Walter "Buddy Boy" Hawkins was an American country blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He recorded only 12 songs, between 1927 and 1929, but Paul Oliver opined that "Hawkins was a major figure in black country music". AllMusic noted that he was "one of the most distinctive country-blues performers of the pre-war era, a gifted vocalist whose taste for slow, dirge-like songs was ideally suited to his intricate guitar work."
Details of Hawkins's life outside of his brief recording career are minimal.