Bluegrass Hall of Fame member and Grammy Award winner Roland White died at age 83 on April 1 following complications from a heart attack.

White was a top-flight mandolinist noted for his work in The Kentucky Colonels, Country Gazette and The Nashville Bluegrass Band. He was widely loved for his musical generosity, for his welcoming of newcomers, for his mentorship of youngsters and for being a kindly ambassador of Nashville music.

 

White was born in Maine, where he began his career in a band with his siblings. When he was 16, the family relocated to California. He and his guitarist brother Clarence White (1944-1973) formed The Kentucky Colonels in Burbank in 1954. It became one of the most influential bluegrass bands of the 1960s.

The Kentucky Colonels disbanded at the end of 1965, and Clarence White joined The Byrds. Roland White moved to Nashville and joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys for two years, 1967-69, then became a member of Lester Flatt’s band, The Nashville Grass in 1969-73. While in Flatt’s group, he was instrumental in recruiting as a band member the 13-year-old Marty Stuart, a fellow mandolinist.

Billed as The New Kentucky Colonels, the Whites’ original star-making group reorganized in 1973 and began touring again. The reunion was short lived. Clarence White was killed by a drunk driver while loading band equipment into his car following a concert.

Grief stricken Roland White carried on, becoming a member of the progressive bluegrass group Country Gazette in 1973-77. He became a part of the “founding family” of The Station Inn when it opened in 1974. The venue has since acquired a worldwide reputation as a bluegrass-music Mecca. White was a welcoming presence there, particularly after its relocation to The Gulch in Nashville in 1978.

J.T. Gray bought The Station Inn in 1981 and it became a proving ground for The Whites, Ricky Skaggs, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, Sam Bush and other up-and-comers. Roland White was their resident greeter. During this period, White also recorded solo albums in 1976 and 1984.

Bluegrass superstars began dropping into the venue, often after appearing on the Grand Ole Opry. Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, Peter Rowan and Bobby Osborne were known to stop by to pick and sing in the 1980s. Since then, a who’s-who of bluegrass has played at the club.

In 1989, Roland White became a member of The Nashville Bluegrass Band. During the next few years, he recorded five albums with the group, including the Grammy winning Watin’ for the Hard Times to Go (1994) and Unleashed (1996).

A singer and guitarist as well as a mandolin virtuoso, Roland White formed his own group in 2000. The Roland White Band recorded albums in 2003 and 2018.

He continued to sit in at Station Inn jam sessions. He curated an annual Bill Monroe Tribute night at the club and organized many benefit shows for musicians in need.

During his long career, White appeared on recordings with Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson, Clint Black, Ry Cooder, Marty Stuart, Alan Munde, Bernadette Peters, Ricky Skaggs, Valarie Smith, Stuart Duncan, David Grier, Gene Wooten, Glenn Duncan, Bobby Hicks, The Whites, Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Butch Robbins and many others.

Roland White was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017. His band The Kentucky Colonels was inducted in 2019.

He is survived by his wife and musical partner Diane Bouska, daughter Roline Hodge, son Lawrence Lee LeBlanc, sister Rosemarie Johnson, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild. There will be a visitation from 3-7 PM on Wednesday (April 6) at Spring Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5110 Gallatin Pike. A celebration of life will be organized at a future date.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the International Bluegrass Music Association Foundation at bluegrassfoundation.org.

Carolyn Tate, the former Sr. VP of Museum Services at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, passed away on March 3. She was 65.

A Nashville native, Tate had over 25 years of executive museum management experience at the Country Music Hall of Fame. She exited her role at the museum in March of 2018.

Tate fulfilled two tenures at the museum. From 1986 until 1994, she took on the role of Production and Advertising Manager, where she was responsible for copywriting, creative direction and editorial supervision. She also managed the production of books, magazines, and historical albums.

During her second term at the Museum, Tate supervised a collection of over 2 million artifacts, the exhibition program, digitization program, the Frist Archive and Library and special construction projects. She also served as project manager for the $100 million addition to the museum completed in 2014, which added state-of-the-art archives for the collection and additional exhibition and event space to the facility. Tate also supervised Hatch Show Print, the Taylor Swift Education Center, special projects, public programming and various development projects.

