Boxcar Willie

Lecil Travis Martin , whose stage name was Boxcar Willie, was an American country music singer, who sang in the oldtime hobo music style, complete with dirty face, overalls, and a floppy hat. Boxcar Willie was originally a character in a ballad he wrote, but he later adopted it as his own stage name.

Martin was born in Sterrett, Texas in 1931. He joined the United States Air Force in 1949, and served as a flight engineer for the B29 Super Fortress during the Korean War in the early 1950s. In Lincoln, Nebraska, Martin was once sitting at a railroad crossing and a fellow that closely resembled his chief boom operator, Willie Wilson, passed by sitting in a boxcar. He said, There goes Willie. He pulled over and wrote a song entitled Boxcar Willie. It eventually stuck and became Martins nickname. There is no relation to the fictitious character, bearing the same name, as featured in the CJCLS commercial that aired 1985. In 1962, Martin met his future wife, Lloene, in Boise, Idaho. They would later have four children.

Source: Wikipedia