Will Dockery is an American poet, minicomic artist and singer-songwriter. Date of birth: May 7, 1958 Location of birth: LaGrange, Georgia, United States Nationality: American Interests: various, includingWriting - poetry, criticism, song lyrics, comic scripts for minicomics Composing music - melodies for lyrics, later adapted and arranged by collaborating musicians, former lead singer with the Shadowville All-Stars, using characters, situations and landmarks from the Shadowville mythos, an alternate universe version of the town and people of Columbus, Georgia and surrounding areas, dating back to the mid-1990s. Art - Drawing comic strips for minicomics abstract painting Usenet - rec.arts.poems, alt.arts.poetry.comments, alt.pagan, alt.religion.wicca and other related groups Wikipedia contibutions: Royston Ellis, Minicomic Co-Ops, David Blue, List of minicomics creators, a few others Early Years "A little known story of when my father & mother met, it was at a BBQ shack outside La Grange, Georgia called Hansen's BBQ. True story." -Will Dockery on Sean Rox Trio & BBQ The son of Kelly H. Dockery, a World War II and Korean War veteran, later a Howard bus and taxicab driver, and Mildred Ethel Whitley, William Abraham Dockery was born in LaGrange, Georgia on May 7, 1958, where he would visit frequently during childhood, being the home of his maternal grandparents. He lived in Columbus, Georgia, forty miles south of LaGrange, and both areas meld into the alternate universe of Shadowville in his various works of art. He started playing music in 1961, when he got his first guitar. This early phase in music was cut short, though, when he smashed the guitar over his father's head, who was napping. He remembers he was emulating a scene he'd seen on an episode of the television series Bonanza or another of the westerns popular in that era. Hank Williams was an early hero, especially after watching Your Cheatin' Heart, the 1964 film of Hank Williams' life story with George Hamilton playing Williams. He attended Waverly Terrace Elementary school, where he won first prize in kindergarden in a school-wide competition for a crayon drawing of a witch, obviously influenced by his early exposure to comic books and film noir, which everything on television resembled in the pre-color era of the 1960s. The next year, in May of 1965, his family moved to the east side of Columbus, where he attended Edgewood Elementary school. There, he wrote his first poetry, influenced by reading Edgar Allen Poe and combining that with ideas influenced by popular music such as The Beatles. Also during this time he created hundreds of hand made, unpublished minicomics, which included over 500 issues of the adventure serial Uncle Jim, Uncle Jim Comics and Stories had a spinoff comic strip called Tonight Show Starring Uncle Jim, which filled many episodes in which guest hosts filled in for Uncle Jim in a parody of Johnny Carson's television series of the time. In May of 1970 Dockery made his return to music, performing a cover of the Tiny Tim song Tiptoe Through the Tulips. Later Years Will Dockery currently resides in western central Georgia, pursuing his lifelong passions for art, music, poetry and performance art, recently appearing with Henry Conley and Gene Woolfolk at Pat's Place in Americus, Georgia. A new collection of songs written with Henry F. Conley, Shadowville Speedway was released on compact disc on April 18, 2009, and a compilation of works with The Shadowville All-Stars will appear in 2013.