NEWS

Tommy Cash (1940-2024): The little brother of Johnny Cash, Tommy Cash, 84, died September 13. The Johnny Cash Museum confirmed his death without giving a cause of death. Tommy was born in Dyess, Arkansas, in 1940. He served in the U.S. Army, where he worked as a DJ for the Armed Forces Radio Network. He moved to Nashville in 1964, played with Hank Williams Jr., and landed a record deal in 1965. His biggest hit was “Six White Horses” in 1969, a tribute to the assassinated John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. He performed around the world throughout his career and carried on the Cash legacy. Tommy spent many years as an agent for Crye-Leike Real Estate. He died one day and 21 years after Johnny did. Tommy lived with his wife, Marcy, in Gallatin. His funeral is today at Sumner Funeral & Cremation Lakeside in Hendersonville.

Billy Edd Wheeler, 91, of Swannanoa, North Carolina, died peacefully at his home on September 16. He spent the last months of his life in hospice care and is survived by his wife of 61 years, Mary Bannerman Wheeler, and their children. Remembered as a singer and songwriter, poet, storyteller, Navy pilot, playwright, teacher, painter, novelist, humor writer, and magazine editor, he was born in 1932 in Whitesville, West Virginia, and moved to Swannanoa at age 16 to attend school. Following his Navy service, he enrolled in the Yale School of Drama, encouraged by novelist Thornton Wilder, where he majored in playwriting. He wrote plays and musicals, poetry, novels, humor books, a 2018 memoir called Hotter than a Pepper Sprout, and songs. Pat Boone recorded his “Rock Boll Weevil” in 1958. The Kingston Trio recorded “The Reverend Mr. Black” in 1963. He wrote and recorded “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back” and then concentrated on writing songs for others: “Jackson” for Johnny Cash and June Carter, “It’s Midnight” and “Never Again” for Elvis Presley, “Coward of the County” for Kenny Rogers, “Gimme Back My Blues” for Jerry Reed, and “Blistered” for Johnny Cash. The more than 200 artists who have recorded his songs include Judy Collins, Jefferson Airplane, Jim Croce, John Denver, Neil Young, Kathy Mattea, and Nancy Sinatra. He has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (2000), the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, and the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.

Cowboys and Dreamers is the 31st George Strait studio album for MCA, reports Country Now. Its 13 tracks include previously released songs and several he sings during his recent live shows, such as “Honky Tonk Hall Of Fame” with Chris Stapleton. The title track was written by Jessie Jo Dillon, Keith Gattis, and Bubba Strait. “It is a really cool song,” George says. “So cool that I thought that I should name the whole album after it. Sometimes I feel like the last of a dying breed trying to find where I fit. That pretty much says it all: ‘Somewhere between high on top of the world and fighting with calling it quits.'” After the deaths of manager Erv Woolsey, road manager Tom Foote, and fiddler Gene Elders (who plays on four tracks on this album), George honors their lives by dedicating this album to them.

Recording engineer Billy Sherrill died September 10 at age 77, reports MusicRow. (He is not to be confused with famed producer Billy Sherrill, who recorded Tammy Wynette and wrote songs with Glenn Sutton; he died in 2015 at age 78.) Billy was born in west Tennessee and raised in Paducah, Kentucky. After college, he moved to Nashville as an engineer who helped set up the recording studio that became Sound Shop. He met producer/songwriter Larry Butler, who invited him to work on the recording session for Jean Shepard’s “Slippin’ Away” in 1973. They then worked together on hit records for Dottie West, Billie Jo Spears, Ed Bruce, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, Mac Davis, Mickey Gilley, John Denver, Paul Anka and more. Butler produced and Sherrill engineered many Kenny Rogers hits. Sherrill also engineered hit records for Kenny Chesney, and he served as sound mixer for the Grand Ole Opry for several years. In 2019, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) presented Billy with a Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in Studio Recording & Mixing. He was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame the same year.

