Country singer Billy Walker dies in automobile accident

[Soapweed]

Grand Ole Opry star Billy Walker, wife are laid to rest in Tennessee
By JOHN GEROME Associated Press
5/27/2006

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Grand Ole Opry star Billy Walker and his wife, Bettie, were remembered Friday at their funeral as a devout Christian couple whose actions exemplified their faith.

"They were passionate about the Bible," said the Rev. Maury Davis, pastor of Cornerstone Church, where the 77-year-old singer was a church elder.

"They were lovers of people. They reached out to people," Davis said, sharing a story about how the couple would joyfully minister to men in prison "like it was Saturday night at the Grand Ole Opry."

The couple were killed along with two members of his band -- Charles Lilly Jr., 44, and Daniel Patton Sr., 40 -- early Sunday when the van they were riding in overturned near Montgomery, Ala., after a show on the Alabama coast.

Walker's grandson, Joshua Brooks, remains hospitalized after suffering critical injuries in the crash.

Fellow Opry singers Ricky Skaggs, Oklahoma native Vince Gill, Connie Smith and The Whites performed at the funeral, where the couple's caskets were side by side with a long row of flowers behind them.

Opry members Marty Stuart and Steve Wariner also were among the 2,300 or so mourners.



"There are a lot of questions when something like this happens. Hopefully, this song will help answer some of those questions," Skaggs said before performing the gospel standard "Farther Along" with The Whites.

The song's chorus includes the lines, "Farther along we'll know more about it. Farther along we'll understand why."

Gill sang his hit, "Go Rest High on That Mountain," and Smith did the classic hymn, "How Great Thou Art."

Grand Ole Opry announcer Eddie Stubbs said the accident will "go down as one of the most significant tragedies in Grand Ole Opry history."

Ironically, Walker escaped what is perhaps the most well-known tragedy in the radio program's long history when Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cow boy Copas and Randy Hughes were killed in a plane crash in 1963.

After a benefit concert in Kansas City, Walker received an urgent message to return home. Hawkins told Walker to take his ticket and fly out right away and he would return with Cline and the others. The small plane crashed in rural West Tennessee.

Walker was born in Ralls, Texas, and built an early career as the "Traveling Texan, the Masked Singer of Country Songs" and later shared the stage with Elvis Presley. His hits include "Charlie's Shoes" and "Cross the Brazos at Waco."

He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1960 and was known as one of the show's most outgoing and personable performers.

"Every time I came to the Opry . . . he'd come by and say hello and share a minute of kindness," Gill recalled.

"He looked like a country star, he acted like a country star and he treated people with dignity and respect," Stubbs said.

[Manitoba_Rancher]

very sad....

[Soapweed]

We got to see Billy Walker two or three years ago at the Rosebud Casino. He was an excellent singer, and his music is very old-time country and "danceable", which so much of modern country music isn't. Today we went on a road trip, and listened to a Billy Walker CD. It is darned good music. My favorite song is "I'm Down to My Last Cigarette." I used to like to hear k.d. lang sing that song before she forgot the roots of her raising.

[Red Robin]

I sure like the song selection at his funeral. I hope they do as well picking out mine when the time comes.

[Faster horses]

Not to change the subject from Billy Walker, but Soapweed,
that Kyle Evans CD you recommended to us at the Black Hills Stock
Show has become Mr. FH's very favorite tape. Marty Robbins
sings some songs on the CD and that's just icing on the cake.

Thank you!!!

Does he have any others that you recommend?

[Soapweed]