As a family, the Bixlers are nearly synonymous with Fresno’s music scene in the 1970s and ’80s.
The brothers, Jim and Bill (and also Bill’s then-wife Judy) not only had one of the most popular original bands of the time (its breakup in 1981 got a full-page write-up in The Fresno Bee), they founded one of Fresno’s most celebrated music venues; one that helped define the Tower District as an entertainment hub.
Bill Bixler died on Wednesday of cancer and “complications and syndromes from the damaging effects of intensive chemo and lymphoma,” according to his wife, Leslie Letven Bixler, who shared news of his death online.
“He fought patiently until it was useless to fight anymore. And then he let go,” she wrote.
“The world has lost a magnificent human.”
Willam Hud Bixler, or Bix, as he was known, was “a beloved father, husband, mentor, teacher, and constant gardener of the Fresno music and arts scene,” his family said in a statement to The Bee.
“The Central Valley burned a little brighter because of the love, devotion and shelter he provided from the creators of the Tower District.”
Fresno rock band Wild Blue Yonder, pictured in its original heyday in the 1970s. SPECIAL TO THE BEE Into the Wild Blue Yonder
Bixler’s resume as a musician started as a student at Bullard High School in the 1960s. He played saxophone in a working garage band called the Cindermen. Among their gigs at the time: An opening set for The Rolling Stones’ locally famous Ratcliffe Stadium concert in 1965. Also on the bill that night? The Byrds.
In 1974, Bixler, his wife, brother and a group of fellow musicians created the Wild Blue Yonder, a jazz-rock fusion group that played hard against the incursion of DJs and disco that would come to take over local venues. Bixler was a main songwriter, saxophonist and vocalist on the band’s two self-produced albums (which sold thousands of copies, received newspaper reviews and radio airplay, and are still in circulation if you know where to look).
He was also one of driving forces behind The Wild Blue.
Not to be mistaken with the similarly named band, The Wild Blue, or simply The Blue as it became known, was the group’s self-run music venue and clubhouse.
The band pooled their money ($300 each in the 1970s) to open the spot at Fulton Street and Olive Avenue, mostly so they would have someplace to play. Over the next two decades, they turned it into a home base for Fresno’s would-be rock stars, jazz cats and folkies — along with touring artists traversing from the Bay Area to Los Angeles.
The music ran the gamut from prog rock to folk, blues and new wave.
The patrons were a mix of freaks, geeks, older folks and college kids.
During its height, recorded performances from the club were broadcast periodically on a local radio station (KFCF and KFSR) and it even had its own awards show, open to any local musician who had performed there in a given year.
“The club provided an island of culture, The Tower, a sense of community and charm,” Bixler recalled of the venue’s early days, in a column in The Bee in 1997.
Dozens of professional musicians (not to mention future venue owners, band managers and fans) were indoctrinated into Fresno’s scene via the Wild Blue stage, where Bixler served a booking agent and talent scout.
“Bill did everything for all the right reasons,” Ragin’ Record owner Paul Cruikshank wrote in his remembrance online. “Bill and Jim put together that place so musicians, fans, friends and neighbors could all crowd in and get weird while having a blast,” he wrote.
Bixler himself “had a great deal to do with more than a decade straight of one of the best of my life,” Cruikshank wrote. “I always appreciated it.”
‘Bix hit the note’
The Blue lasted into the early ’90s, when rising rents and changes in musical tastes (and burnout among the Bixlers) led to its closure.
Bixler left Fresno for a job in the music department at Malibu High School. He spent nearly two decades there before retiring in 2014. Then, he picked up a gig hosting the “Bix Mix” radio show on KBUU-FM, an independent station in Malibu.
He never stopped creating and playing music, both with wife Leslie (in her project Miss Bix) and with the Wild Blue Yonder.
Despite its breakup and the fact members all went on to form other projects, the band continued to get together for one-off celebrations, like the 40th Anniversary of Fresno State’s Vintage Days in 2014.
The band played the first Vintage Days in 1974, opening for Muddy Waters.
In 2024, the band held a 50th-anniversary concert in the lobby of the Tower Theatre.
Earlier that night, the venue had been given the Valley Music Hall of Fame’s first ever legacy award.
Jeffery Bowman remembered that in a tribute to his bandmate Wednesday:
“On the last night that the band played together, on the last tune, Bix had the last note. It was so high and so pure it stunned me to my soul,” he wrote.
“In life and art Bix hit the note.”
Bixler is survived by his wife Leslie; brother Jim; sons Hud, Solon and Robben Bixler; daughters-in-law Cathy Bixler and Julie Edwards; and grandchildren River, Luca, Mira and Zumi.
Bix Bixler, an iconic Fresno musician and venue owner, died July 29, 2026 at the age of 79. DON PRIEST Special To The Bee
This story was originally published July 30, 2026 at 4:57 PM.
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Joshua Tehee covers breaking news for The Fresno Bee, writing on a wide range of topics from police, politics and weather, to arts and entertainment in the Central Valley.