Walt Breeland
Musician
Best known for
Songwriter
Walt Breeland was a Houston-area songwriter and publishing associate of guitarist and music-store owner Paul Buskirk. His name appears as a co-credit on the country standard “Family Bible” — the song Willie Nelson sold to Buskirk for $50 over a Pasadena, Texas dinner check in the late 1950s — alongside Buskirk and Claude Gray; Nelson’s authorship was later widely acknowledged after he had moved to Nashville.
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- Worked in the Houston-area country and publishing circle around guitarist Paul Buskirk in the late 1950s.
- Credited as a co-writer of “Family Bible” along with Paul Buskirk and Claude Gray.
- “Family Bible” originated with Willie Nelson, who sold the song outright to Buskirk in 1957 for fifty dollars plus a restaurant tab; the song’s first published credit listed Breeland, Buskirk, and Gray and did not include Nelson.
- Claude Gray’s 1960 recording of “Family Bible” reached No. 7 on the Billboard country chart and helped fund Willie Nelson’s move to Nashville.
- “Family Bible” has since become a country, bluegrass, and Southern-gospel standard, recorded by Willie Nelson, George Jones, the Statler Brothers, and many others.
