Just a note that we lost Billy Walker 4 years ago today, on May 21, 2006. He really had one of the great voices in country music and had a string of hits. I will tell you that my favorite was, "When a Man Loves a Woman." He was always well received when he was on the Opry. It is just too bad that during his last several years on the show, he was considered one of those artists that didn't have to be scheduled every week as Pete Fisher started the push to use younger artists. If you remember, Billy was one of the artists who spoke out, along with Del Reeves and Charlie Louvin.
Billy was really underrated in the history of country music and I think that he does deserve serious consideration for the Country Music Hall of Fame.
RIP-Billy Walker.
Oh, my. I was thinking about him the other day and that it had been a while. My mother's two favorites were him and Jimmy C. Newman, and she always remembered the time they were on Ernest Tubb's segment and he said, in those politically incorrect times, "We've got an Injun and a Cajun." Great voice, great style.
ReplyDeleteThis is awful, but I will say it. I knew he had been one of the artists critical of management and when he died on the road, I thought, I wonder if that crosses anybody's mind at the Opry that maybe he shouldn't have been on the road, you know?