Les Singer, 69, lead guitarist and banjo player in Bill Anderson’s Po’ Folks Band for more than 40 years (longer than anyone else), died September 12 following a lengthy illness. Bill Anderson writes on his website, “Lester Earl (he was named for bluegrass greats Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs) came to work with me in 1981, and was until declining health forced him to retire in 2021. He had stopped touring with us a few years before but continued to perform at the Grand Ole Opry for as long as his health permitted. Over the years, he played on many of my recordings as well as serving as the rhythm guitar player for the entire life of the Country’s Family Reunion television series. He leaves behind his wife of 42 years, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Singer, four daughters and their children.” Bill adds, “We both had a deep love and appreciation for classic country music and bluegrass. One of my favorite moments was the day on Family Reunion when Les had to play banjo on ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’ in front of Earl Scruggs, who was seated in our circle. He sweated bullets before and during his performance, but he pulled it off like the true champion he was. Even Earl told him so.”

MusicRow reports Kelsea Ballerini will celebrate the release of her new album, Patterns, on October 29 with a special concert at Madison Square Garden. “The whole time I was making this album, I was visualizing and dreamscaping ways to bring it to life for our live show,” she says. “When good things happen, when new chapters begin, you want to share them with your people.” The video on her social media that announces the show begins with a helicopter giving a tour of New York to an unknown passenger. The camera then reveals her dog, Dibs, in the passenger seat. When the helicopter lands, Dibs hops in a cab, travels past several locations that appear on the album, and is dropped off near Madison Square Garden where Kelsea is waiting for him.

In July 2023, memorabilia auctioneer Brigitte Kruse hosted a meeting in her Florida home, attended by Priscilla Presley and her Florida attorney, Lynn Walker Wright. Priscilla, 79, is now suing for elder abuse, saying, “Kruse arranged for me to be ‘represented’ by her friend, Lynn Walker Wright.” She charges that the pair fraudulently induced her to form several companies that gave her only minority shares and gave Kruse exclusive license to profit off her name, image, and likeness. Priscilla filed a financial abuse lawsuit in California that charges Walker Wright and Kruse with conspiring to defraud Priscilla Presley out of over $1 million in an alleged elder abuse scheme. In new court filings obtained by Rolling Stone, Walker Wright “vehemently denies” duping Priscilla into signing legal documents that were damaging to her financial interests. Walker Wright represented Kruse in a separate legal matter before representing Priscilla, and she is adamant there was no conflict of interest. Presley filed her elder abuse lawsuit after Kruse separately sued her for breach of contract in Florida last year. Kruse alleged that Presley illegally walked out on their agreements when her financial circumstances changed in the wake of Lisa Marie’s death and that the elder abuse lawsuit is a “retaliatory” response to Kruse’s breach of contract case.

Country music songwriter and author Rock Killough, 82, died September 12 at his home in the Asbury community in Alabama, reports PRWeb. Born Arthur Lloyd Killough, Jr., he began writing songs while in the U.S. Army. In 1976, he moved to Nashville and became a protégé of legendary songwriter Hank Cochran. He is credited with crafting music for The Oak Ridge Boys, Sammy Kershaw, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams, Jr., Merle Haggard, Jerry Jeff Walker, Hank Snow, David Frizzell, Larry Cordle, and others. His songs include “Take Jesus as Your Lawyer,” “Where Can I Surrender” (recorded by Randy Travis on the album A Man Ain’t Made of Stone), “Still Loving You,” and “The House at the End of the Road.”

Rascal Flatts guitarist and singer Joe Don Rooney celebrated his 49th birthday September 13 and posted on X, “It’s been a heckuva journey for me the past 3 years. Not only is today my born date – but today is also my 3-year sobriety date.” He added, “Anyone out there who might be struggling with addiction, please know there is light at the other end of that long seemingly endless small tunnel.” He admitted he had abused alcohol for years: “I was not a good father — I was not a good husband — and I was not a good bandmate to my business partners … I probably would’ve never taken responsibility for any of this if it hadn’t been for my car wreck on Sep 9, 2021.” That’s when he crashed his car into a tree early one morning and was charged with drunk driving. According to My Country 95.5, he spent four months in rehab after pleading guilty to DUI.

