Drummer Lewis Ross assembled the musicians for a group called "Fox" in the summer of 1969, and after relocating from Mobile, Alabama to Macon, Georgia, home of Capricorn Records, became known as "Wet Willie" in 1970.
The duo of women singing background vocals dubbed "The Williettes" were a staple of the classic Wet Willie sound that featured Jimmy and Jack's sister, Donna Hall, and Ella Brown Avery.
After a brief hiatus the band regrouped in 1990 featuring the siblings Jimmy, Jack and Donna Hall, along with original keyboardist John David Anthony, drummer T.K.
[3] They also enjoyed some other Billboard charting singles with "Country Side of Life," "Everything That 'Cha Do (Will Come Back to You)", "Leona," and from their Epic Records period, "Street Corner Serenade" and "Weekend" from the LPs Manorisms and Which One's Willie?
He had a sign he wore around his neck that said something close to “God loves a cheerful giver…” I don’t know who designed the cover, but have to assume they made a connection between Rev Brown’s persona and what was decided to be the title of the album, ‘Keep On Smilin’,’ as it was pretty built in from the image that he had a pretty tough life and the message is, well, “Keep On Smilin’.”[4] In 2012, Wet Willie released a new live CD Miles of Smiles on the Hittin' The Note Records label.