Jump to content

Leon Payne

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Mstarli (talk | contribs) at 23:04, 16 January 2011 (Tidied up some format.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Leon Payne (June 15, 1917–September 11, 1969), "the Blind Balladeer", was a country music singer and songwriter.

Life

Leon Roger Payne was born in Alba, Texas on June 15, 1917. He was blind in one eye at birth, and lost the sight of the other eye in early childhood.[citation needed] He attended the Texas School for the Blind from 1924 to 1935, where he met his future wife, Myrtie Velma Courmier.[citation needed] 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.

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 Because", "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.[citation needed] He was later on the Grand Ole Opry.[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

Recordings and covers by other artists

  • Hank Williams recorded "Lost Highway" and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me."
  • Elvis Presley recorded "I Love You Because" for Sun Records in 1954.
  • Willie Nelson recorded "Lumberjack" in 1957.
  • Al Martino recorded "I Love You Because" in 1963.
  • Johnny Horton recorded "Lost Highway" and "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me."
  • Johnny Cash recorded "I Love You Because" for Sun Records in 1958.
  • Jim Reeves 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 Billboard US country charts.
  • Eddie Noack recorded "Psycho" in 1968.
  • Emmylou Harris recorded "They'll Never Take His Love From Me" in 1979.
  • Joan Baez and Bob Dylan can be seen performing "Lost Highway" in their apartment in the 1967 documentary Dont Look Back.
  • Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett, under the name 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 America album.
  • Elvis Costello also released a live version of Payne's song "Psycho."
  • Jason & the Scorchers, 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 Bourbon also released a cover of "Psycho" in 1984.
  • Elliott Smith played Payne's song "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" and "Lost Highway" live on more than one occasion.
  • Doug Sahm played Payne's song "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me" on his album The Return of Wayne Douglas.
  • Jeff Buckley 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 Skaggs recorded "Selfishness in Man".
  • Freakwater recorded "Selfishness in Man".
  • The Mekons played "Lost Highway" on their album Fear and Whiskey.
  • Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers recorded "Lost Highway" in 2006; video footage of that recording appears in their documentary, "Running Down a Dream."
  • Kurt Nilsen recorded "Lost Highway" as a duet with Willie Nelson in 2008.
  • George Jones recorded an album of all Leon Payne songs in 1971 called "George Jones Sings the Great Songs of Leon Payne".
  • John Prine recorded "The Blue Side of Lonesome" and "I Love You Because" for his "Standard Songs for Average People" in 2007.
  • Bill Frisell recorded "Lost Highway" on the Nonesuch album "Further East/Further West" in 2005.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leon_Payne&oldid=408289454"