Wiley Walker

Induction Year: 1971

Birth Name: Wiley Apka Walker

Birth Date: 11-17-1911

Place of Birth: Laurel Hill, Florida

Death Date: 05-17-1966

Place of Death: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Wiley Walker was one-half of the popular 1940s country duet act Wiley & Gene. They had two enduring, much recorded songs: "Live and Let Live" and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again."

Wiley Walker was born in Florida but grew up in Andalusia, Alabama, southeast of Montgomery. He picked cotton on the family farm during his childhood. His early show-business experience included traveling with a vaudeville act, the Harley-Sadler Tent Show, as a teenaged buck dancer, singer and fiddler. Teaming up with future Grand Ole Opry star Lew Childre in 1932, Walker worked as one-half of the Alabama Boys on WWL radio in New Orleans.

When that act broke up, Walker moved to Memphis and became a member of the Western swing band the Swift Jewel Cowboys. Next, he joined the Shelton Brothers band on KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Gene Sullivan was already in the Sheltons' troupe. He was an Alabama native who performed as a singer, guitarist and comedian. The two band members began singing together while on the road. They formed their duet act in Dallas, Texas, in 1939, the same year they began recording. Wiley & Gene rose to fame on KFJZ radio in Fort Worth, Texas. They also broadcast from Oklahoma City over KWXX, and that town became their home for the rest of both men's lives.

The duo reached their peak during the World War II era. Wiley Walker and Gene Sullivan wrote and recorded "Live and Let Live" and "When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again" in 1941. Both became classic songs, recorded by dozens of artists down through the years.

In the mid-1940s, Wiley & Gene became pioneering country television performers in Oklahoma City. In 1946, they scored their only country music chart hit together with "Make Room in Your Heart for a Friend," which went to #2.

Both men also pursued solo recording careers, but repeatedly reunited as a performing duet during the 1950s and 1960s. Wiley Walker died at age 54 in 1966.

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Song Catalog

 

"A Tiny Baby Bonnet"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
 

"Bothered by the Blues"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1946 
 

"Don't Make Me Laugh, I'm Mad"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1945 
 

"Don't You Dare"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1948 
 

"I Just Don't Want to Be Happy"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
 

"I Might Have Known"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
Jimmy Dean1957 

"I Want to Live and Love"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
Texas Jim Lewis1944 
The Maddox Brothers & Rose1946 
The Wilburn Brothers1958 
Carl Smith1965 
Junior Brown2005 
 

"It's Only a Matter of Time"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1945 
 

"Kansas City Blues"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1946 

"Live and Let Live"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
Denver Darling1942 
Jimmie Davis1942 
Tex Ritter1946 
Johnny Bond1953 
Johnnie & Jack1956 
Carl Smith1957 
Rose Maddox1958 
Jerry Lee Lewis1958 
Bill Monroe1962 
Flatt & Scruggs1962 
Foy Willing & the Riders of the Purple Sage1962 
Moon Mullican1966 
Charlie Feathers1968 
Jim & Jesse1972 
Mac Wiseman1979 
David Parmley1989 
Tony Trischka2007 
The Del McCoury Band2011 
 

"Love Always Has Its Way"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1945 
 

"Make Room in Your Heart for a Friend"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1946 #2 country
 

"No Parting Word, No Parting Kiss"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1948 
 

"Slow Marching, Sad Music"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1948 
 

"So Lonely"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
 

"Tear Drop Waltz"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley & Gene1950 
 

"There's Always Somebody Else"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
 

"Wash Your Feet Before Going to Bed"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Gene Sullivan1957 

"When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 
Zeke Manners1942 
Cindy Walker1944 #2 country
Tex Ritter1946 
Tex Williams1947 
Cliffie Stone1948 #11 country
Eddy Arnold1951 
Johnnie & Jack1956 
Elvis Presley1956 #19 pop
Rosalie Allen1957 
Slim Whitman1958 
Big Al Downing1959 
Jerry Lee Lewis1960 
Billy Vaughn Orchestra1961 
Goldie Hill1962 
Hank Snow & Anita Carter1962 
Foy Willing & the Riders of the Purple Sage1962 
Jim & Jesse1963 
The Sons of the Pioneers1963 
Lulu Belle & Scotty1963 
Al Hirt1964 
Leon McAuliffe1964 
Bill Monroe1967 
Commander Cody1968 
Hank Snow1968 
The Statler Brothers1972 
Webb Pierce1973 
Mac Wiseman1973 
Lester Flatt1974 
Hank Thompson1974 
Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass1974 
Jerry Reed1975 
Sammi Smith1975 
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown  
Merle Haggard1977 
Larry Sparks1983 
The Maines Brothers Band1985 #84 country
Tim O'Brien1994 
Carl Jackson & Emmylou Harris1996 
The Osborne Brothers1996 
Bashful Brothers Oswald1999 
Billy Swan1999 
Hank Wilson (Leon Russell)2001 
Pete Anderson2004 
Morrissey2008 
Moe Bandy & Joe Paul Nichols2011 
 

"You've Got to Pay the Fiddler"

(written with Gene Sullivan)

Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan1941 

Other Media

Wiley Walker

Induction Year: 1971