(Excerpt from the article mentioned above)
Weldon "Buddy" Walker: Pioneering country, Western singer was Jamboree regular
Weldon "Buddy" Walker
By Rae DeShong
The Dallas Morning News
Weldon "Buddy" Walker was one of Dallas' premier post-war country and
Western singers – a regular on the Big D Jamboree and the first singer
to sign with Dallas' Talent Records.
Mr. Walker, a guitar-toting songwriter-turned-postal employee, died this month
from gastric cancer.
A memorial service will be at noon Friday at 409 E. Main St.,
Richardson. Mr. Walker, 77, donated his body to the
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
"He was, for a few years after World War II, one of the most
promising singers in the area," said Kevin Coffey, a local Western-swing
music expert. "He sort of dropped out of sight in terms
of professional music in the early '50s, and as far as I know,
didn't record again.
"He was a good singer who deserved wider attention than he got."
Mr. Walker performed professionally from the mid-1940s to
the mid-1950s, the era in which hillbilly music was making the
transition to the country and Western genre. He performed at
each Saturday's Jamboree at the Dallas Sportatorium, and he
headlined for local clubs including the Bridgeport Club
on South Lamar, Jack Ruby's Silver Spur and the
Longhorn Ballroom.
Mr. Walker recorded six songs on the Talent label and wrote
many more. "Bordertown Fiesta," recorded in 1948, was
one of his bigger hits. The song was successful in the region
and later was picked up by a national label.
For full text of obituary, click here.
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