If James “Wee Willie” Wayne is unfamiliar to you, you’re not
alone. I was not acquainted with this artist until he was bought to my
attention by my friend Eddie Ray just last week. He had recounted the tale to
Veronica, his right hand at the NC Music Hall of Fame, and she went home to
look up the details of the story. What she found shed a light on this artist
which gives truth to the lyrics in the song above.
At about 1 minute and 20 seconds he sings about doing “time
in California, for a crime I did not do.” And it’s true; he did serve time for
an attempted burglary there in 1950. But that’s nothing compared to what
happened to him later.
Born in 1920 in either Houston, Texas or New Orleans; there
is no clear evidence for either; James Wayne’s early years are simply not
available. At a time when African-Americans in the south were regarded as less
than people, records were often not kept. And if the family had no Bible, or
book learning, then there was simply no way to record the history of your own
family.
His later youth can only be recalled from the stories he
told about it. He claims to have been in the Army, at least through boot camp,
and received training as a commando. This would be at the same time he was
serving time for that burglary, which means he may not have served in Korea.
But in the lyrics to the song he sings about wanting to go to Korea and let the
Koreans “take a hand to me.” He follows that up with the puzzling line stating
that being in Korea would be preferable to “living here in misery.” Coming on
the heels of that burglary conviction I have to wonder if he meant that he
would rather be a casualty of war than go on living with the Jim Crow injustice
so prevalent at the time.
He seems to have no musical past before the time he served
in prison, but he was fluent on guitar and even played the drums on some of his
recordings. His first record is reportedly “Tend to Your Business” in 1951 on
the Sittin’ In With label out of Houston. It was on the charts for 14 weeks.
His biggest hit was in 1952 with the somewhat iconic "Junco Partner” also
titled “Worthless Man”. That was on the Shad label out of Georgia. It was an
old song which he reworked for the recording. It was considered to be "the
anthem of the dopers, the whores, the pimps, the cons. It was a song they sang
in Angola, the state prison farm, and the rhythm was even known as the
'jailbird beat'.”
He went on to record 4 more singles for Sitting In with, 3
credited to James Waynes, rather than Wayne. It is not known why this was down,
unless it was to keep royalties from accruing to his account. At the time the
labels and managers were less than honest with most o their artists;
particularly in the South, where many of the artists could hardly read or
write.
In the mid 1950’s he appears to have skipped from Aladdin
Records to Imperial and then Old Town, befor retirning to Imperial in 1955 when
he began recording as Wee Willie Wayne. “Travelin’ Mood” and “I Remember” was a
double sided single of note for him. This was around the time when Eddie Ray
worked with him as A and R man for Imperial. By 1961 he sort of disappeared
until 1967 when he surfaced at a motel in Los Angeles. The events of that night
would have a profound effect on the next 7 years of his life.
In February of 1967 he showed up at a motel in an agitated
manner. He claimed to have witnessed a contract killing and needed a place to
hide. The manager of the motel chased him out and fired shots at him. Wayne
returned a short time later with a h soda pop bottle filled with gasoline. He
tossed that on the roof of the motel and was arrested. He was convicted of
arson, declared insane and sentenced to a psychiatric prison. The details of
this story will shock you. But it’s not my story to tell.
At this point I am going to link you with a man named Mortimer Borenstein
and his blog, “Borenstein’s Law.” Mr. Borenstein was the Public Defender who received
the assignment which led to Mr. Wayne’s eventual release. But it is best to let
him tell it his way.
If you have read the whole story you will have to admit that
is troubling. Imagine being declared insane for telling the truth about your
own life. And then imagine the shock you would feel as the Thorazine kicked in
and you found yourself agreeing with the lies in order to be set free! The saner
he was, the more they doped him up. And, when he was truly delusional as a
result of the drugs, the experts all declared that he was getting well.
They say that the truth is stranger than fiction, and the
story of James Duncan Wayne proves this to be true.
Note: There is nothing available that I could find about what happened to Mr. Wayne after the 1980's. If anyone does find out the ending to this story, please let me know. And many thanks to Mr. Borenstein who just couldn't let it rest until he got it right.
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