Leon Payne (June 15, 1917 – September 11, 1969), was a
country music singer and multi-instrumentalist of the post-war era. He achieved
his lasting fame as a songwriter whose most successful works -- among them
"Lost Highway" and "I Love You Because" -- remain among the
country music canon's most enduring compositions.
Born in Alba, Texas, Leon Roger Payne was blind in one eye
and lost his sight completely at the age of 7 and until the age of 18 he
attended the Texas School for the Blind in Austin. There, he was encouraged by
teachers to begin learning music as a method of supporting himself and became
adept on guitar, piano, organ, drums, and trombone. Whilst attending the school
he met his future wife, Myrtie Velma Courmier. They had two children together,
as well as two children from Myrtie's previous marriage.
Payne began his music career in the mid-1930s, playing a
variety of musical instruments in public, and later performing on KWET radio in
Palestine, Texas, starting in 1935. He joined Bob Wills' Texas Playboys in
1938, and he remained affiliated with the group to some degree for the majority
of his career. At about the same time, he began writing the first of the
several thousand songs he would compose over the course his lifetime. In 1939,
he cut his first solo recordings, including "You Don't Love Me but I'll
Always Care" and "Down Where the Violets Grow," which evidenced
his smooth, subtle vocal technique.
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| Leon Payne,Jerry Irby, Biff Collie & Floyd Tillman. |
Payne was a regular working musician at Jerry Irby’s
nightclub in Houston, Texas. He joined his stepbrother, famed songwriter Jack
Rhodes, and formed Jack Rhodes and The Lone Star Buddies in 1949. They guested
on programs like the Grand Ole Opry, the Louisiana Hayride, and the Big D
Jamboree. Two of his songs also reached the charts in cover versions: George
Morgan scored a big hit with "Cry-Baby Heart," and more
significantly, Hank Williams cut "Lost Highway," one of his most
popular efforts.
After signing with Capitol Records, Payne recorded his first
song for the company "I Love You Because" penned for his wife Myrtle, became his biggest
hit. It shot to #1 on the country charts in 1950.That same year both Ernest
Tubb and Clyde Moody cut their own versions of the song. Williams also had
another hit with Payne's "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." As
the decade
wore on, his songs grew even more popular among his contemporaries;
among the most successful were Hank Snow's 1953 "For Now and Always"
as well as a pair of hits for Carl Smith, 1954's "More Than Anything Else
in the World" and 1956's "Doorstep to Heaven."
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| Leon Payne , Hank Williams & Jerry Irby |
Payne remained with Capitol until 1953. Thereafter he spent
short stints with Starday, D, TNT and other Texas labels. He also wrote under
the pen-name of "Pat Patterson" on tracks such as "It's Nothing
to Me" performed by Sanford Clark. In 1956, he recorded a cover version of
Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup’s ‘My Baby Left Me’, under the pseudonym of Rock
Rogers. He refused to use his own name for rock ‘n’ roll, in the fear that it
might upset country music fans.
In 1965, Payne suffered a heart attack which forced him
to curtail
his touring and retire to San Antonio. That same year, his
"Things Have Gone to Pieces" was a hit for George Jones. In 1967, Gibson
covered "Lost Highway," and Johnny Darrell was successful with
"They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." On September 11, 1969, at the
age of 52, Payne died following another heart attack.
He was one of the first members elected to the Nashville
Songwriters’ International Hall Of Fame when it was founded in 1970. Payne’s wife
Myrtie died in San Antonio in 2008, and Leon's composition "I Love You
Because" was played at her funeral service by pedal steel guitarist Emmett
Roch, accompanied by musicians who were members of her church.
(Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia & the Nashville
Songwriters Hall Of fame)
