Da Billy Club

Billy Hill and the Hillbillies Meet the Country Bears

Now I'm not saying that this really happened.

And I'm not saying that it didn't.

But if it did happen, it went something like this.

The Hillbillies had often expressed their disappointment that the performers from the Country Bear Playhouse never came to see their show. A few of us in DBC decided to fix that, so we invited the bears to breakfast.

We found out that The Hillbillies' fame had spread all the way from Frontierland to Critter Country.

The Country Bears said they were fans and really liked Billy's new CD. They just didn't like going so close to the Frontierland shooting gallery to get it. One of them nearly got shot by a guest when he was buying his.

We talked to Amy, the Golden Horseshoe boss, who graciously agreed to bend the rules once for The Country Bears.

The big day came, and Billy sure looked surprised (or was it terrified?) when Zeke joined him onstage while Bunny watched from the box seats.

That old bear tried to keep up with Billy on the William Tell Overture, but they finally settled for a Country Bear standard, Rocky Top.

Billy, the fastest fiddler in Frontierland, took on Fred, Critter Country's quickest. Billy barely beat the bear with his 35 mile-per-hour performance.

And I'm not saying that it didn't.

But don't expect it to happen again. *

Ok, Elvis Billy denied the validity of this page in one of the Hillbillies' shows, stating that we used trick photography and tabloid reporting. However, today Billy Bass told this webspinner that a few weeks ago, live Country Bear characters from Critter Country actually walked into the Golden Horseshoe. When asked if they got up on stage with them, Billy said no, that they just waved to them then left. According to Billy, he thought the Disneyland Breakfast Club must have set up the visit.

Now, YOU tell ME. Is Billy Bass just pulling my leg, or did the Country Bears REALLY visit the Hillbillies? And IF it really happened, why, oh why, couldn't it have been while I was there with a camera?

Update 2-20-2000 Ok, I'll admit, the photos above were slightly retouched. The visit hadn't yet happened when this page first went up in 1998. However, the Country Bears DID visit the Hillbillies at their last 1999 show at the Golden Horseshoe, Monday November 15th, and we were there. Here's an unretouched photo: