1961 Faron Young – Hello Walls
Faron Young grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana. His family owned a dairy farm near the town, but Faron dreamed of a career as a pop singer.
They broadcast the radio and television show Louisiana Hayride from an auditorium in Shreveport. After seeing Hank Williams perform nine encores at the show, Faron decided to focus on singing country music instead.
Faron’s singing impressed musician Webb Pierce, who brought Faron onto the Hayride in 1951. He signed with Capitol Records a year later and released a top ten country single in 1952.
By 1960, Faron had recorded three #1 Records on the Country chart and reached the top ten a dozen more times.
Willie Nelson was an aspiring singer/songwriter who recorded his first record in 1956. When that didn’t succeed, he moved a few times and switched from peddling his songs to working door to door selling bibles and vacuum cleaners.
He moved to Houston, where he sold the song Family Bible to Paul Buskirk for $50, and the song became a hit for Claude Gray in 1960.
Willie then moved to Nashville in 1960 but did not get signed with any of the local record labels.
He began spending time at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, a hangout for aspiring singers and songwriters. Faron Young heard Willie singing the song Hello Walls and recorded it himself in 1961.
His single topped the Country chart and also reached #12 on the Hot 100. He had two more singles reach #89 and #92 on the Hot 100 but never again got close to the Pop chart’s top forty.
Later in 1961, Charlie Dick heard another one of Willie’s songs playing on the Jukebox at Tootsie’s. He insisted on having his wife record the song.
His wife? Patsy Cline. The song? It was Crazy, the most successful jukebox record of all time!
Faron continued his career singing country music into the seventies and reached the top forty on the Country charts countless times through 1977.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Nelson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faron_Young
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Walls
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