Ten For Today: Cindy Walker

k.d. lang & The Reclines, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Merle Haggard, The Byrds, Ray Charles, Skeeter Davis, Gene Vincent, Roy Orbison, Michael Nesmith

Prolific songwriter and Country Music Hall of Famer Cindy Walker was born July 20, 1917. She is credited with over 650 songs. Versions of her songs have charted about 400 times. When she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997, Harlan Howard called her “the greatest living songwriter of country music.”

My hunch is more people have heard of Harlan Howard than have heard of Cindy Walker, because that’s how the world works.

She was born and lived most of her life in Texas, never really succumbing to the Nashville music scene, but many who have written about her have remarked that this probably worked to her advantage. Her mother was her life-long business partner and collaborator. When she was a young adult, Cindy’s family took a trip to Los Angeles, and while there, Cindy asked them to drop her off at Bing Crosby Enterprises, where she marched in and got an audience with Bing’s brother Larry. One thing led to another and it all led to a recording contract and some movie roles, etc. She stayed in Los Angeles for 13 years, but eventually moved back to Texas and focused on songwriting. She died in 2006, at age 88, but not before leaving quite a trail of songs, recorded by a diverse array of artists. Here are ten.

This was first recorded by Bob Wills in 1946. He recorded many of her songs and he co-wrote this one. Here is k.d. lang’s version, in 1988.

Walker recorded her own version of this one in 1947, but sadly, I can’t find a version to share with you. I feel like it’s a woman’s song, though it’s been recorded by many men, like Bob Wills (the co-writer), Ernest Tubb, Jerry Lee Lewis, and John Prine. Here’s Willie Nelson doing it in 2006.

The first recording of this was Bob Wills’ in 1948, but here is Merle Haggard in 1977.

This is another that was first recorded by Wills, in 1949. This is from an album called George Jones Sings Bob Wills, though I feel like it should be called George Jones Sings Bob Wills Singing Cindy Walker (and other songwriters). The Jones album was released in 1962.

Walker wrote “Blue Canadian Rockies” in 1950, and it was recorded and released that year by Gene Autry. This is a 1968 version, by The Byrds, from their masterpiece Sweetheart of the Rodeo.

Eddy Arnold got co-writing credit for this one, but I have to say that based on her account of the origins, it sounds like he should have gotten about 5% of the credit. It was written in 1955, and the first release was by Arnold. Ray Charles recorded it in 1962. I don’t know the year of this performance.

The one was written in 1961, and it makes sense because Walker’s maternal grandfather was hymn writer of some renown. This version is by Skeeter Davis, and was released in 1967.

Jim Reeves has the first hit with this going-off-to-war song, in 1966. This is Gene Vincent’s version, recorded in 1971, just 11 days before he died.

Roy Orbison was the first to record this song of hers, in 1962. Here he is performing it with some very familiar faces, in 1988.

Here’s Michael Nesmith doing one of hers, which was first released in 1968 by Jimmy Newman. Nesmith’s version came out in 1973.

That’s it for today. Sorry I have been a bit quiet lately. I have been working on something big: the one-year anniversary of a music series I’ve been co-producing. It’s happening on Tuesday, July 21, and if you’re in the Boston area, maybe you’d like to come. Click the image below for details.

Thanks for reading.