I’ve often said that my favorite artifact at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum isn’t a guitar (remarkably) but a Royal typewriter, with whimsical flowers and scrolls hand-painted by its former owner, Cindy Walker. On that cute machine, this legendary songwriter is believed to have typed up “Dream Baby” for Roy Orbison, “Blue Canadian Rockies” for Gene Autry, and “You Don’t Know Me,” which was cut by scores of stars, because it’s one of the greatest American songs of all time.
Cindy Walker’s former home in Mexia, TX, where she wrote those timeless hits and many others, has not been in such good hands. According to a November report in Texas Standard, it’s in disrepair with “its eves collapsing.” This house was not incidental in Walker’s life either. After a stint in Hollywood early in her career, the burgeoning songwriter returned to her native Limestone County and lived at the address from age 36 until her death at age 88. Stars like Willie Nelson visited her there. Royalty checks landed in its mailbox. But the place is in danger of being lost to time, and for country songwriter Grey DeLisle, this was an unacceptable state of affairs.
“I noticed that her house was falling down (from) following her page on Facebook,” DeLisle told WMOT. “And I was like, Man, somebody should do something about that. And as my Grandma from Eagle Pass, TX used to say, ‘Well, you know, you're somebody.’”
With her as the somebody, the something became a fund-raising tribute album, featuring a roster of women singing iconic and lesser-known works by the Country Music Hall of Famer. It was released in October as It’s All Her Fault: A Tribute To Cindy Walker. Its 13 tracks include veterans like Rosie Flores (who gets the honor of singing “You Don’t Know Me”) and Nashville producer pioneer Gail Davies, who sings “Warm Red Wine,” a lesser known honky tonk lament popularized by Ernest Tubb around 1950. Grand Ole Opry favorite Mandy Barnett brings her vintage touch to “Dream Baby.” Texan and Ameripolitan Award winner Summer Dean selected the world weary and cutting “Don’t Talk To Me About Men,” which, funny enough, was never cut by a gent.
If you’ve not yet encountered the vivacious Grey DeLisle, she’s well known to Los Angeles country music scene-makers and musicians. She’s worked for years with folks like steel guitarist Greg Leisz and Marvin Etzioni, the producer/writer from the glory days of Lone Justice. DeLisle is a native Californian from a Mexican-American family who emerged after 2000 as a gifted folk-country songwriter on Sugar Hill Records who knew her way around an autoharp, Mother Maybelle Carter style. She has a special feeling for that lineage, having made her own album devoted to the memory of Johnny and June Carter Cash, and having been on a multi-artist tribute to the couple that was produced by John Carter Cash. DeLisle also sang on the Grammy-winning tribute album Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs Of Stephen Foster.
The Grey Album came from a period of ultra-prolific songwriting during and after the Covid years. Her creative partners were her ex-husband Murry Hammond (bass player in the Old 97’s), who cut tracks in his living room studio, and Etzioni, who acted as producer from a distance. “He would listen to the songs and give us notes, and we would redo things and then we would get all of our favorite musicians” to flesh out the eclectic collection of songs, she says, adding that “Marvin’s a perfectionist,” so things moved at a pace slow enough to allow her to record another album (2023’s She’s An Angel) in the meantime.
The Grey Album was joyfully received. Glide magazine called it her best record yet. Americana Highways hailed it as one of the year’s best country projects. All to say, if you love spunky, twangy country music with the spirit of Loretta Lynn meeting the 60s west coast girl groups, Grey De Lisle has a lot on the shelf for you as she plans a busy 2026.
If DeLisle was less visible in the roots music scene in the 2010s it’s because she was raising three kids and developing a parallel career with more upside in LA than honky tonk singing. She’s a voice actress who works mainly in animated action and comedy. It’s a vast industry unto itself, and Grey is prominent, reportedly having voiced more than 2,000 roles. She’s been Daphne in Scooby Doo projects for 20 years, and she recently got hired to replace an original actor on The Simpsons (in the role of Martin Prince). And in a wild twist, one role led her to another singer for the Cindy Walker project.
“I was at a convention, and Amythyst Kiah was in the line trying to get an autograph for Azula. I do the voice of Azula on Avatar, The Last Airbender. And she paid for an autograph!,” DeLisle told me on a Zoom call. Grey introduced herself to the East Tennessee folk rocker and did several things - got her a refund for the autograph, made a selfie video, and asked her old friend Dolf Ramseur of Kiah’s label Ramseur Records, if she could borrow Amythyst’s smoky voice for the tribute album. That was easy to agree on, and Kiah sings the famously poignant “Goin’ Away Party.” It sounds fantastic. “She's been so lovely, and she's such a cartoon fan,” DeLisle said. “It's just so weird!”
The Cindy Walker album marks a new frontier for DeLisle, and I asked her if she had taken any guidance from working with Tamara Saviano, who co-produced that Stephen Foster project years ago. She said absolutely. “This is the first time I've ever executive produced anything, and I just was telling Tamara that I had her in my head, especially having one band do the tracks, so (the album has) a cohesive sound.” Working with twang veteran Deke Dickerson in the recording/engineering chair and Eddie Clendening (the throwback leader of the Blue Ribbon Boys) as producer, they shuttled in vocals from all the contributors and made everything sound cohesive and charming, a plush pillow on which to place Cindy Walker’s crown.
“I've loved Cindy Walker my whole life,” DeLisle said. “I mean, she had hits from all across the spectrum of music. There’s just so much catalog,” she says by way of explaining her motivation to get the album out this year. She’s noticed how obscure this giant hit-maker is. “Even people that are pretty familiar with country music still don't know Cindy Walker. And it's so sad. And it shouldn't be that way.”
Proceeds from the tribute album’s Bandcamp sales are going to the restoration effort. For more information, visit the Cindy Walker Foundation.
Here, Kelly Willis sings "I Don't Care" from last fall's tribute album.