The annual Randy Travis Music Festival on Main Street in downtown Marshville, North Carolina, is being held September 21 to commemorate the music of hometown boy Randy (Traywick) Travis. The Monroe Enquirer Journal reports Randy and his wife, Mary, will be there to meet and greet fans. Activities will include a car/truck/tractor show, face painting, axe throwing, live concerts, and pony rides, with 71 vendors, food trucks, and tents lined up alongside the street.

Southern Living announces that Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley are opening a second free grocery store in their continued fight against food insecurity in Nashville. The current location is on Belmont University’s campus and offers fresh, nutritious food to more than 1,000 individuals, children and families each year. The Paisleys co-founded The Store as a free grocery store that allows people to “shop with dignity for their basic needs.” Referrals come from nonprofit and government agencies for a term of one year. The Store’s second location will be on the campus of TriStar Centennial Medical Center on Patterson Street. The Paisleys contributed the first $1 million towards the $5 million total needed to fund the construction of the new site, The Tennessean reports. The Paisleys came up with the idea for The Store after volunteering with their two sons on a family vacation in California. Collen Mayer, The Store CEO, says, “By developing a space into a store—where there are shopping carts and volunteers serve as grocery store employees—we have created a dignified, respectful interaction that hopefully allows someone to feel like they’re not in a crisis where they can’t get ahead.”

The More Life Tour that celebrates the music of Randy Travis will hit the road again in 2025, with 23 dates currently scheduled across the country from January to May. Although Randy won’t be performing, due to the stroke he suffered in 2013, he and his wife, Mary, will be onstage throughout the show, as guest vocalist James Dupré and Randy’s original touring band perform all of his No. 1 hits.

LETTERS

Bill Anderson writes from Nashville, “Freddie Hart was all the wonderful things that Ron Hogan says he was in his letter to you….a dear friend of mine who wrote lots of great songs. He did not, however, write ‘Think I’ll Go Somewhere & Cry Myself To Sleep.’ Because I did.”

Diane: Oops, sorry, Bill. I need to do a better job of fact checking.

Jeannie Seely writes from Nashville, “As always I appreciate being included in your newsletter. This award means so much to me as the other ladies who have received this honor are my heroes and mentors. The Source Awards, for those not familiar, honor the women behind the scenes in the music industry and are often the ones ‘making things happen’. In my early years I spent considerable time working behind the scenes so I totally appreciate their work.”

Bob Jennings says, “Superior Country Music Newsletter as always–the Video of the Dedication of the Marty Stuart Country Music Collection to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum was Something to Watch and Enjoy–I knew Marty Stuart had a Collection of Memorable Artifacts from the Golden Age of Country Music but didn’t realize it was so huge. I am glad it is and will visit and see it—Marty is a Musician’s Musician! I wish he still had his Show on RFD TV on Saturday nights and that it would be an hour show. It was always nice seeing Marty’s show with him, Connie, and the Superlatives all Well Dressed doing Their Music and the Background Decorations. Your Country Music Newsletters get Better with every Issue.”

Dominique ‘Imperial’ Anglares writes from France, “Thanks for words about Pete Wade. Another great musician has gone. Warmest greetings to Marty Stuart for that great donation. That collection is very impressive and deserves to be preserved for future generations.”

Phil Davies in Wales says, “Thank you Diane for the latest Stateside country news. Great gesture by Marty Stuart donating his collection. I always thought he persuaded the CMHOF to finally induct Jerry Lee whom he addressed as ‘Uncle Gerald’.”

Carl Rollyson says, “Linda Mellon rightly points out your recognition of the talent lost. In Memorium.”

