Paul Buskirk
Musician · 1923–2002 · Parkersburg, West Virginia
Best known for
Songwriter
Paul Buskirk was a West Virginia-born multi-instrumentalist, music-store owner, and Houston-area teacher who is most often remembered as the man who bought “Family Bible” and “Night Life” from a young, broke Willie Nelson and who first put Nelson on a music payroll. A respected mandolinist and guitarist on his own terms, Buskirk also recorded and toured with much of the postwar country and Western-swing top tier.
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- Born Paul Francis Buskirk on April 8, 1923, in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
- Started playing music at age eleven with his family’s string band, learning violin and applying the lessons to mandolin and guitar.
- Settled in the Houston area, opened a music store in Pasadena, and ran a teaching studio that included a brief stint by Willie Nelson as a guitar instructor.
- Gave Nelson guitar lessons and later employment; bought the song “Family Bible” from Nelson in 1957 for $50 and the song “Night Life” in 1960 for $150.
- Released the original recording of “Night Life” on Houston-based Rx Records under his own band name, Paul Buskirk and His Little Men; the song became a country hit for Ray Price and a much-covered standard.
- Performed and recorded with Chet Atkins, Tex Ritter, Roy Acuff, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Eddy Arnold, and Rex Allen, among others, and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.
- Died of cancer in Nacogdoches, Texas, on March 16, 2002, at age 78.
