Billy Barton recorded under a number of names, including Billy Boy Barton, Laurel London, and perhaps best known as Hillbilly Barton. He also recorded with a number of other artists, including Johnny Horton, which is filed separately on this site, and with his wife, Wanda Wayne, whose duet recordings, “I Cried My Heart Out Over You,” and "That Word Called Love," are included here.
Billy Barton'scareer started with Abbott Records, which was probably not surprising, considering that he was the cousin of one of the owners of Abbott Records, Russell Sims. Billy Barton’s first recording for Abbott got him off to a good start, as it was a duet with Johnny Horton. Horton had not yet made the huge career for himself that would come with his saga recordings, like “The Battle of New Orleans” and “North to Alaska” on Columbia Records. But at 26, compared to Billy Barton’s 22, he had a wealth of experience to pass on. For that recording, of "Bawlin' Baby" b/w "Somebody's Rockin' My Broken Heart," see under Johnny Horton and Billy Barton.
Bill Barton was born November 21, 1929 in London, Kentucky (where no doubt his pseudonym Laurel London came from). He started performing on KXLA in Pasadena, California in 1951 and did the duet with Johnny Horton in February 1952. Because Fabor Robison also owned an active music publishing company, Dandelion Music, Abbott Records favored singer-songwriters. Billy Barton picked up right away on that and wrote a number of the songs he recorded, including “Walk to the Phone” and “You’re You.”
On Abbott Records, he also recorded with his wife Wanda Wayne, though their songs, like were written by other Dandelion writers, in this instance, Norma Palm and Linda Robinson.
Billy Barton would go on to have releases on Sims Records when Russell Sims and Fabor Robison went their separate ways; King Records, Fire Records and Stars Inc.
