All of us at Epiphone were saddened to hear the news that Epi bassman Dan “Bee” Spears passed away in Nashville last Thursday after a fall near his home. He was 62.
Spears was a native of Helotes, Texas and spent most of his professional life as a member of the Willie Nelson Family band. “We are deeply saddened by the death of Family member Dan ‘Bee’ Spears, long time friend and bassist for Willie Nelson and Family,” wrote Nelson on his website. “We are still in shock.”
Nelson hired the then-19-year-old Spears in 1968 after Nelson’s original bassist was drafted. “I happened to be there when the guys were talking about finding a replacement,” Spears told Rolling Stone. “One of the guys said, ‘Hell, let’s hire Bee. He doesn’t play worth a crap, but we can teach him what to play!’”
Spears and longtime Nelson drummer Paul English were Nelson’s rhythm section during the period when Willie went from being a lauded but obscure and eccentric Nashville songwriter to the leading symbol of the Outlaw Movement, which transformed the sound of country music and made Nelson and fellow Texan Waylon Jennings household names. Spears’s elegant bass lines can be heard on many of Nelson’s classic albums including The Red Headed Stranger, Stardust, Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages—all of which topped the Billboard charts and established Nelson as the pre-eminent male vocalist of the American songbook.
Spears’ accomplishments as a storied session and live performer are especially noteworthy considering he played for a vocalist who never phrased a song the same way twice. “Playing with Willie is tricky business,” Spears told Billboard in 2003. “If you try to follow him too close, he’ll lead you down to the river and drown you. You have to keep one eye on him and one eye on your part. Just play your part and trust that he’s going to come back and meet you at some point.”
Bee Spears was a fan of our Jack Casady bass and was a friend of Epiphone President Jim Rosenberg. Jim recently recalled Bee’s generosity and sense of humor.
“Years ago, Bee Spears invited me to come out to a Farm Aid show. Bee told me that during the finale of ‘America the Beautiful’ when everyone comes back on stage that I should stand beside him on his riser and sing along,” Rosenberg said. “So there I was singing beside Bee. I then hear something behind me. I turn around and it’s Neil Young trying to get up on the riser behind me. I give him a hand up. I could tell the whole time that Neil is kind of looking at me going… ‘Who the heck is this guy?’”
“Thanks Bee for some great music and great times. We’ll miss you.”