` feuding rhythm '' and `` hoe down '' .
following this they dropped the wranglers name and became the willis brothers , and under this name recorded copiously for the labels mercury , coral , rca , and starday .
in 1964 they released the single `` give me forty acres -lrb- to turn this rig around -rrb- '' , which became a top ten country hit in the united states .
the group remained a fixture on the opry until 1995 , when vic died in a car crash at age 73 .
