The Passing of Walter Hyatt

 King Tears for Walter

by Larry Monroe

 Walter Hyatt died on Saturday, and it was like losing a member of the family. After all, we first knew him as Uncle Walt. And it was as a member of Uncle Walt's band that Walter was in the thick of things early on -- at the beginning of the Austin music scene. Austin-American Statesman music writer Townsend Miller in a November 17, 1973 column noted:

 "It's been a hectic but wonderful week in Austin. It ends tonight -- but what a night it is! Tom T. Hall, with Chip Taylor, closes four nights at Armadillo, and energetic Doug Kershaw ends the week with two shows tonight at Castle Creek. But that's not all: Uncle Walt's Band is back home with their intriguing sound at Toad Hall. Steve Fromholz is at Saxon Pub, Alvin Crow at Cricket Club, Kenneth Threadgill at Shakey's, Doak Snead at Bevo's, and Freda and the Firedogs at Tumblewood."

 Miller was a big fan of Uncle Walt's Band, and the trio of Hyatt, Champ Hood, and David Ball quickly made their way into the hearts of Austinites with their finely blended three-part harmonies and acoustic expertise. Young college kids like Lyle Lovett admired their inventive arrangements and original songs, and the band's gigs were usually packed -- a high percentage of musicians always in the crowd. The few record releases during those vinyl days are long out of print, though Sugar Hill has issued two Uncle Walt's Band compilation CDs:An American In Texas Revisited and The Girl on the Sunny Shore.

 Uncle Walt's Band broke up a few times before it took. They split up soon after making their first album, reuniting when the record proved to be popular with their fans. After a year or so in Austin and a stint in Nashville, the group moved back to town in 1978, and it was here that they flourished with live shows and LP and cassette releases. All three members of Uncle Walt's Band were leaders, and in 1983 they broke up to pursue their solo careers. There were reunions, most notably when the group sang backup on "Once Is Enough" from 1989's Grammy-winning Lyle Lovett And His Large Band album. Lovett had opened for Uncle Walt's Band in his scuffling days as a singer-songwriter; 10 years later he took Hyatt on the road with him as his opening act.

 Lovett's success enabled him to produce other artists for MCA, and Hyatt'sKing Tears was his first project. Hyatt was specifically presented as a vocalist on the album and rose to the occasion with tasteful renditions of Uncle Walt-era tunes, original compositions, and a simple, beautiful arrangement of Ray Charles' classic "Ruby." Champ Hood played acoustic guitar throughout, and David Ball joined his old mates on a song from the earliest Uncle Walt days, "Aloha."

 Hyatt drifted through Austin often after moving to Nashville in the mid-Eighties, and the Hyatt and Hood reunions continued. Hood succeeded Jimmie Dale Gilmore as the leader of the Threadgill's Troubadours, and joined Toni Price's acoustic backup band. David Ball got quite busy as an RCA country recording artist.

 In 1993, Sugar Hill released Hyatt's second solo album, Music Town. Again, Hood was featured on acoustic lead guitar throughout, and Ball contributed harmony vocals, but there were no Uncle Walt's Band reunions onMusic Town. Hyatt wrote or co-wrote all of the 12 songs on the jazz-tinged album.

 Hyatt rejoined Hood for the Threadgill's Supper Sessions Second Helpings recordings (just out on Watermelon Records), and is featured on four of the songs. The session took place on Hyatt's birthday, and the Troubadours sing an impromptu "Happy Birthday" to him. Though demos and new recordings with his band King Tears exist, the Threadgill's CD contains the latest released recordings of Hyatt.

 The plane Walter Hyatt was on crashed into the Florida Everglades on Saturday afternoon; Sunday, word began to spread in Austin. KVUE-TV came to KUT and did a live report on their 10pm newscast from our control room as I hosted a three-hour Texas Radio tribute to Walter. Emily Kaitz brought in a tape of one of his songs that had been recently recorded, and Caryl P. Weiss stopped by with the Kerrville 1980 album, which had an Uncle Walt's Band track.

 About 11:40pm, I was trying to figure out how to end the program, and Champ Hood walked in the control room with a bag of cassettes. He had played with Toni Price at the new Ruby Slipper in Llano and was driving back to Austin, preparing to go to Nashville the next morning. Hood handed me the bag of tapes saying, "I wanted to make sure you didn't run out of stuff to play." We played a three-song demo and finished off the show with Hood talking about his dear friend and longtime musical compadre.

 From the sheer volume of calls that came to KUT from listeners with tears in their voices, it is clear that Walter Hyatt was highly regarded and dearly loved in Austin. He is survived by his wife Heidi, their two young children, Taylor and Rose Evelyn, and daughter Haley, 20, whose college graduation Hyatt was on his way to see when the plane went down. He was 47. n

 This Sunday night, May 19, there will be a special edition of "LiveSet" on KUT (90.5 FM) at 10pm, featuring many of Walter's friends: Champ Hood, Toni Price, Sarah Elizabeth Campbell, Butch Hancock, Mandy Mercier, Christine Albert, and David Heath were all scheduled to appear at press time. Booking continues until airtime; for information, call me at 454-5482. Many of these artists will also be paying tribute to Hyatt at Waterloo Ice House 38th Street earlier that same evening, with all proceeds benefiting his family. In addition, Sugar Hill is offering all of Hyatt's CDs at a special sale price, again with all proceeds going to his family.

Larry Monroe has been a deejay at KUT-FM since the early Eighties. He is the host of "Blue Monday," "Texas Radio," and "Segway City," among other shows.

