ROOTS of Country Music

The Professional Work of Billy Walker

(Jan. 14, 1929 ~ May 21, 2006)                           Charlie's Shoes & Born to Lose

Career Highlights

Barn Dance Affiliate

• Big D Jamboree
• Louisiana Hayride
• Ozark Jubilee

Grand Ole Opry Member -1960

Stage Name: The Tall Texan

Film, Night Club, Radio & TV

• Austin City Limits, 4
• Billy Bob's Texas, 2
• Ed Sullivan Show, 4
• Ernest Tubb’s  Midnight Jamboree, 3
• Gilley’s Club, 2
• Hee Haw, 4
• Nashville Now, 4
• Pop Goes the Country, 4
• Red River Round Up, 1
• Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar, 1
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, 4
• The Jimmy Dean Show, 4
• The Johnny Carson Show
• The Johnny Cash Show, 4
• The Porter Wagoner Show, 4
• The Statler Brothers Show, 4
• The Wilburn Brothers Show, 4 

1-Film, 2-Night Club, 3-Radio, 4-TV 

Billboard Chart Data 

• No. 1 Singles: 1
• Top-10 Singles: 16
• Crossover Singles: 0
• Charted Singles: 65
• Chart Years Active: (1954-1988)

Career Labels:

• Columbia Records (1954-1965)
• Monument Records (1966-1970)
• MGMZ Records (1970-1974
• RCA Records (1975-1976)

Billboard Top-10 Singles

1. Thank You for Calling -1954
2. Charlie's Shoes*# -1962
3. Willie the Weeper
4. Circumstances -1964
5. Cross the Brazos at Waco
6. Matamoros  -1965
7. A Million and One -1966
8. Bear with Me a Little Longer
9. Anything Your Heart Desires -1967
10. Ramona -1968
11. Thinking 'Bout You Babe -1969
12. When a Man Loves a Woman -1970
13. She Goes Walking Through My Mind
14. I'm Gonna Keep On Lovin' You -1971
15. Sing Me a Love Song to Baby -1972
16. Word Games -1975 

*-No. 1 Chart Single

#-Biggest Chart Single

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Charlie's Shoes: The Billy Walker Story

A native of west Texas who was active on the Grand Ole Opry, Billy Walker emerged from the talent-rich Dallas scene of the late '40s and early '50s. After a brief stint on Capitol Records, he was signed to Columbia Records in 1951 at almost exactly the same time as Ray Price. For a while, Walker, Price and Lefty Frizzell were all recording at the legendary Jim Beck studio in Dallas, Texas (TX)which did for '50s honky-tonk what Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee (TN) did for rockabilly.

Nevertheless, Walker enjoyed his greatest success ten years later in Nashville, TN where the studio sound was perhaps more suited to his smooth tenor voice.

Billy Walker was born in Ralls, TX and was inspired by the music of Gene Autry as a teenager. Walker began his professional music career in 1947 and joined the Big  D Jamboree in Dallas in 1949. That same year, Hank Thompson helped him sign with Capitol Records after he worked with Walker in Waco, TX. Walker's manager at the time had him wear a Lone Ranger-style black mask and billed him as The Traveling Texan, the Masked Singer of Country Songs.

In 1951, Walker signed with Columbia Records and the following year joined the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he and Slim Whitman were responsible in part for Elvis Presley's first appearance on the radio program.

Billy Walker started recording in the late 1940s, but took several years before he made a dent in the charts. In 1954, Walker scored his first hit with Thank You for Calling. His early Columbia recordings were at a Dallas, TX studio owned by producer Jim Beck, responsible for hits by Ray Price, Lefty Frizzell and others.

In 1955, Walker, Elvis Presley and Tillman Franks teamed up for a tour of West Texas. Walker soon became a cast member of ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri, where he began a long friendship with host Red Foley.

Billy Walker moved to Nashville, TN in 1959 and in 1960, he joined the Grand Ole Opry. As a recording artist and songwriter, Walker’s career featured 32 Billboard top-20 hits and sixty-five Bllboard chart singles.

Billy Walker was killed along with his wife and two of his band members when a van they were traveling in ran off Interstate 65 south of Montgomery, Alabama and overturned. Killed in the wreck were Bettie Walker 61 and Charles Lilly Jr. 44, both of Hendersonville, TN and Daniel Patton Sr., 40, of Hermitage, TN. Walker's grandson, Joshua Brooks, 21, also of Hendersonville, TN was injured in the accident.

With the passingof Billy Walker, country music lost an incredible stylist. No-one had a voice quite like Mr. Walker; just as smooth as his contemporaries such as Jim Reeves and Ray Price, but sadly, often overlooked. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Researched, written and compiled by Richard Bell. Roots of Country Music, Jan. 9, 2012.