Micheal Green writes, “Thank you, as always, for your great newsletter. A couple of things came to mind. One is that Eddie Stubbs donated his material to Glenville State University, and I’ve wondered if he might have some involvement in Marty Stuart’s plans in Mississippi, given how close they have been. Another is about Billy Linneman. He also led the Nashville Now band when Jerry Whitehurst was on vacation or at the Opry. When PBS televised the Opry as a fundraiser, he was involved in two things that epitomized how the Opry used to be. One was that while Linneman played bass for the Fruit Jar Drinkers and the Melvin Sloan Dancers, Kayton Roberts gave him a shoulder massage! The other is that later in the show, when Kirk McGee sang ‘Milk ‘Em in the Evening Blues,’ Linneman joined Jimmy Capps and others in cutting off guitarist Joe Edwards’s pant leg and shaving his leg. Joe never missed a note.”

Eric Calhoun says, “Well, here I am, at the Braille Institute, Los Angeles, Library. The Lainey Wilson Album Party for Whirlwind went well. Anyone who wants to check out Lainey Wilson can go to audacy.com/lainey. I also heard that IHeart Country had a performance here in Los Angeles, but I was not approved for that ticket. Good job, Scotty McCreery, for keeping your composure and kicking the disgruntled fan out of the Colorado State Fair. Always important to watch your language and keep your composure. Jody Miller also did a cover of ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,’ a song made famous by Carole King, The Shyrells, and other artists. Congratulations to Kimberly Williams Paisley on (1) battling back on receiving your voice, and (2) opening a supermarket in Nashville. It makes Store Number 2 that will be a nonprofit grocery store. And congratulations to Billy Gilman for getting married in Rhode Island.”

Tom Barton writes, “I think this might be of interest to Marty Robbins fans. For almost all of Marty’s touring days, his bus driver was Okie Jones, who also played a prominent role during Marty’s heart attack in 1969. I believe he was also honored by a major trade group in later years to have driven a million miles without an accident. I read in an article years ago that Okie at one time had been something of a performer and recorded some songs. Lo and behold, some of his performances are on YouTube. For those who might be interested, simply look up ‘Okie Jones.’ Of particular interest is one novelty song entitled ‘The Love Bug Itch,’ and I sure do not know how he made those moves!  Enjoy!”

Diane: I interviewed Okie for Twentieth Century Drifter: The Life of Marty Robbins, and he came to my band reunion. His background and the story of getting Marty to the hospital are both in the book. He was a wonderful storyteller.

Bobby Fischer in Nashville says, “Around 1950 I walked into a house where a guy was playing piano. He’d stop, write something down. I asked what are you doing? ‘Writing a song,’ he said. Guess I thought music was already there for us to use. I tried writing some little rhymes, then a guy said let’s write one together. I didn’t think I could share thoughts but 345 cowriters later at 89, it was a blessing, I’m a fan of every writer on my list, famous or just starting, I gave Robbi and Lori lyrics to work on yesterday.”

Mike Johnson writes, “Another fine issue here, with too many fine musicians gone to Hillbilly Heaven. It’s a shame we can’t go there alive. Sherwin Linton is one mighty fine musician and advocate of Johnny Cash’s music. His current release sounds fitting for a man of his musical legacy. My June 2024 60th album may well be my last, as well. We’ll see. I first met Sherwin at the late Bob Everhart’s 1999 Old Time Country Music Festival in Avoca, Iowa, and we encountered each other at several of those festivals over the years. His wife, Pam, along with Terry Smith, were those inducted into America’s Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame in September 2002. Here’s a photo of Sherwin, Bob, and me at that 2002 festival, affectionately titled ‘a century of country music.’ I’m sure I have videos of Sherwin on my YouTube channel as well.”

Diane: Pam Linton has a wonderful, powerful voice, somewhat similar to Connie Smith, and she now has a record contract. Her first album will be released in January, and I’ll be telling you about that.

