Aubrey Wilson Mullican (March 29, 1909 – January 1, 1967), known professionally as Moon Mullican and nicknamed "King of the Hillbilly Piano Players", was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. He was associated with the hillbilly boogie style which influenced rockabilly. Jerry Lee Lewis cited him as a major influence on his own singing and piano playing. Mullican once stated, "We gotta play music that'll make them goddamn beer bottles bounce on the table". Early life Mullican was born to Oscar Luther Mullican (1876–1961) and his first wife, Virginia Jordan Mullican (1880–1915), near Corrigan, Polk County, Texas, United States. They were a farming family of Scottish, Irish and Eastern European ancestry. His Scots-Irish immigrant ancestor, James Mullikin, was born in Scotland, arriving in Maryland, United States in the 1630s from Northern Ireland. His paternal grandfather was Pvt. Wilson G. Mullican, who served in the 6th Mississippi Infantry, Confederate States Army, at the Battle of Shiloh. Mullican's parents, stepmother, and grandparents are all buried in Stryker Cemetery, Polk County, Texas. Beginnings As a child, Mullican began playing the organ, which his religious father had purchased in order to better sing hymns at church. However, Moon made friends with Joe Jones, a black sharecropper on the family farm, who introduced him to the country blues. Moon's parents did not always approve, and he was torn between both genres of religious music and secular music. After making his mark as a local piano player, Mullican left home at age 16, going to Houston, where he played piano and sang in local clubs. By the 1930s, Mullican had acquired his nickname "Moon". Published sources suggest it is short for "moonshine" or possibly from his all-night performances; his family says it was because he loved to play "Shoot the Moon", a variation of the dominoes game "42". Early career His earliest influences were popular blues artists of the day such as Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Leroy Carr, together with country musicians including Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills. In 1936, he covered Cab Calloway's "Georgia Pine" and also sang his own compositions "Ain't You Kinda Sorry" and "Swing Baby Swing" for Leon Selph's Western swing band, The Blue Ridge Playboys. He played and recorded with Cliff Bruner's Texas Wanderers, the Sunshine Boys, and Jimmie Davis. By the end of the 1930s, he had become a popular vocalist with a warm, deep,