Lawton Williams

Who was Lawton Williams?

Lawton Williams was an American country-music singer and songwriter.

Williams taught himself to play guitar as a teenager but made no steps towards a musical career until, while serving in World War II, he met Floyd Tillman who acted as a mentor to him. After being discharged from the Army, Williams cut several initial singles for small local labels under the name "Slim Williams" from 1947-1950.

His major label debut, in 1951 on Coral, was "Everlastin' Love"/"Lovin' Overtime"; this was also his first release as Lawton Williams. During the 1950s he cut several more singles for various labels, some under the name of "Ed Lawton", without chart success.

Others, however, found greater success with songs written by Williams. In 1957, Bobby Helms recorded Williams' song "Fraulein", allegedly written about a pretty German woman whom Williams had dated during his military service. It reached #1 on the Billboard country charts, remaining there for four weeks and launching Helms on his career as a singer. It also reached #16 in the main Billboard pop chart, and went on to win the Country Song of the Year Award from both Billboard and Cashbox.