Jackie Allen Thomas writes from Arizona, “I saw Mario Carboni and his sidekick Norm Hamlet perform a few times here in Arizona. I haven’t seen anything about them for a long while and wonder if you know if Norm Hamlet is still playing. He played steel for Merle Haggard for 49 years and was still performing just a few years back. They were playing a lot in the Bakersfield area so that may be their home ground. Was so good to hear Norm on that steel. Would appreciate it if you would let us know if you have heard anything about Norm. Thank you for all the news you give us regarding our country stars.”

Diane: I didn’t find any information to suggest they are touring. Mario has a website as The Honky-Tonk Rebel . He calls himself “honky-tonk pianist extraordinaire.”

SONG OF THE WEEK

I’ve always loved Faron Young’s “Your Time’s Comin’.” It’s a great dance tune, it fit Faron’s personality, and it has a well-written story with clever lyrics (“You ain’t much but that don’t matter /Nothin’ suits her better than a stranger / And the stranger man the better”). I looked up the songwriters and shouldn’t have been surprised to find Kris Kristofferson and Shel Silverstein. Now I’ve heard a version I like just as well as Faron’s. Dallas Wayne played it last week on his Willie’s Roadhouse SiriusXM show. He recorded “Your Time’s Comin’” with Willie Nelson for his Songs the Jukebox Taught Me album in 2016. Their version is western swing and a bit faster—I could listen and dance to that music all night long.

Happy birthday to the U.S. Air Force and me.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

I met Tommy Cash at the Florida State Fair in Tampa on February 17, 2000, where I interviewed him about his memories of Faron Young. That interview is excerpted here. Tommy has always received my newsletter, and he occasionally commented on the topics. When Kayo and my daughters and I were in Nashville in 2005, I called Tommy and asked for permission to go to Johnny’s house and see where Faron’s ashes were scattered. He said to tell the gatekeeper the family said it was okay, and he gave me the address. We later stopped by Crye-Leike Real Estate office to see if Tommy was there, and he was! We thanked him for allowing us to go to Johnny’s house. I have heard that Tommy was in poor health, but it was still a shock to learn of his death on September 13, 2024.

I first met Faron Young in 1965, right after I moved to Nashville. I never knew I would get to tour with someone I had idolized as a kid. Growing up in the cotton fields of Arkansas and going to the Ellis Auditorium in Memphis maybe once every three months to see a show, I had idolized people like him and Webb Pierce and the Wilburn Brothers. My brother was a legend, of course, almost from the beginning. Through John I got to meet a lot of people. I opened a music publishing company in Nashville–for my brother, not for me–in 1964. Through the music publishing company, pitching songs to other artists and socializing, I not only met Faron, I met all the people who were anybody in the music business. Little did I know that I’d ever have a hit record and get to tour with him, but that did happen later.

I’ll never forget some of those package shows I did with Faron back in the ’60s. I stood in awe of him–and still do–because he was one of the most natural entertainers I’ve ever known and would tear an audience all to pieces. I learned a lot from him. I studied him, and I studied Conway Twitty. I worked some dates with Conway Twitty when I was in my twenties. Conway gave me some great advice. We’re talking about Faron, but Conway came up to me after a show in Morristown, Tennessee, and said, “Don’t worry about being Johnny Cash’s brother. You have talent of your own. Just get out there and be yourself.” I’ll never forget that. Things like that helped me.

We were on tour in the late ’60s or early ’70s in North Carolina. George Hamilton IV was on that show, Connie Smith and Del Reeves and two or three other artists–big package show. I always liked chocolate pie. We were sitting in this restaurant, and I ordered a piece of chocolate pie. They brought me a piece that was about half the size you normally see. Faron says, “God damn, that’s the smallest piece of chocolate pie I ever saw.” I ate it, and I said, “Yeah, they kind of got me on this one.” He ordered a whole pie. He said, “Bring this Cash boy a chocolate pie over here.” So they brought a chocolate pie, and we cut that thing, and I ate a big piece of it, and then we took it on Faron’s bus. He and I got into a pie fight with chocolate pie. He splattered me in the face with a piece that almost knocked me unconscious, and I got him. We threw pie all over that bus. It took somebody several hours to clean that bus up.

