BILL O'BRIEN IN POWDER RIVER and the MOUNTAIN OF GOLD

SGT. BILLY O'BRIEN stars in CRT's POWDER RIVER AND THE MOUNTAIN OF GOLD being released on CD and Download April 19th!
Bill was a guitar player and he
worked for Lou Ciarfella, who
was a member of the Junior
Redmen in Wakefield, MA and
played Chief Black Eagle on
the Boomtown show.
Lou mentioned to Bill that Rex
needed a handler for Goldrush
and Bill took the job.
Eventually,with all his musical
talents, he found himself on the
show.

Bill played folk music most of his
young career. He was " a
character with a banjo", (as he
put it to me), In High School, Bill
played in a group called "The
'Wildwood 3" with Chick
Woodman and Steve Potter.
They played in bars and coffee
houses. They found themselves
competing in 'The Battle of the
Bands'.

Bill graduated school in 1963
and followed his older brother
into the Army. He was off to
Korea in 1964.

In the Army, Bill was part of a
folk group that played at Service
Centers. He later, found himself
in a traveling Army show that
entertained the troops. Bill
traveled to Hawaii and even got
to see the whole Orient!

Bill was a member of the U.S.
Cavalry and rose to the rank of
Sergeant,-just like his character
on the Boomtown show.
Bill was also a member of The
Honor Guard at his Fort.

Back in the U.S., Bill met Dick
Kilbride, (who played Pablo on
the show). Dick provided Bill
with a manager to get him jobs
at night time 'happy hrs.'
He made a couple of recordings
to MGM Records. He had
become a pretty busy guy. He
was attending Berkley College
of Music, made a living doing his
music gigs, the Boomtown T.V.
show and traveled all over the
country. He went with Rex
Trailer doing Boomtown road
shows at places like Indian
Ranch and also went on the
Crimson Travel Tours to
" beautiful sunny California ".
If this wasn't enough, he was
also a flight instructor!

When the Boomtown show
ended it's run, "it was time to
find a real job" he said.

Bill and Rex Trailer are reunited in CRT's POWDER RIVER AND THE MOUNTAIN OF GOLD.

*Bill's bio is from the great BOOMTOWN MEMORIES site by Bob Jordan!
http://www.boomtownmemories.com/