ArtistInfo

Tiny Moore

man, eb, 1920-1987
World
A.k.a. Billie Moore

Billie "Tiny" Moore (May 12, 1920 – December 15, 1987) was a Western swing musician who played the electric mandolin and fiddle with Western swing legend Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in the 1940s.Born in the Gulf Coast town of Port Arthur, Texas, in 1920, his primary instrument was the electric mandolin. While a member of the Texas Playboys from 1946 to 1950, he played Gibson electric mandolins: at first an EM-125, and sometime after 1948, an EM-150. Although these are 8-string mandolins, Tiny used only 4 single strings instead of pairs. This gave his mandolin an electric guitarlike sound. Later, in 1952, he commissioned one of the first American-built 5-string electric mandolins from Paul Bigsby. At the time Moore was playing in a band led by Bob Wills' brother, Billy Jack. The Bigsby

Instruments

• Mandolin
• Bass guitar
• Violin
• Vocals

Genres

• World
• Folk
• Jazz
• Country
• Blues

Plays With