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W. G. Snuffy Walden
Walden in 2016
Background information
Birth name	William Garrett Walden
Also known as	Snuffy Walden, W. G. Walden
Born	(1950-02-13) February 13, 1950 (age 74) Louisiana, U.S.
Genres	Instrumental
Occupation(s)	Composer, musician
Instrument	Guitar
Years active	1973–present
Website	snuffywalden.com

William Garrett Walden, known as W. G. Snuffy Walden (born February 13, 1950), is an American musician and composer of film and television soundtracks. Walden is an Emmy Award winner for the theme music to The West Wing (NBC), has been nominated for numerous other Emmys throughout his career, and has received 26 BMI Awards.

Early life

Walden was born in Louisiana on February 13, 1950, and raised in Houston, Texas. He graduated from Clear Creek High School in League City, Texas in 1967. In college he studied science and math, and he put himself through school working on a late-night radio show at KRBE in Houston and playing guitar in a strip club.

Walden's middle name was his mother's maiden name, and this was the origin of his nickname. Members of his mother's family had sometimes been called Snuffy after the Southern snuff manufacturer Levi Garrett. His family and schoolmates addressed him as Garrett, but Snuffy began to stick when he was away at summer camp and the name was preferred by fellow musicians as his career began.

Career

In the late 1960s, Walden dropped out of school, quit his job, and devoted his energies to the guitar full-time, picking up a bass player (Al Roberts) and drummer (Randy Reeder) to form a three-piece band named Aphrodite. They started touring and wound up in Denver, playing local clubs and opening for acts like Buddy Miles. It was in Denver that Emerson, Lake & Palmer's road manager, Neville Chesters, saw them in a club and offered them a recording contract with ELP's label, Manticore. In 1972, the group moved to England and was reformed, keeping Al Roberts and changing the name to Stray Dog. There, they were signed to Manticore and Greg Lake produced three songs from their first album Stray Dog. The new group toured with ELP as the opening act, but never really took flight, and eventually folded. Following the breakup of the band, Walden supplanted the ailing Paul Kossoff by providing guitar tracks for Free's final album Heartbreaker, which was released in 1973 (Walden plays on 'Common Mortal Man', 'Easy on My Soul' and 'Seven Angels'). He also played electric guitar in 1973, on the debut solo album Still by King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield. In 1975, he joined The Eric Burdon Band and performed with them for a year.

In 1975, Walden moved to Los Angeles and spent the rest of the decade performing as a solo artist and supporting artists such as Stevie Wonder, Donna Summer, Chaka Khan, and Eric Burdon. Notably, in 1975-6 he again filled in for Paul Kossoff as a session musician on Back Street Crawler's Second Street album. By the mid-1980s, television agents and producers became aware of Walden through his local performances in Santa Monica. When approached to score a new television show, Walden had mixed feelings but accepted the offer. "I could see the handwriting on the wall for touring," he would later remember, "and it wasn't pretty. I kept envisioning Holiday Inn at age 60." The television show he was hired for was Thirtysomething, which turned out to be a major hit television series and dramatically altered Walden's music career.

Following his success as a touring and session musician and an Emmy nomination for the "Theme from Thirtysomething", Walden scored numerous television series, including The Wonder Years, Roseanne, Ellen, My So-Called Life, Felicity, Early Edition, Sports Night, The West Wing, George Lopez, I'll Fly Away, The Stand, Huff, Once and Again, Friday Night Lights and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

In the summer of 2001, Walden released a solo album of mainly acoustic guitar pieces titled Music by... W. G. Snuffy Walden. The album included expanded or full versions of many of Walden's themes, such as "Once and Again", "Eugene's Ragtop", "Thirtysomething (Revisited)", and "West Wing Suite".

In July 2002, Tom Guerra conducted a comprehensive interview of Walden for Vintage Guitar Magazine. In April 2008, Stephen J. Abramson interviewed Walden for a four-hour, multi-part video series for the Television Academy.

In March 2018, Up to Snuff, a documentary film about Walden's career, won the documentary competition in its premier at the Pasadena International Film Festival.

In September 2018, Walden starred in a 1950s style cover of "Africa" by Toto along with the musical collective Postmodern Jukebox on YouTube.

Awards and nominations

Emmys

Awards

• 2000 Outstanding Main Title Theme Music – The West Wing

Nominations

• 1988 Main Title, Theme Music – Thirtysomething
• 1992 Main Title, Theme Music – I'll Fly Away
• 1994 Best Original Score – Stephen King's The Stand
• 1995 Main Title Theme Music – My So-Called Life
• 1997 Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) – Early Edition
• 1997 Main Title Theme Music – Early Edition
• 2000 Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) – Felicity
• 2000 Outstanding Main Title Theme Music – The West Wing (won)
• 2001 Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) – The West Wing
• 2003 Outstanding Main Title Theme Music – Miracles
• 2005 Outstanding Main Title Theme Music – Huff
• 2007 Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) – Kidnapped
• 2018 Outstanding Main Title Theme Music - SEAL Team

BMI Awards

• The Wonder Years (1988, 1989, 1990)
• The Jackie Thomas Show (1993)
• Ellen (1994, 1995)
• Roseanne (1994, 1995, 1996)
• The Drew Carey Show (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001)
• The Norm Show (1999)
• Richard Kirk Ward BMI Award for Outstanding Career Achievement (2001)
• Providence (1999, 2000, 2002, 2003)
• The West Wing (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
• Men of a Certain Age (2010)

