Lyrics | Artists | Leon Payne

Leon Payne

Leon Roger Payne, known as “the Blind Balladeer,” was an American country music singer and songwriter. He was blind in one eye at birth and lost sight in the other during early childhood, later attending the Texas School for the Blind from 1924 to 1935. He began his music career in the mid-1930s, including performing on KWET radio in Palestine, Texas, in 1935. Payne also worked as a regular musician at Jerry Irby’s nightclub in Houston and later formed Jack Rhodes and the Lone Star Buddies in 1949 with his stepbrother, songwriter Jack Rhodes. Payne wrote hundreds of country songs...