Nashville Songwriter-Artist Sandy Pinkard Passes
Sandy Pinkard
Sandy Pinkard has died at age 78.
The singer-songwriter left his mark on the Nashville scene as half of the music/comedy team Pinkard & Bowden and as a songwriter for Brenda Lee, Jim Nabors, Cher, John Anderson, Mickey Gilley and more. He and Texas songwriter Richard Bowden formed Pinkard & Bowden in 1984 and were signed to Warner Records. Between 1985 and 1993, the duo issued five albums and 12 singles.
They were famous for their witty parodies of country-music songs. Five of them made the country popularity charts in 1984-89, including “Mama She’s Lazy” (a parody of “Mama He’s Crazy”), “She Thinks I Steal Cars” (“She Thinks I Still Care”) and “Somebody Done Somebody’s Song Wrong.” Other highlights included “Help Me Make It Through the Yard,” “Delta Dawg” and “Drivin’ My Wife Away.” John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” became “Libyan on a Jet Plane.” Claude King’s hit “Wolverton Mountain” became “Three Mile Island.” Willie Nelson’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” became “Blue Hairs Driving in My Lane.”
Independent of the novelty duo, Sandy Pinkard was noted for co-writing such award-winning hits as “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” for David Frizzell & Shelly West (1981), which won the ACM Award for Song of the Year. “Coca Cola Cowboy” was a 1979 No. 1 hit for Mel Tillis that appeared on the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can. Glen Campbell had a top-10 hit with the film’s title tune. Tanya Tucker’s top-10 hit with “Pecos Promenade” was on the soundtrack of the 1980 Burt Reynolds movie Smokey & The Bandit II.
Vern Gosdin scored his first chart-topping hit with 1984’s “I Can Tell By the Way You Dance.” Anne Murray hit No. 1 with “Blessed Are the Believers” in 1981. The superstar duo of Ray Charles & Clint Eastwood charted with “Beers to You” in 1980.
He was born James Sanford Pinkard Jr. in 1947 and was an Air Force veteran during the Vietnam War. He was a member of the Masons and the Church of the Latter Day Saints.
Sandy Pinkard resided in Kingwood, West Virginia, where he died at home on Saturday, July 26. He is survived by his wife Lisa Ann Bennett, son Tom Maxwell, daughters Pamela Way and Mary Athalia Irwin, grandson Henry Stuart Irwin and brother Chris Pinkard.
A graveside service will be held at the West Virginia National Cemetery, at 42 Veterans Memorial Lane in Grafton, WV 26354, on Thursday, July 31, at 2:00 PM, where full military honors will be accorded. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Louis A Johnson VA Medical Center.
Designate checks to Veterans with Guitar Programs 1901, C/O Louis A Johnson VA Medical Center, Attention Voluntary Services, 1 Med Center Drive, Clarksburg, WV 26301.
Online condolences to www.kingwoodfuneralhomewv.com.