Tate’s career also included stints at LooneyRicksKiss, an architectural firm in Memphis, where she served as Director of Museum Services and supervised the design of the STAX Museum. She also directed the Museum Services Division at 1220 Exhibits in Nashville, where she worked on design, fabrication and installation of many public and private museum projects.

Tate is preceded by her father, Charles E. Tate; sister, Mary Gail Tate; and uncle, Terry Lee Davidson. She is survived by her mother, Norma Davidson Tate; aunt, Carolyn Davidson Oldham (James); niece, Rebakah Jean; nephew, Adam Lee; and cousin, Seth Lee.

The visitation is this afternoon (March 18) from 2 – 4 p.m. at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home & Woodlawn Memorial Park (660 Thompson Ln, Nashville, Tenn. 37204).

Country songwriter Bruce Burch, who wrote such hits as Reba McEntire’s “Rumor Has It” and “It’s Your Call,” died on Saturday, March 12. He was 69.

Burch fought a nearly 30-year battle with leukemia. According to a news source out of Burch’s home town of Gainesville, Georgia, his health had worsened before his death on Saturday.

In addition to his two hit singles for McEntire, Burch wrote many other songs for artists including T. Graham Brown, Faith Hill, Aaron Tippin, The Oak Ridge Boys, George Jones, Barbara Mandrell, John Anderson and Wayne Newton, among others. He published a book in 1996 about his music career called Songs that Changed Our Lives, in which he shares stories about his songs.

The Georgia native helped establish an annual concert series in Gainesville originally known as the “Bruce Burch & Friends Honor John Jarrard Concert.” The benefit shows have raised money for local nonprofits over the past 20 years through the John Jarrard Foundation, including for Good News Clinics, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hall County and the Georgia Mountain Food Bank. Burch grew up with Jarrard, a fellow songwriter and Georgia Music Hall of Famer, who died of complications related to diabetes in 2001.

In 2012, Burch started teaching entertainment business classes at Brenau University after he helped start music business programs at the University of Georgia and Kennesaw State University. He also operated his own publishing companies, worked for EMI Publishing, and worked as an artist manager.

Burch is survived by his daughter, Sarah Stenzel; his son, Matthew Burch; as well as his four grandchildren, Lucy and Maisy Stenzel and Jack and Walter Burch.

Singer-songwriter Jimbeau Hinson passed away on Friday afternoon (March 4) at age 70.

He wrote hits for such artists as The Oak Ridge Boys, Kathy Mattea, David Lee Murphy, Brenda Lee, John Conlee and Steve Earle. Hinson was also widely loved as a Nashville nightclub entertainer. He starred as the subject of a 2013 documentary film, was an HIV/AIDS activist and became a mentor to numerous younger artists.

He was also one of the songwriting community’s most colorful personalities. The Mississippi native was born James Leon Hinson Jr. in 1951. The son of a mechanic and a waitress, the self-taught pianist became a performer at age 10. He entertained at local barn dances, talent contests, regional fairs and honky-tonks.

At age 11, he had his own radio show in his hometown of Newton, Mississippi.

Country superstar Loretta Lynn discovered him when he was 14. Hinson’s father had taken him to a Lynn concert, and they talked their way backstage. After hearing him, she brought the youngster onstage to sing and invited him to Nashville.

She introduced him to her mentors, The Wilburn Brothers, and they signed him to their song-publishing company. Hinson moved to Nashville at age 16 and became part of the Wilburns’ road show, touring with Hank Williams Jr., Kitty Wells, Faron Young, Wanda Jackson, Charley Pride and other notables.

Country singer Anthony Armstrong Jones recorded Hinson’s “Sugar in the Flowers” in 1970, and it earned the teenager his first ASCAP award. Jones recorded for Chart Records, which signed “Jimmy Hinson” to its roster. His three singles for the label failed to chart. However, fellow Chart artist Lynn Anderson became another singer who recorded his early songs.

He next became affiliated with the Royal American label and its executive, Dick Heard. The company’s Mel Street recorded the Hinson/Heard song “Angel With a Broken Wing” in 1972. When Broadway legend Carol Channing came to Nashville in 1973, she recorded three of their songs.

Jimbeau Hinson was openly bisexual, which limited any further opportunities as a country recording artist in the 1970s. Instead, he concentrated on his talent as a lyricist.