All Music Guide, Eugene Chadbourne

He was born and raised in Spartanburg, SC, and died in one of the only places on earth that can be considered worse -- the 1996 crash of ValuJet flight 592 into the Florida Everglades swamp. This savage dig at the hot little place known as "Sparkletown" is now out of the way, as is the mention of the notorious circumstances that took away Walter Hyatt. Associated with the Texas music scene, Hyatt was a songwriter and guitarist whose music could not be corralled into any one pen. And this was always an aspect of his musical life dating from his early listening as a child, digging into R&B and rock & roll, the latter style transforming into a maelstrom of styles all in itself in the '60s. Scholars on the subject of what makes for a good career tend to agree that Hyatt was just too eclectic to make a mark on the rather dimwitted roots rock audience at large. Hyatt projects had a huge influence on other musicians, though, and on a regional level the wonderful music of Uncle Walt's Band was a favorite of many a college music lover, in the days before Ronald Reagan locked the under-21 crowd out of the honky tonks. Other members of the group were Champ Hood on guitar and David Ball on bass, and while claimed along with dozens of other famous acts as an Austin phenomenon, Uncle Walt's Band actually formed not only in Spartanburg, but in one of that city's high schools when the players were more the age of nephews than uncles. Obviously, the local environment that could inspire the outrageously negative comment that began this biography has done little to hamper the creativity of its citizens, even the teenagers. In fact, the real problem Uncle Walt's Band faced was not just getting out of Spartanburg, but finding somewhere that would accept the group's repertoire wholeheartedly. Hyatt and partners bounced back and forth between Nashville and Austin, releasing several albums that, while eventually reissued by Sugar Hall due to public demand, really did not have that great of an impact at the time of their release. Uncle Walt's Band broke up several times during the '70s but enjoyed a period of prosperity by the end of that decade and into the early '80s. For several years beginning in 1976, Hyatt and Hood also put together the Nashville-based Contenders, featuring Steve Runkle, Tommy Goldsmith, and Jimbeau Walsh. The group did a fair bit of barnstorming and built up a cult following. 1978 was the Uncle Walt Band's heyday in terms of acceptance in Austin. It appeared on Austin City Limits in 1980 -- Hyatt got on the show again as a solo artist a decade later -- and the band itself called it quits to pursue solo careers in 1983. One of the fans of Uncle Walt's Band as a college student was country singer, songwriter, and actor Lyle Lovett, who would later reach out to Hyatt and offer him opening act slots and production expertise. Hyatt was a fine performer but made an even greater impact as a songwriter. Cover versions of songs such as "Get Out of Dodge" have been done by artists such as Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Allison Moorer, turning out to be highlights of the albums they appear on. Following Hyatt's death, many of his musical colleagues paid tribute to him in a series of live concerts across the United States as well a CD project. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide

The Contenders are considered one of the great "could have been" bands from the progressive country scene, featuring several of the brilliant players associated with Uncle Walt's Band in combination with a pair of North Carolina pickers and songwriters. It wasn't the quality of music that kept this group from ever hitting it big, despite the adage "the worse the music, the more the people." But it very well could have been the group's name, since a band that calls itself the Contenders is going to have to compete with a religious cult, a Kinks album, a television series, a film, and an eight-piece Minneapolis ska band, not to mention the category of shreeves running for public office that refer to themselves as "contenders" as well. The Contenders under discussion here originally formed in Nashville in the early '70s. Singer and guitarist Walter Hyatt and Champ Hood, a pro on fiddle as well as guitar and vocals, joined up with Steve Runkle and Tommy Goldsmith. Hyatt and Hood were two of the three members of Uncle Walt's Band, a group that had formed while still in high school in Spartanburg, SC. Drummer Jimbeau Walsh consolidated the Contenders lineup, which boasted a whopping (or horrifying, depending on one's point of view and band politics) four songwriters and lead vocalists. Fans of the band tend to feel the wonderful harmonies and ace picking was severely overlooked by the country rock audience. The success of groups in this genre, such as the Eagles, could have been the Contenders'. Yet not a single recording made by the Eagles had the complexity or musical interest of the Contenders, which goes a long way toward explaining one group's popularity and the other's lack of it. Ragtime and swing influences came into the band via Hyatt and Hood, while Goldsmith brought in an authentic old-time country-rock sound that is completely out of the Glenn Frey universe. Runkle's lovely ballad "Snowing Me Under" revealed another side to the group. As much praise as it received from critics, Light From Carolina, Vol. 1 was unable to do much for the group's career, because unfortunately, the Contenders had broken up and were no longer in the contending when the album was released. Hyatt and Hood continued on with a re-formed Uncle Walt's Band into the early '80s, followed by solo careers for both and a busy schedule as a fiddle session man for Hood. In 1997, Hyatt died in the awful ValuJet crash in the Everglades. Runkle remained in Nashville as a writer and player, working and recording with artists such as David Olney and Tom House. Goldsmith, on the other hand, became a journalist while Walsh is supposedly in Hawaii doing who knows what. Of interest to song collectors obsessed with American cities would be Runkle's "Greensboro Blues," supposedly inspired by Olney's "Original Greensboro Blues." Other songs about Greensboro include "Greensboro Woman" by Townes Van Zandt and yet another "Greensboro Blues," this one by Bruce Piephoff, the only one of these jokers who actually lives in Greensboro. The Contenders, minus Goldsmith, who was recovering from an operation, backed Olney up on short tours in the late '70s.

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