Steel guitar great Ben Keith has died in Northern California at age 73. He reportedly suffered a heart attack. Born Bennett Keith Schaeufele, he grew up in Bowling Green, KY. He joined the Nashville Musicians Union at age 19 in 1956. A year later, he joined Faron Young’s band The Country Deputies. He rose to prominence as a Music Row session musician in the 1960s, notably playing the distinctive steel guitar lines in Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces.”

When Neil Young arrived in Nashville to be on Johnny Cash’s TV show in 1971, he lingered in the city to record his classic LP Harvest and its top-selling single “Heart of Gold.” Ben Keith played on both and was subsequently recruited to become a member of Young’s band. Ben Keith performed on such subsequent Young discs as Time Fades Away (1973), On the Beach (1974) and Tonight’s the Night (1975). He became Young’s co-producer on Comes a Time (1978) and Old Ways (1985). Keith’s steel guitar also backed such notables as Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Todd Rundgren, Ringo Starr, Linda Ronstadt and Crosby, Stills & Nash, among others. He produced Jewel’s million-selling breakthrough album Pieces of You in 1995.

Other Young albums on which Keith appeared include Harvest Moon, Greendale, Chrome Dreams II and Prairie Wind. He also worked on the solo CDs of the star’s singing wife, Pegi Young. At the time of his death on Monday, July 26, he and the Youngs
were still making music together.

Josh Turner and wife Jennifer revealed recently that they are expecting their third child in early 2011. The new baby will join sons Hampton, 3, and Colby, 1. Turner shared the news with People magazine, read the full story here.

Dierks Bentley and his wife Cassidy are also on the baby train, with their second child due this December. The new family member will join 21-month-old big sis Evie. More from People here.

Museum Director Kyle Young and Brenda Lee at last week’s luncheon where she announced her donation. Photo: Lee Rowe

Brenda Lee has given her priceless lifetime cache of career memorabilia to the permanent collection at the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum. The collection includes stage costumes, vintage photos, magazine cover stories in many languages, awards, show posters, advertisements, personal correspondence, a Brenda Lee comic book and paper doll set, and a trove of career-spanning audio and video documenting the life and international impact of the big-voiced and famously petite star, who earned her first chart hits at age 11. Lee’s gift is accompanied by a significant donation from Pat O’Leary, the star’s close friend and longtime fan.

Lee announced her gift last week at an informal lunch celebrating the success of the exhibit Brenda Lee: Dynamite, Presented by Great American Country Television Network, a biographical salute that included the donated items. The exhibit closed in June after a ten-month run. At least once a week, while the exhibit was open, Lee brought visiting friends and family to see her display and lingered to chat with astonished fans.

“I wasn’t so much honored by the exhibit, as by the fact that you wanted to do the exhibit,” Lee said. She thanked the Museum for an exhibit “that fulfilled my dream and captured me as an artist, a mother, a friend and a fan. [My husband] Ronnie and I are very pleased to leave our collection in your hands because this is the safest and best place for it. We were familiar with the Museum and respected your work before, but now, after having worked so closely with you, we see what others cannot see, and that is the tremendous talent, dedication, commitment, knowledge and daily hard work that has made you a great museum and a trustworthy repository for our history.”

“These special and incredibly important gifts from Brenda and Pat will help us to preserve Little Miss Dynamite’s own story and many other country music stories,” said Museum Director Kyle Young. “With these treasures, Brenda and Pat show us how both the past and the future should be respected in the present.”

Lee was accompanied at the luncheon by Ronnie Shacklett, her husband, manager and archivist; daughter Julie Clay and granddaughters Jordan Keene and Taylor Clay; and close friends Anna Page, State Representative Janis Sontany, Janet Wilcox, Pat O’Leary and Phil Plant. Also in attendance were Sarah Trahern, Senior Vice President, Programming, Great American Country; the Museum’s Chairman Emeritus E. W. “Bud” Wendell, Chairman Steve Turner and Board Member John Seigenthaler. In addition to Young, staff attending included Vice President of Museum Services Carolyn Tate, Curatorial Director Mick Buck, Vice President of Museum Programs Jay Orr and Senior Vice President of Public Relations Liz Thiels.

Larry Wayne Clark

•••• MusicRow contributor and songwriter Larry Wayne Clark and his wife Maggie Ross have started a blog to keep in touch with Nashville friends while they are living in New Brunswick, Canada for Clark to undergo cancer treatment. Maggie says, “We’re so grateful for everyone’s support.”

•••• The New York Post reports that Google Music executives have been meeting with the Harry Fox Agency, which could signal the music service is one step closer to launching before year’s end. Story here.

•••• Wynonna, her daughter, and her tour manager were in a head-on collision last week. They were treated at a hospital in Salt Lake City and released. Read more about the incident from TahoeDailyTribune.com.