Walser was born in
Brownfield, Texas and raised in
Lamesa. A
roots musician since he was 11 years old, Walser became an accomplished guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter. He started his first band, The Panhandle Playboys, at age 16, and shared bills with another aspiring Texas singer,
Buddy Holly. As
rock'n'roll began to skyrocket in popularity, Walser opted to stay in the
Texas Panhandle, raise a family and work as a mechanic and later as an auditor for the
National Guard, rather than move to
Nashville and pursue a recording career. As a result, he had little following outside Texas for the first part of his career. However, he never stopped playing and became widely known in Texas. From 1959 to 1961 Walser had a group called The Texas Plainsmen and a weekly radio program. For the next three decades he was always in bands and played a heavy schedule. He wrote popular original songs such as "Rolling Stone from Texas", which received a four-star review in 1964 from
Billboard magazine. As time went on, Walser also became known for maintaining a catalog of older, obscure country music and cowboy songs. He kept alive old 1940s and 1950s tunes by country music pioneers such as
Bob Wills and
Eddy Arnold, and made them his own in a style that blended elements of
honky tonk and
Western swing. He also was known for his extraordinary yodeling style in the tradition of
Slim Whitman and
Jimmie Rodgers. In 1984, the Guard transferred Walser to
Austin, a center of the burgeoning
alt-country music scene. He put together his Pure Texas Band and developed a strong local following. Walser opened for
Johnny Cash in 1996. In 1990, Walser was "discovered" by musician and
talent scout TJ McFarland. In 1994, aged 60, Walser retired from the Guard. Able to devote himself fully to music for the first time in his life, he was immediately signed by
Watermelon Records and released the album
Rolling Stone From Texas, produced by Ray Benson of
Asleep at the Wheel. His extraordinary vocal abilities earned him the nickname "the Pavarotti of the Plains" by a reviewer for
Playboy magazine. Because of his Austin base, he attracted fans from country music traditionalists, and
alternative music and
punk fans. His band later became the opening act for the
Butthole Surfers. He had cameo roles in feature films with Western swing settings, especially an acclaimed and memorable role as the lead singer in a rodeo dance band, singing "I'll Hold You in My Heart," in the 1998
Stephen Frears film
The Hi-Lo Country — a performance often regarded as one of the highlights of the picture. In September 2003, Don Walser retired from live performances due to health issues. Three years later, Walser died due to complications from
diabetes on September 20, 2006, six days after his 72nd birthday. == Discography ==