Friends, family and fellow musicians will gather Nov. 4 at Southside Preservation Hall to celebrate the life and music of Fort Worth guitarist Bill Ham, bringing together a large roster of North Texas players for an evening of performances in his memory.
The Bill Ham Memorial Gathering is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Southside Preservation Hall. Doors open at 6 p.m. Admission is free, with table seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Rather than charging admission, organizers are encouraging attendees to make donations to WaypointTX, a nonprofit organization that assisted Ham during a period when he needed support. According to organizers, the group provides transitional housing and recovery support intended to help people overcome barriers to independent, stable lives. Donations made through the organization are tax deductible.
Ham was a longtime fixture in the Fort Worth music community and a guitarist whose career extended well beyond North Texas. Musician John Dennie, who studied guitar with Ham, credits him with teaching him the mechanics of the instrument and helping develop his musical foundation. Dennie’s biography notes Ham’s work with artists including Sonny & Cher, Joan Armatrading, and David Gates and Bread. (Johndenniemusic)
Ham also became a member of Fort Worth rock band Bloodrock during the band’s later period. A 1974 Billboard report identified Ham as a new member of Bloodrock and noted that he was the brother of Warren Ham, who was already performing with the group. Album credits also document Bill Ham on guitar alongside Warren Ham on vocals, flute, harmonica and saxophone. (World Radio History)
The brothers’ careers would take different paths. Warren Ham went on to a long career as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, including work with Ringo Starr, Toto and Kansas. (Johndenniemusic) Bill Ham accumulated recording and touring credits of his own; among them, he is credited on guitar on Freddy Fender’s 1976 album If You’re Ever in Texas, on which Warren Ham also played flute. (Wikipedia)
The memorial will be hosted by Warren Ham and John Dennie, with a lineup reflecting several generations of the Fort Worth and North Texas music community.
Scheduled performers listed by organizers are Red Young, Bob Parr, James Pennebaker, Michael J. Dohoney, Buddy Whittington, Matt Tedder, Bobby Counts, Donnie Pendleton, Danny Ross, Birdsnake Brown, Bill Horn, Gunzy Treviño, Ruf Ruffner, Philip Friend, Aden Bubeck, Danny Cochran, Steve Springer, Lewis Stephens, Monty McClinton, John Dennie and Danny Hubbard.
Organizers described the gathering as an unusual opportunity to see many Fort Worth musicians who knew, worked with or were influenced by Ham assembled for one evening.
The setting carries its own connection to Fort Worth history. Southside Preservation Hall occupies the former Central Methodist Church complex on Lipscomb Street. Construction began in 1909, with the sanctuary completed in 1911; additional portions of the complex were built during the following decades. After the property later became home to the Panther Boys Club and faced possible demolition, neighborhood preservationists organized to save it in the 1990s. Today, the nonprofit Southside Preservation Association operates the historic complex as an event and performing arts venue while continuing restoration work. (Southside Preservation Hall)
The hall’s Grand Ballroom can accommodate about 180 seated guests or approximately 200 people in a concert configuration, according to the venue. (Southside Preservation Hall)
For the memorial, however, the emphasis will be less on the building than on the community gathering inside it – musicians and listeners remembering a guitarist whose career connected Fort Worth’s local scene with decades of Texas and national music history.
Bill Ham Memorial Gathering
Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026
Doors: 6 p.m. | Music: 7-9 p.m.
Southside Preservation Hall, 1519 Lipscomb St., Fort Worth
Admission: Free; first-come, first-served table seating
Donations to WaypointTX are encouraged in lieu of admission.
Bill Ham the guitarist should not be confused with Bill Ham, the longtime manager and producer associated with ZZ Top. The two musicians’ circles overlapped geographically enough that the shared name has caused confusion over the years. The distinction was even addressed in an interview about Bloodrock, in which Bill Ham was specifically identified as Warren Ham’s brother and not the ZZ Top manager. (HardRadio)
