Billy Walker (musician): Difference between revisions

Billy Walker was born in [[Ralls, Texas]] on January 14, 1929 and was the youngest of three children. His mother died when he was only six years old, and Billy's father was unable to care for him and his two older brothers. Some of the children were placed in a Methodist orphanage in [[Waco, Texas]]. Billy attended High School in [[Whiteface, Texas]]TX and had won a talent contest which entitled him to appear on radio in [[Clovis, New Mexico]]NM. He seems to have played on his own radio show there, too. This was possibly at the station owned by Pop Echols at the time. Inspired by the music of [[Gene Autry]] as a teenager, he had begun his professional music career in 1947 at age 18. After his debut on Clovis radio as a teenager he later joined the ''[[Big D Jamboree]]'' in [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]] in 1949. The same year, [[Hank Thompson (musician)|Hank Thompson]] helped him sign with [[Capitol Records]] after he worked with Walker in [[Waco, Texas|Waco]].<ref name="In Memory of Billy Walker">{{cite web | url = http://www.billywalker.com/ | title = In Memory of Billy Walker | publisher = The estate of Billy Walker | author = | date = | accessdate = 2009-04-17}}</ref> His 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.