Leon Payne
Encyclopedia
Leon Payne "the Blind Balladeer", was a country music
singer and songwriter.
on June 15, 1917. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight of the other eye in early childhood. He attended the Texas School for the Blind
from 1924 to 1935, where he met his future wife, Myrtie Velma Courmier. They had two children together, as well as two children from Myrtie's previous marriage. Leon Payne died in 1969 in San Antonio, Texas
. His wife Myrtie died in San Antonio in 2008, and Leon's composition "I Love You Because
" was played at her funeral service.
", "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart
" and 1948 song "Lost Highway", a song made famous by Hank Williams in 1949.
He began his music career in the mid-1930s, playing a variety of musical instruments in public, and later performing on KWET radio in Palestine, Texas
, starting in 1935. He also had a stint playing with Bob Wills
' Texas Playboys in 1938. He joined his stepbrother famed songwriter Jack Rhodes
and formed Jack Rhodes and The Lone Star Buddies, in 1949. They performed regularly on the Louisiana Hayride
show in Shreveport, Louisiana
. He was later on the Grand Ole Opry
.
Much of his musical legacy is in the form of recordings of his songs by other artists, perhaps most famous of which are two of his songs recorded by Hank Williams: "Lost Highway" and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me", which were both minor hits.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer and songwriter.
Life
Leon Roger Payne was born in Alba, TexasAlba, Texas
Alba is a town in Texas, United States. Located mostly in Wood County, a small portion of the town extends into Rains County. The population was 430 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Alba is located at ....
on June 15, 1917. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight of the other eye in early childhood. He attended the Texas School for the Blind
Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
The Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired is a Texas special public school, in the continuum of statewide placements for students who have a visual impairment. It is considered a statewide resource to parents of these children and professionals who serve them...
from 1924 to 1935, where he met his future wife, Myrtie Velma Courmier. They had two children together, as well as two children from Myrtie's previous marriage. Leon Payne died in 1969 in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
. His wife Myrtie died in San Antonio in 2008, and Leon's composition "I Love You Because
I Love You Because (song)
"I Love You Because" is a 1949 song written and originally recorded by Leon Payne. The single went to number four on the Billboard Country & Western Best Seller lists and spent two weeks at number one on the Country & Western Disk Jockey List, spending a total of thirty-two weeks on the chart...
" was played at her funeral service.
Career
Leon wrote hundreds of country songs in a prolific career that lasted from 1941 until his death in 1969. He is perhaps best known for his hits "I Love You BecauseI Love You Because (song)
"I Love You Because" is a 1949 song written and originally recorded by Leon Payne. The single went to number four on the Billboard Country & Western Best Seller lists and spent two weeks at number one on the Country & Western Disk Jockey List, spending a total of thirty-two weeks on the chart...
", "You've Still Got a Place in My Heart
You've Still Got a Place in My Heart (song)
"You've Still Got a Place in My Heart" is a song written and originally recorded by American country music artist Leon Payne. It was covered by Con Hunley in 1978, whose version peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. Another cover by George Jones, released in 1984, peaked...
" and 1948 song "Lost Highway", a song made famous by Hank Williams in 1949.
He began his music career in the mid-1930s, playing a variety of musical instruments in public, and later performing on KWET radio in Palestine, Texas
Palestine, Texas
Palestine is a city in Anderson County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 17,598, and 18,458 in the 2009 estimate. It is the county seat of Anderson County and is situated in East Texas...
, starting in 1935. He also had a stint playing with Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
' Texas Playboys in 1938. He joined his stepbrother famed songwriter Jack Rhodes
Jack Rhodes
Andrew Jackson Rhodes was an American country music producer and songwriter, penning such hits as "A Satisfied Mind", "Silver Threads and Golden Needles", "Conscience I'm Guilty", "The Waltz of the Angels", "Beautiful Lies", and "Till the Last Leaf Shall Fall"...
and formed Jack Rhodes and The Lone Star Buddies, in 1949. They performed regularly on the Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride
Louisiana Hayride was a radio and later television country music show broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Memorial Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, that during its heyday from 1948 to 1960 helped to launch the careers of some of the greatest names in American music...
show in Shreveport, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. He was later on the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
.
Much of his musical legacy is in the form of recordings of his songs by other artists, perhaps most famous of which are two of his songs recorded by Hank Williams: "Lost Highway" and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me", which were both minor hits.
Recordings and covers by other artists
- Hank Williams recorded "Lost Highway" and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me."
- Elvis PresleyElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
recorded "I Love You Because" for Sun RecordsSun RecordsSun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
in 1954. - Willie NelsonWillie NelsonWillie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
and Johnny CashJohnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
recorded "Lumberjack" in 1957 and 1960 - Al MartinoAl MartinoAl Martino was an American singer and actor. He had his greatest success as a singer between the early 1950s and mid 1970s, being described as "one of the great Italian American pop crooners", and also became well known as an actor, particularly for his role as singer Johnny Fontane in The...
recorded "I Love You Because" in 1963. - Johnny HortonJohnny HortonJohn Gale "Johnny" Horton was an American country music and rockabilly singer most famous for his semi-folk, so-called "saga songs" which began the "historical ballad" craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s...
recorded "Lost Highway" and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." - Johnny CashJohnny CashJohn R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
recorded "I Love You Because" for Sun RecordsSun RecordsSun Records is a record label founded in Memphis, Tennessee, starting operations on March 27, 1952.Founded by Sam Phillips, Sun Records was known for giving notable musicians such as Elvis Presley , Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash...
in 1958. - Jim ReevesJim ReevesJames Travis Reeves , better known as Jim Reeves, was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well-known for being a practitioner of the Nashville sound...
covered "I Love You Because" and "Blue Side of Lonesome," which were released in 1964 and 1966, respectively. The latter reached number one on the BillboardBillboard (magazine)Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
US country charts. - Eddie Noack recorded "Psycho" in 1968. This version was barely released and the song remained obscure until covered by Michigan singer Jack Kittel in 1973.