My mother died in March of ’91. The night she died–of course, I was in a fog, at the house there, where Mother died at home. There was about forty people there, and I walked out in the carport, and there was Faron Young, leaning up against my mother’s Chevrolet. He said, “Tommy, I just came to see your mother. I can’t believe she just died. I just can’t believe it. I loved your mother.” He knew my mother, meeting her through Johnny and me. He would show up at places like that. He really cared–he really did care.

He was wild on the road, but when it came time to do the show, I’d hate to follow him. I would never want to follow Faron Young on a concert. Because he would absolutely drain the audience, with his hits, his personality, and his ability to communicate with an audience. I learned a lot from him, as I said earlier, and I miss him. I miss him so much, I really do.

Faron recorded one of my songs. He had a big hit with “Some Kind Of a Woman.” My drummer was a guy named Jimmy Peppers. We were on tour, and we were up east somewhere in Pennsylvania or Maryland, and we were having to wait a long time to go on that night. We were sitting out on my bus, and Jimmy picked up the gut string guitar that hung on the wall of every bus I had for thirty years. He started singing, “I’ve got me some kind of a woman,” but he didn’t have any verses. I said, boy, I like that idea. I took the guitar and I wrote maybe a couple lines of the first verse, and he wrote a couple lines. In an hour, we had the song. But it was a song that breaks tempo. The first verse is a tempo, then it goes into the chorus, which is a ballad. Then it goes back into tempo for the second verse and then back into the ballad for the second chorus. I knew when we wrote it, it was going to be a hit for somebody who could put that kind of a song across. We took it back to Nashville and demoed it, and Billy Deaton got it to Faron Young. I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to have a legend like him record one of my songs. When I first found out he was doing my song, I couldn’t sleep that night. Faron Young’s recording a song I co-wrote! I can’t believe it! And then when I heard the record, it made me cry. If you’ve ever heard the record, you know what a great job he did on the song. He gave the song life. It was kind of a lifeless song until he recorded it.

Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn have that in their Feelings album. I guess, after Conway died, some of his old albums started selling big again. Every royalty statement I get from the publisher shows “Some Kind Of a Woman–Faron Young, Some Kind Of a Woman–Loretta and Conway.” That song’s really been good to me over the years. It’s one of those songs that will always be special. I can’t sing it. I mean, I can sing it, but it’s out of my range. It took a voice like Faron Young or Conway Twitty to sing it.

But he could cuss. I’ll never forget one thing that happened at Webb Pierce’s funeral. My brother Johnny and June, his wife, came by my house and picked me up. Faron was sitting right in front of us at Webb Pierce’s funeral–we could reach over and touch him on the shoulder. At the end of the funeral, Johnny kiddingly said to Faron, “Oh, Faron, you’re the best cusser in the world. Would you cuss for us just one time?” “Godammit, what do you want me to say? Godammit, I’m at a goddamn funeral.” And we laughed and laughed and laughed. Those are memories that I really cherish. I mean, he wasn’t cussing cussing. He was cussing because we asked him to. He was known as the world’s greatest cusser, y’know.

I think Faron was one of the greatest artists in the history of country music. I think we owe him a lot. And when he shot himself, I fell to my knees. As a matter of fact, I was here in Florida, and I heard about it on the radio first. I fell to my knees, and I just went to pieces–I lost it. And then the next day, when I found out he was dead, I wasn’t worth 15 cents the next week. I always regret that I was not able to attend his funeral. I was here working. I’ll never forget that day as long as I live. It was rough.

He and I both had a problem with alcohol. When I got sober and really was sincere about staying sober, I tried to talk to him many times. “Aw, I ain’t goin’ to that goddamn AA,” he’d say. “I don’t believe in that shit.” I’d say, “Faron, it will save your life. Let me take you to an AA meeting.” “All right, goddammit, if I want to go to an AA meeting, I’ll call you.” But he did get sober, eventually, and he told me, “You and Paul Richey (George Richey’s brother) used to tell me all the time about sobriety, but it’s really wonderful, ain’t it?” I said, “Yes, it is. There’s nothing like it–nothing in the world like sobriety.” I think that’s why it hit me so hard when he took his life. I just hope he wasn’t drinking.

