 Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. was born on August 19 , 1969 in Beaumont , Texas to Ernest and Danna Walker . The oldest of five children , Walker lived in Vidor with his father , who gave him a guitar when he was nine years old . Walker began entering talent competitions at age fifteen . After leaving his shift as nighttime desk clerk at a Super 8 Motel , he stopped at a local radio station to deliver a tape of a song that he had written . Although the morning disc jockey told him that the station 's policies prohibited playing self @-@ submitted tapes , he played Walker 's song and said that it was " too good to pass up . " 
