690 Don Walser and the Texas Plainsmen “Rolling Stone from Texas” 1963

“In his early years he would entertain his childhood friends by composing songs about them and he amazed them with his photographic memory for songs, able to perform any tune after only hearing it once. At 15, he lied about his age to join the Texas National Guard in 1949, leaving the oilfields to go fulltime in 1957 for a 45-year hitch as a recruiter, mechanic and auditor. At 16, he formed his first band with childhood friend, guitarist Billy Richter. He married his wife, Patricia Jane, only a year later. In 1959, the strapping ‘Little Donnie’ Walser and Richter were invited to join the Texas Plainsmen, a local outfit playing a mix of popular dance music of the day. Don became an expert in country & western, Texas swing and cowboy yodel songs” (Mark Rubin, Sing Out!, Winter 2007).

Don Walser and the Texas Plainsmen “Rolling Stone from Texas”