Comments on: 100 Greatest Men: #87. Billy Walker http://www.countryuniverse.net/2011/06/25/100-greatest-men-87-billy-walker/ Sat, 15 Jun 2013 14:05:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: kathrine bocsh http://www.countryuniverse.net/2011/06/25/100-greatest-men-87-billy-walker/#comment-398252 kathrine bocsh Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:32:06 +0000 http://www.countryuniverse.net/?p=18544#comment-398252 the smile on the face of this great man is really itself an antidepressant and shows the purity in him

]]> By: “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” Goes Gold; Fire at The Cowboy Arms; Hear the New Gillian Welch Record | Country California http://www.countryuniverse.net/2011/06/25/100-greatest-men-87-billy-walker/#comment-397773 “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” Goes Gold; Fire at The Cowboy Arms; Hear the New Gillian Welch Record | Country California Tue, 28 Jun 2011 05:07:39 +0000 http://www.countryuniverse.net/?p=18544#comment-397773 [...] Country Universe: 100 Greatest Men, #87: Billy Walker [...]

]]> By: Paul Dennis http://www.countryuniverse.net/2011/06/25/100-greatest-men-87-billy-walker/#comment-396573 Paul Dennis Sun, 26 Jun 2011 10:55:42 +0000 http://www.countryuniverse.net/?p=18544#comment-396573 I’m not sure it is fair to list him as a B-list performer at radio as there were periods where he was A-list material particularly during the early 1970s on MGM when (according to Record World) two singles “When a Man Loves a Woman (The Way That I Love You)” and “Sing Me A love Song To Baby” both made it to #1 and several other songs went to the top in regional markets. Moreover, Bear Family issued a massive five CD boxed set on Walker covering his Columbia years. While Bear has done single disc sets on lesser artists, the big boxes normally are reserved for really significant artists

Billy Walker faced three main problems in establishing himself at radio: (1) his voice was very similar to that of Marty Robbins; (2) from 1954-1965 he recorded for the same label as Robbins, meaning he was getting second crack at material suited to both of them, and (3) he was on a label with a roster overflowing with stars, so that the label really didn’t put a lot of promotional push behind him. Even so, “Cross The Brazos At Waco” made it to #2, blocked from the top by Connie Smith’s “Once A Day”

After leaving Columbia for Monument Walker experienced a career surge with “A Million And One” reaching #2 for four weeks and “Bear With Me A Little Longer” making it to #3.

The last major hit was on RCA when “Word Games” cracked the top ten

I think you have him properly ranked

]]> By: bob http://www.countryuniverse.net/2011/06/25/100-greatest-men-87-billy-walker/#comment-396348 bob Sun, 26 Jun 2011 02:36:10 +0000 http://www.countryuniverse.net/?p=18544#comment-396348 I never heard of Billy Walker before but he sounded pretty good on the You-Tube video of the Willie Nelson song, “Funny How Time Slips Away”. On secondhandsongs.com they list 38 covers of the song with Walker’s listed first with a date of July 1961.

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