Discography

Solo albums

• Music by... W. G. Snuffy Walden (2001, Windham Hill Records)

Stray Dog albums

• Stray Dog (1973)
• Fasten Your Seat Belts (1973)
• While You're Down There (1974)

Guest appearances

• Rabbit (John "Rabbit" Bundrick) – Broken Arrows (1973, Island Records)
• Rabbit (John "Rabbit" Bundrick) – Dark Saloon (1974, Island Records)

Compilation albums

• Still (1973, Peter Sinfield – Command Studios)
• thirtysomething Soundtrack (1991, Geffen Records)
• Babylon Minstrels (1992, Hollywood Records)
• The Stand (1994, ABC Circle Music)
• My So-Called Life Soundtrack (1995, Atlantic Records)
• A Winter's Solstice VI (1997, Windham Hill Records)
• Celtic Christmas III (1997, Windham Hill Records)
• The Carols Of Christmas II (1997, Windham Hill Records)
• Summer Solstice 2 (1998, Windham Hill Records)
• Sounds Of Wood & Steel (1998, Windham Hill Records)
• Celtic Christmas IV (1998, Windham Hill Records)
• Touch – Windham Hill 25 Years of Guitar (2001, Windham Hill Records)
• A Winter's Solstice, Vol. 1: Silver Anniversary Edition (2001, Windham Hill Records)
• A Windham Hill Christmas (2002, Windham Hill Records)
• Windham Hill Chill: Ambient Acoustic (2003, Windham Hill Records)
• Windham Hill Chill 2 (2003, Windham Hill Records)
• Friday Night Lights Vol. 2 (2010)
• The West Wing (2017, Varèse Sarabande)

Filmography

References

1. ^ "W.G. Snuffy Walden: Awards & Nominations". Television Academy. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
2. ^ "W. G. Snuffy Walden". Allmusic. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
3. ^ Grey, Hilarie (2001). "W. G. Snuffy Walden". Jazz Times. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
4. ^ "W.G. Snuffy Walden". Mambo Sons. Archived from the original on September 10, 2019. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
5. "Nickname". Archive of American Television. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
6. "W.G. Snuffy Walden – Biography & History". AllMusic. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
7. ^ "W.G. "Snuffy" Walden – Movies and Filmography". AllMovie. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
8. Guitar, Vintage (July 1, 2002). "July 2002". Vintage Guitar® magazine. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
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10. "Documentary on TV Composer W.G. Snuffy Walden Leads a Strong Newport Beach Film Festival Music Program". OC Weekly. April 26, 2018. Archived from the original on May 22, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
11. ^ "Pasadena Now » Pasadena International Film Festival Wraps Up a Week of Celebrity Sightings, Screenings, World Premieres, and Golden Era Hollywood Film Parties". Pasadena.com. March 16, 2018. Archived from the original on March 17, 2018. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
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16. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". I'll Fly Away. NBC. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
17. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". Stephen King's The Stand. ABC. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
18. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". My So-Called Life. ABC. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
19. ^ "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". Early Edition. CBS. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
20. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". Felicity. WB. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
21. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". The West Wing. NBC. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
22. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". Miracles. ABC. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
23. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". Huff. Showtime. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
24. "Emmys: Awards and Nominations". Kidnapped. NBC. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
25. Shared with John Lennon and Paul McCartney
26. Shared with Allen Reynolds
27. Pesselnick, JILL (May 26, 2001). "Walden Wins BMI Prize". Billboard Magazine. Beverly Hills, California. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
28. Shared with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Bennett Salvay
29. "Music by W.G. Snuffy Walden – W.G. Snuffy Walden – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
30. "Stray Dog – Stray Dog – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
31. "Fasten Your Seat Belts – Stray Dog – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
32. "While You're Down There – Stray Dog – Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
33. ^ Smith, William Michael (February 25, 2009). "Houston-Born TV-Theme Composer W.G. "Snuffy" Walden Enjoys His Wonder Years". Houston Press. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
34. Variety TV REV 1991–92 17. Variety Television Reviews Series. Taylor & Francis. 1994. p. 444. ISBN 978-0-8240-3796-3. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
35. Sandler, Adam (February 28, 1994). "Fox Night at the Movies Rise & Walk: The Dennis Byrd Story". Variety. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
36. Scott, Tony (September 13, 1995). "The Drew Carey Show". Variety. Archived from the original on May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
37. "W.G. Snuffy Walden". IMDb.
38. Muir, J.K. (2007). TV Year: The Prime Time 2005–2006 Season. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-55783-684-7. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
39. ^ "W. G. Snuffy Walden". Hollywood Elite Composers. December 13, 1961. Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
40. "Stetson, Street Dog of Park City". Park City Film Music Festival. 2012. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
41. Lowry, Brian (June 20, 2013). "Under the Dome". Variety. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
42. Parisi, Paula (October 8, 2016). "Nashville Tunes-Up for Season Five". MaxTheTrax. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
43. "CBS' 'SEAL Team' to Feature Music by W.G. Snuffy Walden & Patrick Rose". Film Music Reporter. September 27, 2017.

External links

• Media related to W.G. Snuffy Walden at Wikimedia Commons
• W. G. Snuffy Walden Official Website

• 1950 births
• Living people
• Windham Hill Records artists
• Musicians from Houston
• Musicians from Louisiana
• The West Wing
• The Wonder Years
• In Plain Sight
• Friday Night Lights (TV series)
• Nashville (2012 TV series)
• American television composers