Billy Wallace (country musician)

Billy Wallace (born March 26, 1917 in Oklahoma City , † June 3, 1978 ) was an American country and rockabilly musician and composer . Wallace wrote the hit Back Street Affair for Webb Pierce , among others .

Life

Childhood and youth

Billy Wallace was born in Oklahoma City but grew up in Athens , Alabama . Wallace's father had worked in the Oklahoma oil fields for a short time but moved back to his farm in Alabama. Wallace began playing guitar as a child and wrote his first songs as a teenager. His greatest role models were the Delmore Brothers , Rex Griffin , Roy Acuff , but also Hank Williams , Ernest Tubb and Hal Smith .

Career

In 1943 Wallace married and moved to Huntsville . His professional career began when Bill Carlisle recorded a song written by Wallaces. Motivated, he moved with his wife to Nashville , Tennessee , where he recorded his first three records in 1950 for the small label Tennessee Records. In "Music City USA" Wallace had far greater opportunities to make a career.

His talent as a composer was soon discovered and he was signed to several music publishers. Wallace had his first major success as a composer in 1952 with Back Street Affair . Wallace's own version for Decca Records wasn't a hit, but Webb Pierce took the track to number one on the country charts for four weeks . His tracks were subsequently recorded by great country music stars like Little Jimmy Dickens , Bill Carlisle , Patsy Cline , Kitty Wells, and Billy Walker . Red Foley had a hit with Wallace's Slaves of a Hopeless Love Affair and Webb Pierce brought another Wallace title to the charts with Don't Throw Your Life Away .

As a musician, Wallace didn't really want his breakthrough, because his own singles received little attention. In 1956 he moved to Mercury Records , for which he held a single recording session. Together with the Bama Drifters he recorded his four most famous pieces, That's My Reward , What'll I Do , Mean Mistreatin 'Baby and Burnin' The Wind . All songs were played with a very economical rockabilly line-up ( dobro , rhythm guitar , slapped double bass ) and otherwise the titles with fast solos and the echo effect corresponded to the typical rockabilly sound. The titles were shaped by Wallace's nasal singing and his "Southern Drawl", the southern accent and the purely acoustic line-up. The songs were all based on a blues scheme and included lines of text such as " I asked you for water, you give me gasoline ", which were taken from Tommy Johnson's 1928 Cool Drink of Water Blues . Another passage from Mean Mistreatin 'Baby was clearly of traditional origin: " Gonna jump in the river three times, but ain't a-comin' up but twice ". In addition to these references to older titles, there are also biographical features in Wallace's songs, for example in That's My Reward : “ You ruled my nights, you ruled my days, who started that rumor, that they freed all the slaves ”. Wallace's guitar playing was unusual in the musical context of the time and alien to common listening habits. It was influenced by the blues on the one hand, but was also heavily based on ragtime .

It was during his time at Mercury that Wallace had a major stroke. His entire left half of his body was paralyzed, so that playing the guitar was no longer an option. Despite the help of Bill Carlisle and Dee Kilpatrick, Mercury dropped Wallace.

During the 1950s, Wallace was a member of KWKH Louisiana Hayrides , one of America's most popular radio shows at the time.

After his severe setback, Wallace learned to play the guitar again and in the following years he was under contract with a variety of labels such as Republic, Blue Hen, Deb, Del-Ray, Pace, Gig, Sims, Twin Rose and ARCADIA. Wallace never found a hit or breakthrough. Instead, his health deteriorated noticeably. In 1962, Wallace finally gave up his career to return to Huntsville, Alabama. Wallace died there in 1978 at the age of 61. In 1980 an album of his was released in Germany. The songs on the album were all from 1962 and 1963, when Wallace was under contract with Del-Ray Records.

Discography

Singles

year	title	Record company
1950	Dog Hauled Around / You Got Some Explaining To Do	Tennessee 719
1951	There's a Hand Reaching Out From There / Reservations For Your Soul	Tennessee 747
1952	South Wind / I'm Gonna Turn You A-Loose	Tennessee 829
1952	Back Street Affair / Counted Out	Decca 28243
1953	Shadow of My Heart / While the Gettin's Good	Decca 28568
1955	You Can't Ride on My Train / I Still Love You	Blue Hen BH-210
1956	That's My Reward / What'll I Do	Mercury 70876X45
1956	Mean Mistreatin 'Baby / Burnin' The Wind	Mercury 70957X45
1956	That Old Love of Yours / I Can't Run Away (from These Blues)	Republic 7127
1957	Wolf Call / Two O'Clock in the Morning	Deb 882-45
1957	You'll Never Cheat Me Anymore / Don't Flirt with My Baby	Deb 1003
1960	Gotta Keep Ridin '/ Chestnut Locks	Pace 1008
1961	Low Down Hangin 'Around / Heartbreak Village (with Jimmy King)	Sims 120
1962	The Sycamore Tree / Honky Tonk Row	Del-Ray 210
	The Sycamore Tree / Honky Tonk Row	Acadia 1008
	Cheatin 'a Sin / Your Kisses and Lies	Acadia 1009
	We Hide Away / Got Ramblin 'on My Mind	Twin rose 101

Albums

• 1963: Billy Wallace Sings His Hits (Acadia)
• 1980: Billy Wallace Sings His Hits (Eagle, D)

literature

• Bob Millar: That'll Flat Git It! , Vol. 11 (1998); Bear Family Records

Web links

• Billy Wallace (country musician) on Hillbilly-Music.com (English)
• Discography with audio samples
• photo