Born Charles Otis Waller, January 19, 1935 – August 18, 2004) he was the lead singer and guitarist for the legendary bluegrass band the Country Gentlemen. Waller was involved with the Country Gentlemen for 47 years. As a member of the Country Gentlemen, Waller was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1996.
The legendary Charlie Waller from a live set at Bluegrass
First Class Feb 17, 2001 in Asheville, NC.
Waller was born in Jointerville, Texas and moved to Louisiana at a young age with his family. He began to play guitar at the age of 10. Later he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he worked before returning to Louisiana in 1956. Back in Louisiana, Waller continued to work as an entertainer - making appearances on television.
Country Gentlemen - "Matterhorn" - Early 1970's
Charlie Waller: Guitar and lead vocal; Jimmy Gaudreau: Mandolin; Bill Emerson: Banjo; Bill Yates: Bass
In 1957 he returned to the Washington, D.C. area, where he met mandolinist John Duffey. The Country Gentlemen were formed that year, including Bethesda, Maryland native Bill Emerson on banjo. The Country Gentlemen achieved fame across the United States and internationally.
While more than 100 musicians have been members at one time, Waller was an original member of the group and has many famous songs to his credit. The band released a new album, Songs of the American Spirit, in September 2004.
"Really we were kind of crazy on stage. You know, just by itself we were that way, but we figured it was more fun and especially if people are watching you. If you're having a good time, they're having a better time." Quoted by Tom Henderson in "Charlie Waller: the Original Country Gentleman," Muleskinner News, December, 1973.
The Country Gentlemen - "Bringing Mary Home" 1992
Woodstock, Virginia. 1992
Charlie Waller, Eddie Adcock, John Duffey, Tom Gray
Charlie Waller faced health challenges as the millennium turned, but he kept coming back to touring and recording. The end came unexpectedly. At 6:30 p.m. on August 18, 2004, his wife found him dead of a massive heart attack in the Gordonsville, Virginia, garden where his mother had also died.
A month before his death Charlie Waller told his bus driver, Kenny Wurzburger, that he had a pain in his liver. An autopsy would reveal that Charlie was in the early stages of liver cancer at the time of his death.
Waller was an influential part of the Country Gentlemen's constant push to incorporate a large share of their repertoire from other genres, an essential link between the early pioneers of bluegrass and the newgrass movement.
"The thing we had going for us was we didn't care to sound like the rest. We mixed in a few older country songs and folk songs; we did some jazz and movie themes." Quoted in obituary, Washington Post, August 19, 2004.
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