Journalist Lydia Dixon Harden Passes

Lydia Dixon Harden

Country-music journalist Lydia Dixon Harden passed away last week at age 55.

During the 1980s and 1990s, she profiled hundreds of Country celebrities in the pages of the fan publication Music City News. She rose to become the monthly magazine’s managing editor.

At the time, Music City News was country music’s most prominent fan periodical. It published continuously between 1963 and 2000. The magazine began giving annual awards in 1967, and these were nationally televised in 1978-1999.

Lydia Dixon Harden was also the co-author of the books The Stars of Country Music: The Legends and the New Breed (1996), New Country Stars (1993) and The Stars of Country Music (1994). She wrote essays for the program books for the Academy of Country Music Awards and penned one of the Dolly Parton biographies.

In recent years, the Tennessee Tech University alumna worked for Windsor Health Care. Lydia Dixon Harden died on July 15.

She is survived by her husband of 30 years, Tim Harden, by daughter Claire Harden, by brother David Dixon and by sisters Donna Dixon, Sue Ellen Weaver, Janet Hopkins and Amy Becktell.

Funeral services were conducted Sunday, July 20, 2014 at Woodbine Funeral Home, Hickory Chapel.