- George JonesGeorge JonesGeorge Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
recorded "Blue Side of Lonesome" on his 1966 album Love BugLove Bug (George Jones album)Love Bug is an album by American country music singer George Jones. This album was released in 1966 on the Musicor Records label.- Track listing :# "Love Bug" # "Six Days on the Road"...
; he later devoted an entire album of Payne's songs, George Jones Sings the Great Songs of Leon PayneGeorge Jones Sings the Great Songs of Leon PayneGeorge Jones Sings the Great Songs of Leon Payne is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album was released in 1971 on the Musicor Records label. This was Jones' last album with Musicor...
, in 1971. - Leon RussellLeon RussellClaude Russell Bridges , known professionally as Leon Russell, is an American musician and songwriter, who has recorded as a session musician, sideman, and maintained a solo career in music....
included "Lost Highway" on the first of his pseudonymous country albums, "Hank Wilson's Back," released in 1973. - Emmylou HarrisEmmylou HarrisEmmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
recorded "They'll Never Take His Love From Me" in 1979. - Joan BaezJoan BaezJoan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
and Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
can be seen performing "Lost Highway" in their apartment in the 1967 documentary Dont Look BackDont Look BackDont Look Back is a 1967 documentary film by D.A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in the United Kingdom.In 1998, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically...
. - Elvis CostelloElvis CostelloElvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
and T-Bone BurnettT-Bone BurnettJoseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...
, under the pseudonyms Hank Coward and Howard Coward (The Coward Brothers), released "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" as the B side of a single in 1986. The cut was restored as a bonus track in a 1995 re-release of Costello's Burnett-produced King of AmericaKing of AmericaKing of America is the tenth studio album by the British rock singer and songwriter Elvis Costello, released in 1986 in the United Kingdom as F-Beat ZL 70946, and in the United States as Columbia JC 40173. It was billed as by "The Costello Show featuring the Attractions and Confederates" in the UK...
album. - Elvis Costello also released a live version of Payne's song "Psycho."
- Jason & the ScorchersJason & the ScorchersJason & the Scorchers, originally Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, are a Cowpunk / Country rock band formed in 1981 and led by singer/songwriter Jason Ringenberg....
, then known as Jason & the Nashville Scorchers, recorded a country-punk version of "Lost Highway" on their first full-length LP, "Lost & Found," in 1985. - Australian blues/rock band The Beasts of BourbonBeasts of BourbonBeasts of Bourbon was an Australian alternative rock band formed in 1983, with a line-up that has changed as the band splintered and reformed several times - Beginnings :...
also released a cover of "Psycho" in 1984. - Elliott SmithElliott SmithSteven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...
played Payne's song "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" and "Lost Highway" live on more than one occasion. - Doug SahmDoug SahmDouglas Wayne Sahm , was an American musician from Texas. Born in San Antonio, Texas, he was a child prodigy in country music, but became a significant figure in blues rock and other genres. Today Sahm is considered one of the most important figures in what is identified as Tejano music...
played Payne's song "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" on his album The Return of Wayne Douglas. - Jeff BuckleyJeff BuckleyJeffrey Scott "Jeff" Buckley , raised as Scotty Moorhead, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He was the son of Tim Buckley, also a musician...
played "Lost Highway" live. It was released posthumously on the re-release of his debut album Grace. - Marco, La voz del Rock and Roll en Colombia Marco Tulio Sanchez B recorded "Te quiero por que" for Tulsan Producciones in 1985, the only Spanish version
- Ricky SkaggsRicky SkaggsRickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
recorded "Selfishness in Man". - FreakwaterFreakwater-Career:In 1989, Janet Beveridge Bean and Catherine Irwin founded the band, and they have been supported by several musicians since then, including members of Califone . Bassist David Wayne Gay, formerly of Stump The Host, is another long-time member of the band...
recorded "Selfishness in Man". - The Mekons played "Lost Highway" on their album Fear and WhiskeyFear and WhiskeyFear and Whiskey is a 1985 album by Mekons, which marked their return from a several-year hiatus. It is credited as being the first alternative country album, as it blends the bands previously-established punk rock style with a country & western sound. The album was initially released by Sin...
. - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers recorded "Lost Highway" in 2006; video footage of that recording appears in their documentary, "Running Down a Dream."
- Kurt NilsenKurt NilsenThe following is a discography of albums and singles released by Norwegian music artist Kurt Nilsen.-Albums:-Singles:-Other releases:*1998 Shoe...
recorded "Lost Highway" as a duet with Willie NelsonWillie NelsonWillie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
in 2008. - George JonesGeorge JonesGeorge Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
recorded an album of all Leon Payne songs in 1971 called "George Jones Sings the Great Songs of Leon Payne". - John PrineJohn PrineJohn Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...
recorded "The Blue Side of Lonesome" and "I Love You Because" for his "Standard Songs for Average People" in 2007. - Bill FrisellBill FrisellWilliam Richard "Bill" Frisell is an American guitarist and composer.One of the leading guitarists in jazz since the late 1980s, Frisell's eclectic music touches on progressive folk, classical music, country music, noise and more...
recorded "Lost Highway" on the Nonesuch album "Further East/Further West" in 2005. - Townes Van Zandt recorded a version of "Lost Highway", released on the album "Highway Kind" in 1997, shortly after his death.
External links
- LeonPayne at TalentOnDisplay
- Leon Payne article