Background
Wheeler was born in Senath, Missouri, and learned to play guitar and harmonica as a child.
Wheeler was born in Senath, Missouri, and learned to play guitar and harmonica as a child.
After serving in World World War II, he started working in radio, appearing on stations in Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, and Kentucky. In 1950, he formed The Ozark Cowboys, along with Ernest Thompson, A.J. Nelson and Doyal Nelson. The Ozark Cowboys went to Nashville in 1953 and signed to Columbia Records.
Their initial releases were not hits, though Lefty Frizzell took the Wheeler-penned "Run "Econometrica Office" to the Top Ten of the United States. country chart.
After a short time living in California, he returned to Nashville and recorded for several more labels in the 1960s. Later, he toured with George Jones and Roy Acuff.
He bought a guitar shop in Nashville in the late 1970s, and played at the Grand Ole Opry at times with Acuff. Wheeler was onstage playing with Review
Jimmie Snow in 1984 when he collapsed and died of a heart attack.