Lawton Williams (July 24, 1922 – July 27, 2007) was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer and songwriter. Williams taught himself to play guitar as a teenager but made no steps towards a musical career until, while serving in

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 met

Floyd Tillman Floyd Tillman (December 8, 1914 – August 22, 2003) was an American country musician who, in the 1930s and 1940s, helped create the Western swing and honky tonk genres. Tillman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 a ...

who acted as a mentor to him.Sleeve notes, "Mending Fences" CD, 2003 After being discharged from the Army, Williams cut several initial singles for small local labels under the name "Slim Williams" from 1947-1950. His major label debut, in 1951 on

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

, was "Everlastin' Love"/"Lovin' Overtime"; this was also his first release as Lawton Williams. During the 1950s he cut several more singles for various labels, some under the name of "Ed Lawton", without chart success. Others, however, found greater success with songs written by Williams. In 1957,

Bobby Helms Robert Lee Helms (August 15, 1933 – June 19, 1997) was an American country singer, who is best remembered for his 1957 Christmas hit "Jingle Bell Rock". Additionally, he had two other hit records from that year: " Fraulein" and "My Special Ange ...

recorded Williams' song " Fraulein", allegedly written about a pretty German woman whom Williams had dated during his military service. Such relationships between U.S. servicemen and German women were common during and after the

occupation of Germany Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Franc ...

, however, Williams remained stateside during his service and was never deployed overseas so the song is not believed to be a narrative of any personal experience. Nevertheless, it reached #1 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

country charts, remaining there for four weeks and launching Helms on his career as a singer. It also reached #16 in the main Billboard pop chart, and went on to win the Country Song of the Year Award from both Billboard and Cashbox.

Bobby Braddock Robert Valentine Braddock (born August 5, 1940) is an American country songwriter and record producer. A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Braddock has contributed numerous hit songs during more ...

said that "Fraulein" was called "the Texas national anthem" due to its popularity there. Williams was now in demand as a songwriter.

Hank Locklin Hank Locklin (born Lawrence Hankins Locklin; February 15, 1918 – March 8, 2009) was an American country music singer-songwriter. He had 70 chart singles, including two number one hits on ''Billboard''s country chart. His biggest hits included ...

recorded his "Geisha Girl" and reached #4 in the country charts, while "Color Of The Blues", co-written with

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

, was a country #10 for Jones and was more recently covered by

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

. "I'll Always Be Your Fraulein" was an

answer song An answer song, response song or answer record, is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

to "Fraulein", co-written with Roy Botkin and Wally Jarvis, reaching #10 on the country charts in 1961 for

Kitty Wells Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier to women in country music with her 1952 hit recording "It Wasn't God W ...

. He also wrote "Shame On Me", which in 1962 was the first song by

Bobby Bare Robert Joseph Bare Sr. (born April 7, 1935) is an American country music singer and songwriter, best known for the songs "Marie Laveau", " Detroit City" and "500 Miles Away from Home". He is the father of Bobby Bare Jr., also a musician. Early ca ...

to reach the country charts. Williams continued to perform and record himself as well as composing songs for others, but chart success continued to prove elusive; not until 1962 did he score a hit in his own right, with "Anywhere There's People" on

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

, reaching #13; ironically this was actually written not by Williams but by Steve Karliski. His only other chart hit was "Everything's OK On The LBJ" (#40, 1964). This may have been due to his choice to adhere to a pure country style in his releases, rather than allowing any elements of pop or rockabilly to influence his recordings as many country musicians did around this era. Further hits for other performers with Williams' songs continued to ensure his status, though, such as "Paper Face" (Hank Locklin), "Señor Santa Claus" (

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...

), and "It Just Tears Me Up" which was the final chart hit for his friend Floyd Tillman. There were also several other covers of "Fraulein" by singers such as

Bob Luman Robert Glynn Luman (April 15, 1937 – December 27, 1978) was an American country and rockabilly singer-songwriter. Early life and career Luman was born in Blackjack, Texas, United States, though was raised in Nacogdoches, Texas. His early i ...

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the ''Billboard'' cou ...

and

Roy Drusky Roy Frank Drusky, Jr. (June 22, 1930 – September 23, 2004) was an American country music singer, songwriter, producer, actor and disc jockey popular from the 1960s through the early 1970s. Known for his baritone voice, he was known for incor ...

. A later Williams-composed hit was "Farewell Party"; originally released by Williams on Allstar Records in September 1960, it was covered by

Little Jimmy Dickens James Cecil Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015), better known by his stage name Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer and songwriter famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size (4'11" 50 cm, and h ...

in 1961, without chart success for either at the time. It was again covered in 1978 by

Gene Watson Gary Gene Watson (born October 11, 1943) is an American country music singer. He is most famous for his 1975 hit "Love in the Hot Afternoon," his 1981 No. 1 hit " Fourteen Carat Mind," and his signature 1979 song "Farewell Party." Watson's lo ...

and this version reached #5 on the US country charts in 1979. Williams remained primarily a singles artist, and did not issue an album of his own performances until 1971's "Between Truck Stops" on

Mega Records Mega Records was a Nashville, Tennessee-based music label founded in 1970 by former RCA Records executive Brad McCuen along with Harry E. Pratt. Its most successful recording artist was Sammi Smith who also recorded the label's very first single. ...

. He was a frequent live performer with many appearances on country music TV and radio shows, and continued to both compose and perform up until very shortly before his death just after his 85th birthday, saying that "As long as country music fans want to hear traditional country music, that's what I'll be writing and recording." His daughter reported that even on his deathbed, he was still working on lyrics.

References

External links

Allmusic overviewObituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Lawton American male singer-songwriters American country singer-songwriters 1922 births 2007 deaths People from Obion County, Tennessee 20th-century American singers Country musicians from Tennessee 20th-century American male singers United States Army personnel of World War II Singer-songwriters from Tennessee