I really miss him. And when I hear one of his records on the radio, I just can’t keep from crying. I’m so proud of the fact that he told me, every time he saw me the last four or five years he lived, that he loved me. It just about killed me when we lost him. I mean, some people have died in this business that I didn’t know very well, and I didn’t feel the bond with them, but if you knew Faron Young, you loved him and bonded with him. He was that kind of a guy. When he’d introduce you, he’d go overboard. He would always say nice things about you, make you look better than you really were. He really meant what he was saying, like when he introduced me on a television show, he meant every word of it. I remember him as a kind, sweet person who really, really left all of us with something we can be proud of. I know there’s a lot of bad things said about Faron, about his drinking and cussing, but he was one hell of a human being, I’ll tell you that. Oh, I still miss him every day. I miss him a lot.

NASHVILLE SONGWRITERS HALL OF FAME – 2023 – SECOND HALF

Keith Urban was born in Whangārei, Northland, New Zealand in 1967, and he grew up in Australia, where he began playing the ukulele at age four and the guitar by age six. In 1991 he released his self-titled debut album in Australia before moving to Nashville in 1992. His U.S. solo debut in 1999 yielded his first co-written #1, “But For The Grace Of God,” in 2001. He’s topped the charts with hits he co-wrote, such as “Somebody Like You,” “Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me,” “Days Go By,” “Long Hot Summer,” “Wasted Time,” “Better Life,” “Sweet Thing,” and “Tonight I Wanna Cry.” He will soon be celebrating his 57^th birthday, shortly after finishing his 2024 tour. He was inducted as the Contemporary Songwriter/Artist.

Kix Brooks, inducted as Veteran Songwriter/Artist, was born Leon Eric Brooks III in 1955 in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he grew up. He was playing guitar by age 6, entertaining audiences at 12, and writing songs at 14. He worked on an oil pipeline in Alaska and as an advertising copywriter in Maine before moving to Nashville in 1979. His first co-written songwriting hits were “I’m Only In It For The Love” by John Conlee, “Modern Day Romance” by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, “Who’s Lonely Now” by Highway 101, and “Sacred Ground” by McBride & The Ride. During the 1990s and 2000s, Kix teamed with Ronnie Dunn to form Brooks & Dunn. Kix co-wrote many of the duo’s hits, including “Brand New Man,” “Lost And Found,” “You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone,” “Only In America,” and “Red Dirt Road,” along with my favorite Brooks & Dunn songs, “Whiskey Under The Bridge” and “My Next Broken Heart.” Brooks & Dunn were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019. Kix is 69 years old and has a website at https://www.kixbrooks.com/. Brooks & Dunn recently announced new dates for the first leg of their Neon Moon Tour, which begins March 13 in Lubbock, Texas.

The late John Jarrard was remembered in the Hall’s Legacy category. Born in 1953 in Gainesville, Georgia, he worked as a disc jockey in his hometown before moving to Nashville in 1977 to pursue a songwriting career. Within a year the University of Georgia graduate began to lose his sight to diabetes, and by 1979 he was totally blind. He later suffered total kidney failure that required a transplant. In 1983 Don Williams topped the charts with John’s song “Nobody But You.” His other co-written hits include “There’s No Way” by Alabama, “What’s A Memory Like You (Doin’ In A Love Like This)” by John Schneider, “Lonely Alone” by The Forester Sisters, “You’ve Got The Touch” by Alabama, “Shouldn’t It Be Easier Than This” by Charley Pride, “Mirror, Mirror” by Diamond Rio, “Money In The Bank” by John Anderson, “My Kind Of Girl” by Collin Raye, and “Blue Clear Sky” by George Strait. John died in Nashville at age 47 in 2001 and was posthumously inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

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