'{{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|30}} |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 30, 1915 – December 2, 1962)<ref name="bare">{{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}}</ref> was an American [[jump blues]] [[pianist]], [[singing|singer]] and [[songwriter]],<ref name="Music">{{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}}</ref> whose compositions went from blues to [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] [[song|numbers]].<ref name="AMG"/> According to [[music journalist|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 people|black]] [[migrant worker]]s in southern California who constituted his typical audience".<ref name="russell"/> ==Biography== Born in [[Waco, Texas]],<ref name="bare"/> he moved to [[California]] just before [[World War II]].<ref name="russell"/> 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 [[gramophone record|record]] for the small [[record label]], Spire Records in [[Fresno]].<ref name="russell"/> The track was "Lonesome Cabin Blues". Shortly after that, he had a national [[hit record|hit]] on [[Specialty Records]] with "One Room Country Shack", now considered a blues standard.<ref name="russell">{{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}}</ref> After that success, he was able to start working as a musician full-time, and he [[concert tour|toured]] with the [[jump blues]] [[musical ensemble|band]] of [[Big Jay McNeely]].<ref name="russell"/> A half dozen tracks [[sound recording and reproduction|recorded]] for the [[Flair Records]] label in 1955, included "Come Back Maybellene," a sequel to [[Chuck Berry]]'s then-current hit, "[[Maybellene]]".<ref name="AMG"/> In 1961, [[Arhoolie Records]] released an [[album]] recorded in [[Stockton, California|Stockton]], California, entitled ''Mercy Dee''.<ref name="russell"/> Featured with him was [[Sidney Maiden]] on [[harmonica]], [[K. C. Douglas]] on [[electric guitar]] and Otis Cherry playing the [[drum]]s.<ref name="AMG">{{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}}</ref><ref>[[Chris Strachwitz]], producer, [[Arhoolie Records]]</ref> Walton died of a [[cerebral hemorrhage]] in [[Murphys, California|Murphys]], California, the following year.<ref name="bare"/> ==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<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wirz.de/music/waltonmd.htm|title=Illustrated Mercy Dee Walton discography|website=Wirz.de|access-date=5 March 2023}}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== *[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p26017/biography|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic biography] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Walton, Mercy Dee}} [[Category:1915 births]] [[Category:1962 deaths]] [[Category:American blues pianists]] [[Category:American male pianists]] [[Category:Songwriters from Texas]] [[Category:People from Waco, Texas]] [[Category:Flair Records artists]] [[Category:Jump blues musicians]] [[Category:20th-century American singers]] [[Category:20th-century American pianists]] [[Category:20th-century American male singers]] [[Category:Arhoolie Records artists]] [[Category:American male songwriters]] [[Category:20th-century American songwriters]]'