No Depression Magazine, Issue #23 Sept-Oct 1999

“For The Sake Of The Single”by Geoffrey Himes "

Everyone has their favorite songwriter," Ball notes. "Steve Earle has Townes Van Zandt, and I have Walter Hyatt. I was always fascinated to hear Walter's latest song and to perform it with him; I aspire to write songs as good as those. Uncle Walt's Band gave me the courage to always sing my own songs. Even when I was playing Texas dance halls, where they want you to do top-40 cover songs, I did my own songs. And if I did covers, they were old songs I wanted to hear.

"I got my sense of rhythm from that band," Ball adds, "that swing feel, that South Carolina 'thang.' I also got the courage to sing whatever I want, because there were no boundaries in Uncle Walt's Band. Walter could sing Louis Armstrong, Champ could sing rock 'n' roll, and I could sing Bob Wills and Ernest Tubb. I didn't have to apologize for my tastes then, and I'm not going to start now."

Dallas Morning News Article June 7, 1998 The Arts section by: Mario Tarradell

"Walt's Pals Play Their Last Respects"

Two years after Walter Hyatt's death in an airplane crash. his colleagues are eulogizing him on "Uncle Walt's Band & Friends Celebrate the songs of Walter Hyatt, scheduled for release this fall on Austin's Antone's/Sire. "I got the idea from watching the Austin City Limits special that Lyle Lovett put together (in tribute to Mr. Hyatt) a couple of years ago", says Dallas' Bill Millet, the albums co-producer, "and from David Ball, who had been pushing me quite heavily since we worked on the Hank Thompson project (Hank Thompson & Friends CD - Curb Records), where he (David) did a Walter Hyatt song, 'Get The Hell Out Of Dodge'." The new lineup for The Uncle Walt's Band is Mr. Ball and Champ Hood sharing vocals, and three musicians from Austin - Paul Pearse on drums, David Heath on bass and Chris Carmichael on fiddle. The band will tour to support the upcoming album, confirms Mr. Millet. Recorded in Nashville and at Austin's Cedar Creek Studios, Uncle Walt's Band and Friends features guests Shawn Colvin singing "Motor City Man", Mr. Lovett doing "Sheik of Sh-Boom", Toni Price taking on "Foolin' Around" and Billy Burnette burning up "Tommy's Tail". The rest of the CDs tracks will be performed by Mr. Ball and Mr. Hood. "There are a lot of songs that need to get out there, need to be heard", says Mr. Hood. Mr. Hyatt and 109 other passengers died in the May 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades.

Pulse! Magazine, July 1996 Fear of Flying in the Age of Sir Newt Jackson Griffith

Like the tunes of (Lyle) Lovett, who had a hand here, this is smart, classy music for grown-ups: Over spatial backup accompaniment that adroitly mixed cocktail piano trickle and jazz guitar chord voicing with gently swinging acoustic string aplomb steeped in dawg music, Hyatt laid down his relaxed vocal magic, not unlike a latter-day Bing Crosby. Whether he was singing one of his nifty originals (Blind Love Blues, Tell Me Baby) or covering French icon Charles Trenet (Que Reste t’il de Nos Amours), Hyatt wrapped his warm, occasionally raspy baritone around his material and delivered the news like an old pal.

Musician, magazine November 1990 Review of King Tears (MCA)

“It’s one thing to make a jazzy, understated album of standards, quite another to write such songs yourself. (Just ask Harry Connick, Jr.)  So how does Walter Hyatt do it: Some of it is the insightful elegance of his writing, and some the quiet cool of his band.  But mostly, it’s the honesty of his singing, which fills even the most off-hand lyrics with unexpected warmth and nuance.”

Austin Chronicle March 18, 2005 Louis Black

So how do you explain Walter Hyatt, arguably one of the greatest musicians and songwriters who ever lived, who at the time of his death in the ValuJet crash had a job delivering sandwiches on a bicycle (and was flying back from a gig on a cheap airliner because that's all he could afford? And he had a record deal)? ...

More . . .