Walter Hyatt

About

Songwriter and pioneer in the Americana music genre. His Austin-based music group, Uncle Walt's Band, recorded An American in Texas and several other albums.

Before Fame

He began playing the guitar when he was thirteen years old. He briefly attended Wofford College in his native South Carolina.

Trivia

He founded a Nashville, Tennessee-based band called The Contenders.

Family Life

With his wife Heidi, he raised a daughter named Haley. He was a passenger on the ill-fated ValuJet Flight 592, which crashed in the Florida Everglades in the spring of 1996, killing everyone on board.

Associated With

A year after Hyatt's death, country singer Lyle Lovett and other musicians performed a PBS Austin City Limits tribute to him.