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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!!!!!!!!!!

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Born in 1930, Oct. 22, to be exact. Heard that Oahu guitar in 1938 in my Mom and Dad's front room/living room. Stood there just fascinated. Never heard any thing like that before as we had no radio to listen to music. This gentleman was going through our neighbourhood in Handsboro, Mississippi, searching for students. It was during the depression here and times were tough. My parents signed up my older brother to take the lessons for three months. Halfway through the three months, Mr. Hall, the teacher, came by our home and informed my folks that they were wasting their money on this older brother of mine and should they desire, he, mr. Hall, would stop the lessons and refund the balance of the money. Up until this time, I would be running home at noon from school to play this guitar, run back to school and could hardly wait until school was out at three PM to run home and play this guitar before my older brother would get home from high school. I was allowed to finish the month and a half of Oahu lessons and have been fascinated by this instrument and its sounds ever since. I have always loved the low notes and just had to keep adding strings to have what I have now. I suppose I was just a frustrated cello player and one of those instruments was just out of the question. Besides, I did not even know if there was such a thing as a cello then. But no other instrument would ever replace the Hawaiian Guitar in my heart and soul! Jerry Byrd, Alvino Rey and Curly Chalker have had the most influence on my efforts. I can play the six string guitar somewhat but not to the extent that anyone would notice. I am married, with two children. Both grown and they live in Huntsville, Alabama, girl and boy. No grandchildren. I was playing with little groups all during high school. Graduated from Gulfport High School in 1949. Joined the Navy. After the Korean war, I was discharged and then played with a lot of unknown talent in and around Mississippi at that time. Elvis Presley was a summer visitor to our home when we were kids. We would play at the local grocery store for baloney sandwiches and root beer and sometimes on a Wednesday night we would be paid $ 7.50 each to play for the airmen at the Air force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. A few others went on to become big, big stars such as Jim Reeves, Hank Williams and a few others. I went back into the Navy in 1957 after a year at Miss. State College. Played my guitar all over the world then when the ships pulled into various ports. My job in the Navy was in the underwater detection business because of my passing a tone/pitch exam when I enlisted. I became a Sonarman. Loved it too. Retired from the Navy in 1973. Went on tour with Marty Martel and Johnny Duncan for a while. Went to work at the big local shipyard as a Senior Engineer in the Test & Trials section of the Combat Systems for the construction of those new Aegis Cruisers. Worked there for too many years, then went to Saudi Arabia as a consultant in the operation/maintenance of that country's naval academy school system. Glad I am back home now and can concentrate full time on my guitar. I had a "homemade" double ten in the late fifties and early sixties. In ' 73 I had another "homemade" double twelve and that led me to my S-14 concept. Just simple evolution.

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