The Oak Ridge Boys hired him to work at their publishing company, and within six months, Hinson was managing it. Brenda Lee scored a hit with the songwriter’s “Find Yourself Another Puppet” in 1976, the first of four singles he wrote for her. The others were “Don’t Promise Me Anything Do It” (1980), “Broken Trust” (top 10, 1980) and “Just for the Moment” (1982).

The last two were Brenda Lee vocal collaborations with the Oaks, for whom Hinson co-wrote the chart-topping “Fancy Free” in 1981. The song has now been programmed more than two million times on radio.

The group also recorded Hinson’s “Let Me Be the One,” which was revived by Randy Gurley in 1978 and became a duet by Billy Walker & Barbara Fairchild the following year. In 1986, The Oak Ridge Boys turned Hinson’s “When You Give It Away” into a Christmas favorite, and their albums contain more than a dozen of his songs.

Jimbeau Hinson married Brenda Fielder in 1980. She was familiar to Nashvillians as the TV spokesperson for her family’s home-renovation business. Their relationship became known as one of the great Music Row love stories.

During the next few years, Hinson wrote songs recorded by Porter Wagoner, Rita Coolidge, Atlanta, The Goldens, Floyd Cramer, Tammy Wynette and others.

Steve Earle became a regular songwriting collaborator. He charted with their “Hillbilly Highway” in 1986, and it was later revived by Ricky Skaggs (1997). Connie Smith charted with the Earle/Hinson song “A Far Cry From You” in 1985, which was revived by Rhonda Vincent in 1990.

Hinson also began collaborating with David Lee Murphy. Their “Red Roses (Won’t Work Now)” was recorded by Reba McEntire in 1985. Although never a single, this song became a big fan favorite at her concerts.

John Conlee returned Jimbeau Hinson to the country top-10 by issuing “Harmony” in 1986. Kathy Mattea did the same with her hit treatment of “Train of Memories” in 1987. Also making the charts were Patty Loveless with his song “After All” (1987) and Larry Boone with “Don’t Give Candy to a Stranger” (1988, another top 10 hit).

Jimbeau Hinson emerged as a Music City club attraction via a series of showcases in 1986, capped by an annual Christmas show dubbed “Mistletoe Time With Jimbeau.” His warmth, soulful singing, raconteur humor and showmanship made him an audience favorite.

He competed on TV’s Star Search in 1987-88, beating future country star Billy Dean during the show’s early rounds and making it to the finals.

But these events came at a difficult personal time for Jimbeau Hinson. The Oaks sold their publishing company, rendering him temporarily “jobless.” In 1985, he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, which in those days was practically a death sentence. He spent the next 10 years battling the disease. By 1996 he weighed a skeletal 110 pounds, slipped into a coma and nearly died.

David Lee Murphy aided him financially by scoring a 1995 top 10 hit with their co-written “Party Crowd.” It was named the country airplay single of the year by Radio & Records.

Hinson miraculously regained his health. Between 1999 and 2010, he reactivated his songwriting career with recordings of his songs by Tracy Lawrence, Lee Greenwood, Alecia Nugent, Rodney Crowell, Michael Peterson, Ty Herndon, Billy Burnette, Sonya Isaacs and more than a dozen independent country artists he mentored. The Lost Trailers charted with his “Why Me” on BNA Records in 2006.

He formed his own American Romance record label. In 2001-2002, Jimbeau Hinson released An American Romance and A Dozen American Beauties for My One and Only Rose as albums on his label. Both were dedicated to Brenda, who was pictured on their CD jackets with him.

He also became an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness. Songs based on his survival formed the backbone of his 2013 album Strong Medicine.

That CD inspired the creation of Beautiful Jim, a documentary film by Rex Jones based on Hinson’s life. The movie was screened at the 2014 Nashville Film Festival and became an audience favorite at other festivals.

At the time of his passing, Hinson was working on an autobiography titled The All of Everything in the Life and Times of Jimbeau Hinson.

According to publicist and friend Schatzi Hageman, Jimbeau Hinson underwent quadruple bypass heart surgery on June 30. While in recovery, he suffered a stroke on July 1. He apparently had another stroke last week while in Hospice care.

Jimbeau Hinson is survived by Brenda Fielder, his wife of 42 years, by sisters Cindee Sorrels of Nashville, TN and Beth Allgood of Decatur, MS and brother Mike Hinson of Hickory, MS, and by several nieces and nephews. A Celebration of Life is being planned and will be announced at a later date.