“Family Bible” Singer, ‘The Tall Texan’ Claude Gray Has Died
He stood 6’5″ tall, which is why people referred to him as “The Tall Texan.” He wrote, recorded, and performed songs for decades in country music. He was the first performer to record and release the song “Family Bible” written by Willie Nelson, and the success of the song helped put Willie Nelson on the country music map. His real name was Claude Gray, and for many years he was beloved for his classic country and Countrypolitan songs.
At 91, Claude Gray was also one of country music’s oldest living legends, even older that Willie Nelson. On April 18th, Gray entered hospice care after doctors found a large tumor on his brain that had left him non-cognitive. He died on Friday, April 28th.
Claude Gray’s recording of “Family Bible” was the native Texan’s first hit, and came in 1960. The story of the song is one of country music legend, where a struggling and hungry Willie Nelson sold the song for $100 to Paul Buskirk shortly after moving from Vancouver, Washington to Houston, Texas. Willie had no money and needed to feed his family, so he “sold” the song, meaning that Willie agreed to let Paul Buskirk claim he wrote it with Claude Gray and partner Walt Brelin. The rest is history.
Born in Henderson, TX on January 25th, 1932, Claude Gray served in the United States Navy from 1950 to 1954. When he returned home, he took a job as a salesman, but got into music in 1959 while working as a radio announcer in Kilgore, TX. Showcasing a voice perfect for country music, Gray was signed by D Records and recorded a few singles, but failed to garner much attention until “Family Bible” hit #10 on the country charts.
The success of “Family Bible” was not only partially responsible for inspiring Willie Nelson to move to Nashville to become a professional songwriter, it also got the attention of Mercury Records, who signed Claude Gray and released the album Songs of Broken Love Affairs in 1961. The album included “I’ll Just Have a Cup of Coffee (Then I’ll Go)” that hit #4 on the charts, followed by “My Ears Should Burn (When Fools Are Talked About)” at #3, and suddenly Claude Gray was one of the most promising voices in country music.
But Claude struggled to find the same chart success from there. He co-wrote a song called “The Ballad of Jimmy Hoffa” that Mercury wanted nothing to do with due to its pro-Hoffa stance. It was eventually recorded by Smokey Stover. Gray moved on from Mercury to record a successions of singles for Decca, Hilltop, and later Koala, landing a Top 10 hit with the song “I Never Had The One I Wanted” on the album Claude Gray Sings from 1966. Even though he didn’t have a lot of big radio hits, Claude Gray still enjoyed a strong following from those who felt his voice and songs were the essence of true country music.
The Claude Gray song “How Fast Them Trucks Can Go” originally released by Decca in 1967 has become a standard in the world of country trucker songs. Claude’s 1982 “Who Sent My Ex to Texas” is considered by some a precursor to George Strait’s “All My Ex’s Live in Texas.” And many country fans consider Claude’s recording of Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” from 1986 to be the definitive country music take on the song.
Claude Gray continued to tour well into older age in the “Claude Gray Roadshow,” and was active in the industry up until his death. A proud Texan and a towering individual, Claude Gray left a big impression on country music, if only from his success with the now country music standard, “Family Bible.”
Willie Nelson said in his autobiography, “After “Family Bible’ hit the top, I knew that all my other songs were good .. I needed that money in a big way when I sold those songs, and I was real glad to get it. I appreciate that Paul [Buskirk] and his partners knew a bargain when they saw it.”
It was a bargain that paid off big from Willie Nelson, Claude Gray, and country music.
April 30, 2023 @ 6:41 pm
May he rest in peace, but I thought Billy Walker was The Tall Texan?
May 1, 2023 @ 12:11 am
Claude and Billy wrestled each other over the moniker in a Texas Bullrope match refereed by Dory Funk Sr. Alas, it ended in a draw when both men choked each other into unconsciousness.
May 1, 2023 @ 8:47 am
Never heard of this. Sounds unbelievable to me. When and where did this occur and what source did you use for this?
May 1, 2023 @ 9:28 am
I’m sorry.
I thought that there’s a certain level of ridiculousness where something is clearly and obviously meant as a joke–and that my post had gone well past that.
“The Tall Texan” was actually a prominent outlaw western movie in the 1950s starring Lloyd Bridges. There’ve been more than one “Tall Texans” since, especially in that era.
May 1, 2023 @ 9:48 am
Very surprised that a bad joke like that would be made about someone that had just passed away. His family would surely not appreciate that.
Claude was a wonderful, kind man who always made time for his fans. He will be missed.
May 6, 2023 @ 4:37 am
Hey Trig, much thanks for your article about Claude Gray. My Dad and I would talk about singers like Claude Gray, Faron Young, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Ferlin Husky and Eddy Arnold. It wasn’t until about 5 or 6 years ago that I was able to give them all a thorough listen and became a fan. While I have heard everything by these country legends, I can hear the appeal.
If anyone can recommend a must-have CD by Claude Gray, I’m all ears. I try and skip ‘Greatest Hits’ and ‘Best Ofs’ and try for studio releases since you’re bound to find a gem or two that wasn’t a big single. Many thanks in advance!!
May 1, 2023 @ 7:35 am
Thank you for spotlighting this great and sadly mostly forgotten singer. His deep, rich voice was perfectly suited for country ballads.
Claude’s great 1960’s recordings for the Mercury, Columbia and Decca labels have been mostly overlooked for domestic re-release. A few titles have trickled out via various artist country compilations but so far there’s no comprehensive collection of Claude’s original releases in the U.S. However late 1970’s re-recordings of his familiar hits made for Starday/Gusto have been widely available for years. Additional re-makes of his hits were released on the Koala label in 1981.
The U.K. Jasmine label has two Claude Gray CD’s featuring his D and Mercury sides. One contains both of his Mercury albums plus both sides of the Family Bible D single. The other CD compiles single A & B sides from both labels through 1962. Richard Weize’s Germany based And More Bears label has a 28 track download (no CD) that covers the same tracks as the 2nd Jasmine disc. But because all are Public Domain releases they did not have access to tape sources for the audio. So the quality of the audio mostly dubbed from vinyl records varies from track-to-track. Some of it is rather poor.
A couple of corrections to the above article.
Claude did score a hit with his original Decca recording of “How Fast Them Trucks Can Go.” In late 1967 Decca single 32180 peaked at #12 on the Billboard country chart although it performed better in Cashbox [#10] and Record World [#6]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQ1im0NzWIk
Claude never recorded for the Hilltop label. Hilltop was mostly a budget reissue label. They licensed some of Claude’s Mercury sides for a 1968 compilation.
He also recorded some excellent sides in the early 70’s for the Million label that comprised the 1972 album “Presenting Claude Gray.”
RIP Claude.
May 1, 2023 @ 1:33 pm
Thanks for the clarifications.
May 6, 2023 @ 4:39 am
Thanks, CountryFan. I’ll be sure to check out everything you just typed. I appreciate all the information.
May 1, 2023 @ 2:54 pm
Got to see him live back in the 60s so smooth.
May 2, 2023 @ 10:23 am
Sad to hear about Claude. I thought he was a great country singer, never understood why he didn’t become bigger then he did. Kind of like Ray Pillow.