Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)

Subject: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: GUEST,Mary Katherine
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 12:44 AM

'Pavarotti of the Plains' Don Walser dead at 72
Late-blooming musician sang and yodeled his way to country heights in early 1990s.
By Michael Corcoran
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Wednesday, September 20, 2006

(Austin) There's never been a more special relationship between a musician and his fans in Austin than when rotund National Guardsman Don Walser started over in the music business in 1990 at the now-defunct Henry's Bar on Burnet Road. His improbable rise and signing to Sire Records, the label of Madonna and the Ramones, at age 64 was the feelgood story of the Austin music scene. Dubbed "the Pavarotti of the Plains" for his clear, powerful tenor, Walser was embraced by gray-haired two-steppers and tattooed punk rockers alike, which was the basis of a February 1996 segment on "ABC Primetime Live."

Walser passed away about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday after a long illness. He was 72.

Slowed by mounting health problems, which forced his retirement from the music business in September 2003, Walser's time in the spotlight was relatively short. He loved to sing and lived to please his fans, but the singer's physical deterioration — he was diagnosed with neuropathy, a disease of the nervous system, in 2001 — caused him to forget lyrics and back down from notes he hit with ease just a few years earlier.

In an interview with the American-Statesman in late 2003, Walser could barely lift his hand and his speech was slow and difficult, but his eyes lit up when a favorite memory surfaced, including the standing ovation he received when he opened for Johnny Cash at the Erwin Center in 1996 and making his debut at the Grand Ol' Opry in 1999. The next year he was honored with the National Heritage Award in Washington, D.C.

"The thing I miss most is the connection with the people who came out to hear us play," Walser said after his retirement. "That's probably the thing that kept me going the last few years."

Once, arriving for a show on the East Coast, Walser was stunned to see a line around the block. When the promoter started showing Don and wife Pat, always at his side, to the dressing room, the singer said, "Nah, I want to meet these people" and went down the line shaking hands. One woman wept in disbelief upon meeting her hero, the savior of real Texas country music, but Walser put her at ease by wiping away a tear of his own.

There was not a trace of phoniness in Walser, said Howard Kalish, who played fiddle in Walser's Pure Texas Band. "When he said he was pleased to meet you, he truly was."

Walser's musical mission was to expose the country music of his youth to new audiences. Opening for such acts as the Butthole Surfers and Ministry, Walser introduced such old Western classics as "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" and "Cherokee Maiden" to a whole new audience, one that often jubilantly moshed to his songs. He also sang with the classical Kronos Quartet at Bass Concert Hall in April 1997 and recorded with the group. "I knew it was still going to be country music if I was singing," he said in 2003, his eyes twinkling.

Even after his retirement, Don Walser and Pure Texas Band bumper stickers remained symbols of musical authenticity in a sea of cut-out cowboys and pop chanteuses playing up their southern accents.

Country music became a big part of Walser's life at an early age, growing up in the West Texas town of Lamesa. His mother died when he was 12 and his father worked nights, so Walser lost himself in the songs of Hank Williams, Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell that he heard on the radio. At 16, he formed his first band and started writing songs such as "Rolling Stone From Texas" and recording for more a decade.

When rock 'n' roll took over the region in the '50s, thanks in large part to Lubbock's Buddy Holly, Walser refused to change his style. Instead, he put his career on the back burner in 1957 and joined the National Guard, where he remained for 39 years.

Walser moved to Austin in 1984, when he was stationed at Camp Mabry. He occasionally played the Broken Spoke in the late '80s, but didn't really start to earn his reputation as a powerhouse singer and yodeler until he started playing the shortlived Henry's, which also helped launch Junior Brown's career. "What I remember most of those early days was the completely blissful looks in the crowd when Don sang," Kalish said in 2003.

"The first time I heard Don sing," said Ray Benson, who produced Walser's first two albums, "Rolling Stone From Texas" and "Texas Tophand," on the Watermelon label, "I thought 'Where's this guy been?' If there was any justice, he would've had a hit in 1958 and built a big career."

