Bob Goldstone Remembered, Celebration Of Life Planned

A gathering celebrating the life of Bob Goldstone, who died Sunday (July 3) following a cycling accident, will take place Saturday afternoon (July 9) at The Farm in Pegram, Tennessee.

The gathering, titled “Soundtrack of Bob’s Life,” will begin at 3 p.m. and conclude at 7 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Nashville organizations W.O. Smith School of Music and MusiCares.

An obituary written by his family and published on The Tennessean stated, “Bob was happiest on the farm spending time with his family, friends, dogs and goats, always listening to music, and playing along with his upright bass.” They also noted that he was an avid outdoorsman, skier, tennis player, golfer and beachcomber.

Following his death, this career retrospective was provided to MusicRow:

Born to Bud and Dorothy, Bob Goldstone was raised on Broadway musicals and always tried out for school plays singing “Tonight” or “Maria” from West Side Story. Raised in Denver, Bob’s music progressed from “Flying Purple People Eaters” and “Tom Dooley” to “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” and held Lennon’s “In My Life” and Neil Young’s “One Of These Days” as some of the truest expressions about life ever put to music. Bob felt and loved music more than anyone.

Bob’s music career started in 1972 at Chuck E. Weiss’s family record store in Denver for $1.75 an hour. Before that, he drove an ice cream truck before he was terminated for playing “White Rabbit” over the loudspeaker. Seeking a hippie’s fortune, he moved to the Northwest to open three record stores called Budget Tapes & Records. Once he had three stores under his belt, he took a buyers position at the now defunct Lieberman Enterprises as branch buyer. Bob sold off his stores and moved to Los Angeles as National Account Executive for Lieberman’s New Business division. Once in L.A., Bob landed the West Coast Marketing gig with IRS Records.

Bob met Phil Walden in L.A. and soon moved to Nashville as V.P. of Sales and Marketing for Capricorn Records, breaking Widespread Panic, 311 & Cake. After 4 years with Capricorn and not wanting to move to Atlanta, Bob moved to Mercury Nashville as National Director of Field Marketing, working with Kim Richey, William Topley, Kathy Mattea & Neal Coty – the beta version of what was to become Lost Highway.

Next gig was General Manager of Eminent Records, releasing Emmylou Harris’ live Spyboy, the Mike Plume Band and Jon Randall. It was a short, one-off stint but working with Emmylou was a career high point.

Bob missed retail contact with customers and worked out an agreement with Tower Records as Regional Community Relations Director. This move afforded Tower opportunities for events, community gatherings and the creation of a memorabilia room at Tower Opry Mills. Bob booked the greatest talent and exposed the newest and youngest talent from the W.O. Smith School of Music, The Nashville School of the arts and Nashville’s own local artists.

The last chapter brought him together with David Macias and Deb Markland at Thirty Tigers as partner and VP of Sales, which he served well for the last thirteen years. He was intensely proud of his part in creating an environment where his loving nature and strong commitment to being of service to their clients was paramount. It was second nature to him.

Most important to him was his wonderful wife Tami and their lovely daughter Emma, who kept him in line and changing everyday. He was a happy and cool person.