Mercy Dee Walton
{{short description|American songwriter}}
{{Infobox musical artist
|name = Mercy Dee Walton
|image = Mercy Dee 1953.jpg
|landscape = yes
|caption = Walton in 1953
|background = solo_singer
|birth_name = Mercy Davis Walton
|alias =
|birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1915|8|3}}
|birth_place = Waco, Texas, United States
|death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1962|12|2|1915|8|3}}
|death_place = Murphys, California, U.S.
|origin =
|genre = Jump blues
|years_active = 1949–1962
|label =
| website =
}}
Mercy Dee Walton (born Mercy Davis Walton, August 3, 1915 – December 2, 1962){{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues - A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=369–370 | isbn= 978-0313344237}} was an American jump blues pianist, singer and songwriter,{{cite book
| first= Paul
| last= Du Noyer
| year= 2003
| title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music
| edition= 1st
| publisher= Flame Tree Publishing
| location= Fulham, London
| isbn= 1-904041-96-5
| page= 181}} whose compositions went from blues to R&B numbers. According to journalist Tony Russell in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, "Walton created a series of memorable blues about the unattractiveness of rural life, sardonically aimed at the black migrant workers in southern California who constituted his typical audience".
Biography
Born in Waco, Texas, he moved to California just before World War II. He started playing piano at age 13 and learned his style from many of the ten-cent party house pianists that played out in the country on weekends. To make ends meet, he had to earn his living in the fields chopping cotton, picking grapes or cutting spinach. During this time, the musician who impressed Walton the most was Delois Maxey, who never had an opportunity to record. In 1949, Walton made his first record for the small record label, Spire Records in Fresno. The track was "Lonesome Cabin Blues". Shortly after that, he had a national hit on Specialty Records with "One Room Country Shack", now considered a blues standard.{{cite book
| first= Tony
| last= Russell
| year= 1997
| title= The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray
| edition=
| publisher=Carlton Books Limited
| location= Dubai
| page= 180
| isbn= 1-85868-255-X}} After that success, he was able to start working as a musician full-time, and he toured with the jump blues band of Big Jay McNeely.
A half dozen tracks recorded for the Flair Records label in 1955, included "Come Back Maybellene," a sequel to Chuck Berry's then-current hit, "Maybellene".
In 1961, Arhoolie Records released an album recorded in Stockton, California, entitled Mercy Dee. Featured with him was Sidney Maiden on harmonica, K. C. Douglas on electric guitar and Otis Cherry playing the drums.{{cite web |first= |last= |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p26017/biography|pure_url=yes}} |title=Biography by Bill Dahl |website=AllMusic |access-date=May 21, 2009}}Chris Strachwitz, producer, Arhoolie Records Also released in 1961 was the album Pity And A Shame on the Prestige Bluesville label.
Walton died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Murphys, California, the following year.
Single discography
{{Incomplete list|date=September 2011}}
- "Lonesome Cabin Blues (a.k.a. "Log Cabin Blues") / Baba-Du-Lay Fever (a.k.a. "G.I. Fever") (Spire) 1949
- "Evil And Hanky" / Travelin' Alone Blues" (Spire) 1949
- "Homely Baby" / "Empty Life" (Imperial) 1950
- "Big Foot Country" / "Bird Brain Baby" (Imperial) 1950
- "Roamin' Blues" / "Bought Love" (Imperial) 1950
- "Danger Zone" / "Pay Off" (a.k.a. "Anything In The World") (Imperial) 1950
- "Happy Bachelor" / "Straight And Narrow" (Colony) (1950)
- "Old Fashioned Ways" / "Pay Off" (a.k.a. "Anything In The World") (Colony) 1950
- "Please Understand" / "Pay Off" (a.k.a. "Anything In The World") (Bayou) 1950
- "One Room Country Shack" / "My Woman Knows The Score" (Specialty) 1953
- "Rent Man Blues / Fall Guy (Specialty) 1953
- "Dark Muddy Bottom" / "Get To Gettin'" (Specialty) 1953
- "Trailing My Baby" / "The Main Event" (Rhythm) 1954
- "Romp And Stomp Blues" / "Oh Oh Please" (Flair) 1955
- "Come Back Maybellene" / "True Love" (Flair) 1955
- "Have You Ever" / "Stubborn Woman" (Flair) 1955
- "Lady Luck" / "Betty Jean" (Arhoolie) 1961{{Cite web|url=https://www.wirz.de/music/waltonmd.htm|title=Illustrated Mercy Dee Walton discography|website=Wirz.de|access-date=5 March 2023}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p26017/biography|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic biography]
- {{discogs artist|Mercy Dee Walton}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Mercy Dee}}
Category:American blues pianists
Category:American male pianists
Category:Songwriters from Texas
Category:People from Waco, Texas
Category:Flair Records artists
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:20th-century American pianists
Category:20th-century American male singers
Category:Arhoolie Records artists