Walser had that rare gift, Benson said, of being a great singer who was also a great yodeler. "Yodeling is a trick to most," Benson said, "but to Don, it was an art."

Walser's voice was was the sound that time forgot, powerful enough to transport listeners to the glory days of country music. The big man with the Andy Devine laugh was clearly digging his time on the stage and never took the audience, which returned his love tenfold, for granted.

"It didn't matter where we played," Walser said in 2003, pausing for air. "Whether I was just sitting on a bunk in the barracks playing for the fellas or at Lincoln Center — as long as people were enjoying the music, we had a ball."

Walser is survived by wife Pat and their four children.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

[e-mail]; 445-3652

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 01:17 AM

Tish Hinojosa brought him here to California on a tour meant to showcase Texas musicians, and I liked his music immediately. There was something really fun about his style of music. I'm glad I got to see him, and I still pull out his CD's to listen occasionally.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Scoville
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 09:24 AM

I never did get to see him, but I had a floormate in college who was also a fan. We used to put on CD's and dance in the hallway until all the Midwesterners thought we were nuts.

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: lesblank
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 10:44 AM

We lost two Texas idols yesterday. Don Walser - there will never be another to come close. I last saw him several years ago and it was apparent he was having problems. God rest his soul.

Jerry Lightfoot also passed away yesterday. He was a fixture at the blues and country rock joints in and around Houston for many years. I shall miss them both. Both were younger than I.

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Cruiser
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 10:55 AM

Mr. Walser's rendition of the great songwriter Stan Jones' "Cowpoke" is outstanding. I know at least one other Mudcatter that would agree. His cover of "Big Ball's In Cowtown" and a song he wrote "Rolling Stone From Texas" that he sang both in the movie 'Secondhand Lions' emphasized how a music score/soundtrack can dramatically enhance a film.

I almost submitted a post here yesterday asking if anyone had heard about his health because I sent an e-mail recently to his son, who managed his website, but had not received a reply.

Don Walser was a fine yodeler and the three songs mentioned above are my favorite Walser songs.

Cruiser

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Cruiser
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 11:02 AM

An Interview With Walser

Don Walser's Website

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Scoville
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 11:03 AM

Do we have an obit posting for Jerry Lightfoot, or am I just blind this morning?

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Wesley S
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 11:05 AM

I had a brief conversation with him when I saw him perform is Austin. I believe it was at the Broken Spoke. A great performer and a very nice man. He'll be missed.

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Scoville
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 11:20 AM

Jerry Lightfoot.

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: GUEST,open mike
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 12:33 PM

I heard him at the strawberry music festival a few years back
and he was suffering from lung problems as there were intense
forest fires in Mexico that year and the smoke had blanketed
Texas for some time before he came out to Calif. He was
quite horse (hoarse?) as i recall and we mostly heard instru-
mentals and no yodelling, unfortunatley.

i will makesure to play some songs from his Texas Top Hand
c.d. on my radio show for December which will feature Cowboy
music and poetry.

best wishes to friends family and music partners .

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Cruiser
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 12:46 PM

The Pete Seeger of Country Music Don Walser A to Z

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Cruiser
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 01:58 PM

I transcribed the lyrics of this Don Walser version from his recording that has some on the words and phrases changed to suit Don's Lamesa/Austin, Texas heritage versus Stan's Douglas, Arizona roots.

Cowpoke
Stan Jones [Also wrote "(Ghost) Riders In The Sky"]

(Yodel)
I'm lonesome but I'm happy
Rich but I'm broke
And the good Lord knows the reason
I'm just a cowpoke.

From Dallas to Austin
The ranges I know
I drift with the wind
No one cares where I go.

(Yodel)

I ain't got a cent
In these old worn out jeans
I'll stop eatin' steak
And go back to beans.

I'll pick up a ten spot
In Houston I know
While ridin' the broncs
In a big rodeo.

