Charles Levi Walker (November 2, 1926 – September 12, 2008) was an American country musician. His biggest success was with the song, " Pick Me Up on Your Way Down". He held membership in the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

from 1967, and was inducted into the Country Radio DJ Hall of Fame in 1981.

Career

He was born in

Copeville, Texas Copeville is an unincorporated community in southeastern Collin County, Texas, United States, along State Highway 78 near the east shore of Lavon Lake. History Copeville was named for John Miles Cope (January 5, 1827 – July 14, 1902), one ...

, United States. In 1943, Walker joined Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers, and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served as a disc jockey for the

Armed Forces Radio Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

. Walker worked as a disc jockey in from 1951 until 1961 at KMAC and then from 1961 up to 1963 at

KENS KENS (channel 5) is a television station in San Antonio, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Tegna Inc. The station's studios are located on Fredericksburg Road in northwest San Antonio, near the South Texas Medical Center, wh ...

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas, before signing with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. His first hit, "Only You, Only You" was co-written with Jack Newman and reached No. 9 on the country chart in January 1956. Walker later signed with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and reached No. 2 with a

Harlan Howard Harlan Perry Howard (September 8, 1927 – March 3, 2002) was an American songwriter, principally in country music. In a career spanning six decades, Howard wrote many popular and enduring songs, recorded by a variety of different artists. C ...

song, " Pick Me Up on Your Way Down". His other hits include "Who Will Buy the Wine", "Wild as a Wildcat", "Don't Squeeze My Sharmon", and "I Wouldn't Take Her To A Dogfight." Many of his records featured harmony vocals by Ray Price. His more popular recordings were of

honky-tonk A honky-tonk (also called honkatonk, honkey-tonk, or tonk) is both a bar that provides country music for the entertainment of its patrons and the style of music played in such establishments. It can also refer to the type of piano (tack piano) ...

numbers, such as "Close All the Honky Tonks", and "

Honky Tonk Women "Honky Tonk Women" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. It was released as a non-album single on 4 July 1969 in the United Kingdom, and a week later in the United States (although a country version called "Country Honk" was ...

". Walker played a minor role in the 1985

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

biographical film, '' Sweet Dreams''. Walker died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel mo ...

in September 2008, at the age of 81 in

Hendersonville, Tennessee Hendersonville is the largest city in Sumner County, Tennessee, on Old Hickory Lake. The population was 61,753 at the 2020 census. Hendersonville is the fourth-largest city in the Nashville metropolitan area after Nashville, Murfreesboro, an ...

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

Bibliography

Pugh, Ronnie (1998). "Charlie Walker". In ''The Encyclopedia of Country Music''. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 567.

External links

Charlie Walker's Grand Ole Opry member page
* 1926 births 2008 deaths People from Collin County, Texas Grand Ole Opry members American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in Tennessee 20th-century American singers Country musicians from Texas 20th-century American male singers {{US-country-musician-stub