Walter Callahan
Musician · 1910–1971 · Asheville, North Carolina
Best known for
Songwriter
Walter Callahan was a North Carolina-born singer and guitarist who, with his younger brother Homer (later known as Bill), made up the Callahan Brothers — the early-1930s mountain duo whose “She’s My Curly Headed Baby” (1934) became one of the founding songs of the brother-duo tradition and a regular cut for Doc Watson and many later folk-revival acts.
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- Born January 27, 1910, in Asheville, North Carolina; raised in the small communities of Faust and Laurel.
- Father Bert Callahan was the Laurel postmaster, organist, and voice teacher; mother Martha Jane played organ and sang.
- Began performing publicly with brother Homer in the early 1920s; built a regional following on western North Carolina radio.
- Traveled to New York in 1934 with Homer to make their first records; their “She’s My Curly Headed Baby” from those sessions became the duo’s signature.
- Walter played guitar; Homer multi-instrumented on banjo, fiddle, mandolin, ukulele, harmonica, and bass.
- Wrote “She’s My Curly Headed Baby” with W. R. Calaway and brother Homer; also wrote “They’re at Rest Together” and “Little Poplar Log House on the Hill.”
- Retired briefly from full-time music in 1937; later rejoined Homer and continued to record together as the Callahan Brothers into the 1950s.
- Died September 10, 1971.
