CRAIG WALTON


I was born in Cuero, TX. in 1970, the youngest of 4 boys. Cuero is a cool little town in South Texas where some families stay for generations. My dad was an oil transport driver and my mom was a nursing home administrator. My parents actually split before I was born, but reconciled and had one more child (meJ). When I was 4, they divorced for good. I think I was too young to totally grasp what was going on and maybe that was a good thing. I also had 3 older brothers to take up the slack of the male role. That was not their role and I thank God for having them, as I know it was sometimes hard on them, especially for my oldest brother Kevin.

When I was about 7, we moved about 30 miles down the road to a town called Gonzales. Gonzales wasn’t much bigger than Cuero, but at least, at the time, they had a movie theatre (a big deal when you’re a kid). It was here that I remember really getting involved with church. My mom was an incredible woman! She raised us by herself and still did her best to make sure that we were in an atmosphere to learn about Christ. Our church had an active youth group which my brother Derek and I got involved with. I loved it! I had a ton of fun and actually learned about the Bible without realizing that I was learning it. That led me to accepting Christ when I was 11. But to be clear, this does not mean that I truly understood what this meant. Looking back, I realize that peer pressure played a big part in my being saved. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Lord, but I didn’t understand what having a personal relationship with him meant. Still, this was a foundation to be built on.

Everyone in my family was fairly musical (either singing or playing instruments…my grandmother could even play a few tunes on harmonica). God blessed me in this area and I was able to excel in music. I started getting interested in singing in elementary school and loved singing at church. My brother’s Brian and Derek taught me how to read music when I was little and my interest grew even more. I got involved in the junior high band playing trombone and was moved to concert tuba by the director. I was mad, at first, since this wasn’t my choice…actually I wanted to play the sax, but so did every other kid.

That ended up being a blessing in disguise. I ended up being good on it! I practiced all the time, probably hundreds of hours before I was even in high school. In high school, I was included in the All Area Band for 4 years and made All-State my senior year. I was even given the opportunity to play with some members of the Austin Symphony in a group that performed for the Governor and some visiting dignitaries, like Prince Charles.

I suddenly had music scholarship offers from every major music school around the country. As tempting as it was to want to go out of state to study, something inside kept telling me to stay close. So, I accepted a music scholarship to (Southwest) Texas State in San Marcos. I studied orchestral tuba for 5 years and was the principal tubist during that time. I started teaching myself bass in high school and was fortunate to get to study electric bass for 4 years in college, as well.

I played with a few groups in and out of school, mostly jazz. I only minored in music since I really didn’t want to be a teacher. I majored in Marketing and finished with a BBA and an equivalent minor in music. My true love was in playing, but I didn’t want it be how I had to earn a living. I played a lot of gigs with guys who were brilliant musicians, but could barely afford the gas to get to the gig. This didn’t appeal to me at all, so I took a different route knowing that I can always play on the side.

I truly believe it was God telling me to stay close to home when it came to choosing a school. On September 8th, 1989, my sophomore year in college, I got the worst phone call I could get. It was my oldest brother Kevin calling me to tell me that my older brother Brian had died. He collapsed at home due to a heart condition he never knew he had. He was gone at age 28 leaving a wife and daughter! Needless to say, that year was horrible for me, but I was also thankful that I was close to my family. My mom never seemed to recover from his death and her health gradually declined over the next several years. She passed away on September 8th, 1999 from cancer, 10 years to the day after Brian died. Had I been away, I would have missed those precious last years. Brian’s death seemed to kind of pull me back to reality and made me realize that our time here is short and unknown. I had strayed away from God and was ‘busy’ with school life. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to help put things back into priority.

I started praying more and occasionally going to church. I also believe it helped mature me to be in a meaningful relationship. The next year, God placed an angel in my life. I heard her singing one day in a practice room…it was the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard, still to this day. She was double majoring in vocal performance and education. I somehow (through the help of some friends) got the nerve to ask her out. The rest is history as they say. She became the missing piece in my life and a great faith partner. We dated for about 5 years before marrying in 1996. We now have two beautiful kids, ages 4 and 1 and reside just outside of San Marcos.

I work in the Marketing field for a local corporation and play on the side. I’m active in my church’s praise and worship band as well as playing with Wear That Shoe. I love knowing that my kids are growing up around Godly role models!
I sometimes get sympathy comments from people when they find out I didn’t have a dad at home growing up, or that I had a brother die so young. I simply let them know that it was God preparing me for the role I have now, in my family and in my life. It’s one of those things you don’t realize when you’re going through it, but you can look back and see God’s hand over it the whole time.

Wear That Shoe is actually an answered prayer for me. I love playing music for the Lord, but was looking for a musical extension of that outside the church walls. Then I got a phone call one day from Barry and boom, prayer answered. I could talk about the incredible talent and creativity in this group (of which it has a lot), but that’s secondary. What’s most important is that it’s a group of people that pray together and for each other. How many groups can say that? This group is now an extension of my own family and I love each and every one of them. I truly believe that God is pouring music into us and that it’s reach will be beyond what we’ll ever know. Recording this album has been an extremely gratifying and learning experience. It’s given each of us a chance to get to know each other a little better and create something that can be used to help change some lives.

CRAIG'S INFLUENCES:
Most classical music, especially Bach. His stuff is incredible!
Miles Davis
Jaco Pastorius (what bass player wasn’t influenced by this guy!)
Jeff Berlin, John Patitucci (more amazing bassists)
Sting
Dire Straits
Chicago
Composers Aaron Copeland, John Williams, and George Gershwin
Roger Bobo (renowned tubist)