Leon Payne (June 15, 1917 – September 11, 1969), was a country music singer and multi-instrumentalist of the post-war era. He achieved his lasting fame as a songwriter whose most successful works -- among them "Lost Highway" and "I Love You Because" -- remain among the country music canon's most enduring compositions.
Born in Alba, Texas, Leon Roger Payne was blind in one eye and lost his sight completely at the age of 7 and until the age of 18 he attended the Texas School for the Blind in Austin. There, he was encouraged by teachers to begin learning music as a method of supporting himself and became adept on guitar, piano, organ, drums, and trombone. Whilst attending the school he met his future wife, Myrtie Velma Courmier. They had two children together, as well as two children from Myrtie's previous marriage. Payne began his music career in the mid-1930s, playing a variety of musical instruments in public, and later performing on KWET radio in Palestine, Texas, starting in 1935. He joined Bob Wills' Texas Playboys in 1938, and he remained affiliated with the group to some degree for the majority of his career. At about the same time, he began writing the first of the several thousand songs he would compose over the course his lifetime. In 1939, he cut his first solo recordings, including "You Don't Love Me but I'll Always Care" and "Down Where the Violets Grow," which evidenced his smooth, subtle vocal technique.
 |
| Leon Payne,Jerry Irby, Biff Collie & Floyd Tillman. |
Payne was a regular working musician at Jerry Irby’s nightclub in Houston, Texas. He joined his stepbrother, famed songwriter Jack Rhodes, and formed Jack Rhodes and The Lone Star Buddies in 1949. They guested on programs like the Grand Ole Opry, the Louisiana Hayride, and the Big D Jamboree. Two of his songs also reached the charts in cover versions: George Morgan scored a big hit with "Cry-Baby Heart," and more significantly, Hank Williams cut "Lost Highway," one of his most popular efforts.
After signing with Capitol Records, Payne recorded his first song for the company "I Love You Because" penned for his wife Myrtle, became his biggest hit. It shot to #1 on the country charts in 1950.That same year both Ernest Tubb and Clyde Moody cut their own versions of the song. Williams also had another hit with Payne's "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." As the decade
wore on, his songs grew even more popular among his contemporaries; among the most successful were Hank Snow's 1953 "For Now and Always" as well as a pair of hits for Carl Smith, 1954's "More Than Anything Else in the World" and 1956's "Doorstep to Heaven."
 |
| Leon Payne , Hank Williams & Jerry Irby |
Payne remained with Capitol until 1953. Thereafter he spent short stints with Starday, D, TNT and other Texas labels. He also wrote under the pen-name of "Pat Patterson" on tracks such as "It's Nothing to Me" performed by Sanford Clark. In 1956, he recorded a cover version of Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup’s ‘My Baby Left Me’, under the pseudonym of Rock Rogers. He refused to use his own name for rock ‘n’ roll, in the fear that it might upset country music fans.
In 1965, Payne suffered a heart attack which forced him to curtail
![]()
his touring and retire to San Antonio. That same year, his "Things Have Gone to Pieces" was a hit for George Jones. In 1967, Gibson covered "Lost Highway," and Johnny Darrell was successful with "They'll Never Take Her Love From Me." On September 11, 1969, at the age of 52, Payne died following another heart attack.
He was one of the first members elected to the Nashville Songwriters’ International Hall Of Fame when it was founded in 1970. Payne’s wife Myrtie died in San Antonio in 2008, and Leon's composition "I Love You Because" was played at her funeral service by pedal steel guitarist Emmett Roch, accompanied by musicians who were members of her church.
(Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia & the Nashville Songwriters Hall Of fame)