WALTER HAYNES WENT TO NASHVILLE AT AGE 18 FROM
KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE TO PLAY HIS FIDDLE AND STEEL GUITAR ON THE GRAND OLE OPRY. AS A STAFF MUSICIAN ON THE OPRY
FOR 13 YEARS, HAYNES WAS HIRED BY LITTLE JIMMY DICKENS AND PERFORMED AND TRAVELED WITH DICKENS FOR 6 YEARS PLAYING
STEEL GUITAR. HAYNES ALSO WAS A SESSION MUSICIAN WHILE PLAYING ON THE GRAND OLE OPRY. HE PLAYED STEEL GUITAR, ELECTRIC
AND FLAT-TOP GUITAR ON THE SESSIONS. IN ADDITION TO THE OPRY AND SESSION WORK, HAYNES PLAYED ON AN EARLY MORNING
RADIO PROGRAM WITH WSM TELEVISION. WHILE ON THE OPRY AND IN THE SESSIONS, HAYNES PLAYED WITH ALL THE TOP STARS
IN THE INDUSTRY INCLUDING PATSY CLINE, HANK WILLIAMS, SR. AND JR., WAYLON JENNINGS, WILLIE NELSON, JOHNNY CASH,
THE OAK RIDGE BOYS, LARRY GATLIN AND THE GATLIN BROTHERS, BARBARA MANDRELL, EMMYLOU HARRIS, RICKY SKAGGS, MEL TILLIS,
AND BILL ANDERSON, TO NAME A FEW. WALTER PLAYED STEEL ON PATSY’S RECORDINGS ON DECCA RECORDS AND PLAYED ON HER
OPRY AND TELEVISION APPEARANCES. WALTER IS FONDLY REFERRED TO AS PATSY CLINE’S STEEL GUITAR PLAYER.
WALTER WENT TO WORK FOR MOSS ROSE PUBLISHING AS DIRECTOR WHERE HE GOT 100 SONGS RECORDED THE FIRST YEAR. IT WAS
THERE THAT HE STARTED DOING INDEPENDENT RECORDINGS AS PRODUCER. LATER, HE HEADED KAPP RECORDS, A DIVISION OF MCA.
THEN HE TRANSFERRED TO DECCA AS AN ASSISTANT TO OWEN BRADLEY. OWEN SOON TURNED A LOT OF THE ROSTER OVER TO WALTER.
SOME OF THE NAMES WERE MARTY ROBBINS, CAL SMITH, JEANNE PRUETT, JACK GREEN, AND JEANNIE SEELEY. HAYNES PRODUCED
THE "FATHER OF BLUEGRASS", BILL MONROE, FOR MCA RECORDS FOR 13 YEARS. AT A TIME WHEN OWEN BRADLEY WAS
HOSPITALIZED, HE TURNED TO WALTER TO PRODUCE CONWAY TWITTY AND LORETTA LYNN. WALTER SPENT 12 YEARS WITH MCA RECORDS.
IN 1973, WALTER PRODUCED TWO OF THE TOP 5 SONGS IN THE NATION WHICH WERE "SATIN SHEETS" WITH ARTIST JEANNE
PRUETT AND "THE LORD KNOWS I’M DRINKING" WITH ARTIST CAL SMITH. IN 1974, HAYNES HAD THE SONG OF THE YEAR
WITH CAL SMITH’S "COUNTRY BUMPKIN" WHICH WON HIM THE PRIZED PRODUCER OF THE YEAR AWARD MAKING HIM A VICE-PRESIDENT
THE LAST 3 YEARS HE WAS AT MCA RECORDS.
HAYNES DECIDED TO BECOME AN INDEPENDENT PRODUCER AND WAS HIRED AS A CONSULTANT FOR IBC RECORDS, A NEW INDEPENDENT
RECORD COMPANY WHICH HAYNES BROUGHT TO THE NUMBER TWO INDEPENDENT LABEL IN THE NATION THE FIRST YEAR WITH JEANNE
PRUETT’S THREE CONSECUTIVE TOP TEN HITS.
HAYNES IS AN ACCOMPLISHED SONGWRITER WITH MANY HITS TO HIS CREDIT AS WELL AS HIS PRODUCTION ACCOMPLISHMENTS. IN
1999, WALTER'S PUBLISHING COMPANY HAD A DARRYL SINGLETARY SINGLE ON GIANT RECORDS ENTITLED, "THE NOTE".
WALTER HAS BUILT THREE, 24 -TRACK RECORDING STUDIOS, AND NOW HAS WALTER HAYNES PRODUCTIONS AND RECORDING IN PIGEON
FORGE TENNESSEE. RECENTLY, WALTER HAS BEEN INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COUNTRY MUSIC
ASSOCIATION INT’L,THE TEXAS
INDEPENDENT COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME FOR THE YEAR 2000, AND WAS INDUCTED INTO THE STEEL GUITAR HALL OF FAME IN 2003. WALTER IS STILL PLAYING HIS STEEL GUITAR AND FIDDLE,
RECORDING, PRODUCING, PUBLISHING, MANAGING AND WRITING SONGS...RETIRED????...NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!
