Feb. 11--The second season of the reality TV series that follows the Willis clan, who found musical fame years after a family tragedy helped expose Illinois corruption, will premiere next month, TLC announced Thursday.
Cameras follow the family bandmates as they record and produce a new album and prepare for gigs in the second season, slated to premiere 9 p.m. March 15.
In the first season of "The Willis Family," which aired May-June 2015, the family members mentioned the van crash that led to the downfall of former Gov. George Ryan.
Scott and Janet Willis were traveling with six of their nine children on Interstate 94 south of Milwaukee in November 1994 when their minivan struck an object that fell off a truck. The children died from the ensuing fire. Their son Toby Willis, the father of the 12 band members featured on the show, was not in the van.
The driver of the truck was found to have obtained his commercial driver's license illegally by bribing a worker under Ryan, who was Illinois Secretary of State at the time. Ryan was convicted in 2006 on racketeering and fraud charges stemming from the scandal and spent more than five years in prison before being released in 2013.
The Willis family, who live in Nashville, went on to appear on NBC's "America's Got Talent" in 2014 and release an album, "Heaven," in May.