(Yodel)

{Fiddle & other instrumental}

Maybe in the springtime
A filly I'll find
And I might spend all the summer
With her on my mind.

But I'll never be branded
I'll never be broke
I'm a carefree range ridin'
Driftin' cowpoke...

(Yodel)

I'm lonesome but happy
Rich but I'm broke
And the good Lord knows the reason
I'm just a cowpoke

(Yodel)


Cruiser

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Cruiser
Date: 21 Sep 06 - 04:06 PM

Transcribed from the 'Secondhand Lions' movie soundtrack (DVD) while the end credits are rolling by.

"Rolling Stone from Texas"
Don Walser
Circa 1951 at age 17

Begins with a good ole Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys Texas Swing style fiddle and steel guitar instrumental…

I'm a rolling stone from Texas
Rolling stone from the plains
I'm a Rolling stone from Texas boys
I long to be back there again

Well, say, are you from Texas?
That's what I'm wanting to know
Cause if we're both from Texas boys
Let's bundle up our clothes and go.

Yodeling 2 times

They say a rolling stone never gathers no moss
As long as it's rolling along
Oh, but I don't care If I gathered and moss
If it's in my Texas home

I've got a little girl a-waiting
Her name is Patricia Jane
And I'll never be happy till I'm by her side
Out on those west Texas plains.

Yodeling to the end.

Note: Patricia Jane is Don's wife of about 55 years; a nice tribute to her when he wrote this song as a teenager.


This 'Secondhand Lions' soundtrack song is played 2 times; once to enhance the script and once during the most entertaining End Credits I have ever seen which include the cartoon artwork/illustrations of Berkeley Breathed of Bloom County & Opus fame.

"Rolling Stone from Texas" is also played briefly in Chapter 08, the Bentley seed salesman scene. He Walter (Walt) gets his first taste of Beech Nut chewing tobacco from Hub. This is one of my favorite scenes and includes the white French bulldog named Linus looking very closely (that expression on his face!) at the juvenile corn plants with Walter. Chapter 08 ends with a trip to the old mail box that included 4 of the 5 dogs of the dog pack (Baron the bloodhound was missing) and Norton the pig.

I highly recommend this very entertaining movie as one your whole family can enjoy together.

Cruiser

{Quote}

Rolling Stone from Texas
I wrote that in about 1951. I didn't know enough yodel tunes, and I was driving an old oilfield rig truck between Lamesa and Seminole, Texas, and I started singing that song, trying to get some words in my head, and between there and Seminole I wrote that song, and I sung it over and over so I wouldn't forget it. It was probably ten years before I ever wrote the words down, it was just in my head. We put it out on a little single, Plainsmen label, our own little label, in the '60s with the Texas Plainsmen. Carl Echols sent it off to Billboard (magazine) and they rated it four stars on one side, two stars on the other side. I thought that was pretty good. We didn't know what to do, of course. That's the only one we released. And we played it every show, they always wanted to hear a yodel, and so we'd do this and "Casting My Lassoâ" and "Chime Bells."

{End Quote}

Sound clips at Barnes & Noble:


Track 1: "Rolling Stone from Texas"; Track 3 : "Cowpoke"


____________________________________________________________

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Metchosin
Date: 22 Sep 06 - 10:54 AM

Loved this gentleman's singing. Walser was one of the few in any genre of music who could give me goosebumps.....so thankful that he eventually received the wider audience he deserved, however briefly.

Rest in peace Mr. Walser.

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Cruiser
Date: 23 Sep 06 - 01:26 PM

A NPR reporter talks with Don Walser

NPR Interview With Don Walser

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Gene
Date: 23 Sep 06 - 04:45 PM

FWIW Dept: the NPR interview also includes sound clips

worth a listen.

Subject: RE: Obit: Don Walser RIP (Sept. 2006)
From: Cruiser
Date: 29 Oct 07 - 08:04 PM

Here is a neat 1995 interview with Don Walser with clips of some of his songs on YouTube that his son posted last month.

Don Walser Interview w/Music Clips; 10 minutes