Thursday 13 December 2018

Wayne Walker born 13 December 1925


Wayne Paul Walker, (December 13, 1925 - January 2, 1979) was a prolific songwriter, with no less than 526 titles in the BMI database, 23 of which have won BMI awards. He was less successful as a singer, though he made some fine recordings, both in the rockabilly and the country field.

Born in Oklahoma, Walker was raised in Kilgore, Texas, before moving to Shreveport, Louisiana. He worked as a vacuum cleaner salesman, fire escape salesman, car salesman, and roofer while getting his music career off the ground. He appeared on the Louisiana Hayride, where he met Tillman Franks and Webb Pierce and with their encouragement he was soon placing his songs with local artists.

With Pierce he wrote the song "How Do You Think I Feel", which was first recorded by Red Sovine in early 1954 (Decca 29068), but the best known version is of course by Elvis Presley, on his second LP. It was on the Louisiana Hayride (KWKH Studio in Shreveport) that Wayne recorded his first single, "Now Is the Time For Love"/"You Got the Best of Me (I Got the Worst Of You)" (Chess 4860), released in October 1954. Also recorded for Chess in Shreveport (in January 1955) was "Love Me" with Jimmy Lee (Fautheree), a genuine rockabilly classic.

Jimmy Lee & Wayne Walker
Though written by Walker, it was credited to Stan Lewis. Unfortunately, this is the only record by the team of Fautheree and Walker, whose partnership lasted less than four months. But occasionally they would still cooperate, most notably on the song "Sweet Love On My Mind" (basically an adaptation by Wayne of Jimmy's song "Living In A Dream World"), which was first recorded by Johnny Burnette's Rock 'n' Roll Trio on July 5, 1956, and then, three weeks later, by Jimmy & Johnny (Jimmy Lee Fautheree and his younger brother Lynn).

Also in July 1956, Wayne made his second solo recording, the excellent rockabilly song "All I Can Do Is Cry" (ABC-Paramount 9735), which was also recorded by Johnny Bond (1957). He was now living in Nashville where he had signed as a songwriter with one of the major publishing houses, Cedarwood Publishing (co-owned by Jim Denny and Webb Pierce). But Wayne's career as a singer was far from over yet. 


                             

In 1957 he signed a contract with Columbia Records and had at least four singles released on the label, the best of which were "Bo-Bo Ska Diddle Daddle" and "Just A Walkin' Around". This was followed by stints at Coral (1958), Brunswick (1959) and a few small labels in the 1960s.


As a songwriter, Walker had his first major hit in the autumn of 1956, with "I've Got A New Heartache", which Ray Price took to # 2 on the country charts. (Price would score another # 2 with a Wayne Walker
composition in 1964 : "Burning Memories"). Wayne's biggest pop success was "Are You Sincere", a # 3 hit for Andy Williams in 1958. Other notable songs from Walker's vast catalogue include "Teenage Wedding" (co-written with Mel Tillis and recorded by Johnny Angel - in reality Jimmy Lee Fautheree - Faron Young and 

Tillis himself), "Ain't I'm A Dog" (Ronnie Self), "Cut Across Shorty" (Eddie Cochran), "Little Boy Sad" (Johnny Burnette), "The Cajun Queen" (Jimmy Dean), "Hello Out There" (Carl Belew), "Leavin' On Your Mind" (Patsy Cline), "Memory # 1" (Webb Pierce) and "All the Time" (Billboard Song of the Year Award, 1967, recorded by Jack Greene).

According to William Savage's "Singing Cowboys And All That Jazz", Walker produced a song every three days. He saved none of his most commercial songs for himself, though, and never scored a hit under his own name. Perhaps one reason that he didn't make it as a singer was that he never got over having stage fright and hated travelling. Writing songs was his real passion.

Walker was married for fifteen years to Ernest Tubb's daughter, Violet (nicknamed Scooter Bill), but they divorced in 1973. He died of cancer six years later, on January 2, 1979. He had been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 1975, along with (among others) Marty Robbins and Marijohn Wilkin, with whom he wrote "Cut Across Shorty".

 (Edited from BlackCat Rockabilly Europe)

3 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Wayne Walker - How Do You Think I Feel? (The Singer And His Songs)” go here:

https://www.sendspace.com/file/q4r400

01. Wayne Walker - All I Can Do Is Cry (02:08)
02. Wayne Walker - It's My Way (02:45)
03. Wayne Walker - A Teenage Love Affair (Can Cause The Blues) (02:04)
04. Wayne Walker - Whatever You Desire (02:52)
05. Wayne Walker - Just A'Walkin' Around (02:08)
06. Wayne Walker - Bo-Bo Ska Diddle Daddle (02:19)
07. Wayne Walker - Come Away From His Arms (02:00)
08. Wayne Walker - I'm Finally Free (01:59)
09. Wayne Walker - It's Written In The Stars (02:19)
10. Wayne Walker - After The Boy Gets The Girl (02:14)
11. Wayne Walker - Just Before Dawn (02:33)
12. Wayne Walker - You've Got Me (Where I Wanna Be) (02:31)
13. Wayne Walker - What Kind Of "god" Do You Think You Are (02:40)
14. Wayne Walker - Little Ole You (02:16)
15. Wayne Walker - Now Is The Time For Love (02:20)
16. Wayne Walker - You Got The Best Of Me (03:01)
17. Jimmy Lee & Wayne Walker - Lips That Kiss So Sweetly (02:28)
18. Jimmy Lee & Wayne Walker - Love Me (01:57)
19. Kitty Wells & Webb Pierce - Can You Feel It In Your Heart (02:11)
20. Red Sovine - Outlaw (02:38)
21. Jimmy & Johnny - What 'Cha Doin' To Me (02:14)
22. Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'n' Roll Trio - Sweet Love On My Mind (02:25)
23. Shady Wall - The New Raunchy (02:00)
24. Faron Young - Rosalie (Is Gonna Get Married) (02:16)
25. Red Sovine - How Do You Think I Feel (02:18)
26. Jimmy Lee - Love Is Hard To Understand (02:51)
27. Webb Pierce - Holiday For Love (02:19)
28. Ray Price - I've Got a New Heartache (02:44)
29. Jimmy & Johnny - Sweet Love On My Mind (02:13)
30. Brenda Lee - Rock The Bop (02:12)
31. Otto Bash - All I Can Do Is Cry (02:03)
32. Elvis Presley - How Do You Think I Feel (02:12)
33. Andy Williams - Are You Sincere? (02:39)

Wayne Walker will forever be known as a highly-successful songwriter in the country and pop fields during the 1950s and 1960s. Since his death in the late 1970s, however, he became something of a rockabilly legend in Europe with such obscure recordings as "All I Can Do Is Cry", "Love Me", "Bo-Bo Ska Diddle Daddle", "You've Got Me" and "Little Ole You", which have kept the dance floors of the many Rock 'n' Roll clubs filled. Strangely, those thirty-odd years that have since elapsed have never seen a complete Wayne Walker reissue…until now!

A big thank you to Les @ Loadsamusic for active link.

Doctor bop said...

Manu thanks for thé infos about Lynn fauteree ans Johnny angel!

Headbusta300 said...

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