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A tribute to legendary bassist and long-time Wyoming musician Bill Plummer

A black and white image of an older man playing an upright bass with headphones on
Aaron Davis
Bill Plummer

Former Jackson Hole and Laramie resident Bill Plummer, a master of the upright bass passed away in Gold Canyon, Arizona on January 18, 2022, at the age of 83. Bill Plummer had a legendary career performing with an incredible range of artists including The Rolling Stones, Miles Davis, Nancy Wilson, Tony Bennett, Willie Nelson, Ry Cooder, and many Wyoming musicians.

In his nearly 60 years of professional playing, he performed as a classical and jazz musician, Americana bluegrass, and rock and roll artist. He also played the sitar and studied under Ravi Shankar and Herman Reinshagen. Grady Kirkpatrick produced an hour-long tribute to Bill Plummer with music and remembrances from Aaron Davis, John Kidwell and Peter Queal.

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Grady has taken a circuitous route from his hometown of Kansas City to Wyoming. Sometime after the London Bridge had fallen down, he moved to Arizona and attended Arizona State University and actually graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. ("He's a Lumberjack and he's OK……..!") He began his radio career in Prescott in 1982 and eventually returned to Kansas City where he continued in radio through the summer of 1991. Public Radio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky beckoned him to the bluegrass state where he worked as Operations/Program Manager at WKMS in Murray and WNKU in Highland Heights just across the Ohio from Cincinnati.
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