Known for such hits as “Jackson,” “The Reverend Mr. Black” and “Coward of the County,” Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Billy Edd Wheeler died in North Carolina on Monday (Sept. 16) at age 91.

In addition to being an award-winning songwriter, Wheeler was a playwright, an author, a painter and a poet. He was also a former Music Row publishing executive.

Billy Edd Wheeler was born in 1932 in the coal-mining country of West Virginia. He began playing guitar and writing songs at age 12. He left home at age 16 to work his way through high school in North Carolina. In 1955, he earned his university degree at Berea, Kentucky, then served in the U.S. Navy. Following his discharge, Wheeler worked in administration at Berea College.

In 1958, teen idol Pat Boone recorded his song “Rockin’ Boll Weevil,” his firs taste of songwriting success. Wheeler also launched his recording career while at Berea. He made two folk-music albums for the small Monitor label. The second, 1962’s Billy Earl and Bluegrass Too, featured legendary Coon Creek Girls members Lily May Pennington and Rosie Foley in trio performances with him billed as The Berea Three.

He enrolled in the Yale School of Drama’s playwright program, then moved from New Haven to Manhattan to pursue his music career. In 1963, the superstar folk group The Kingston Trio made Wheeler’s song “The Reverend Mr. Black” a top 10 pop hit. Later that year, the act scored again with the songwriter’s “Desert Pete” and introduced his miner’s classic “Coal Tattoo.” The latter song has been recorded by a dozen others, including Judy Collins, Jim Croce and Kathy Mattea.

Similarly, folk singer Judy Henske’s introduction of Wheeler’s “High Flying Bird” in 1963 led to the song’s embrace by Richie Havens, The New Christy Minstrels, We Five, Jefferson Airplane, Neil Young and more. Also in 1963, Hank Snow recorded “Blue Roses,” introducing Billy Edd Wheeler’s songwriting to the country music community.

Kapp Records signed him in 1964, and the following year, he delivered “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back” as a top 10 country smash. This became his biggest success as a performer. He had an even bigger hit as a songwriter when Johnny Cash & June Carter released his “Jackson” as a duet in 1967. Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood recorded it for the pop market and also scored with it. “Jackson” was recorded by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for the Oscar-winning 2005 movie Walk the Line.

Billy Edd Wheeler moved to Nashville in 1968 to become the manager of United Artists Music. But he returned to North Carolina two years later to make a home and raise a family in Swannanoa.

He published poetry books in 1969 and 1977. Billy Edd Wheeler also continued to work in theater. As a playwright, he was behind more than a dozen musical and dramatic productions. In 1970, The Hatfields and McCoys premiered as an outdoor drama written by him. It has been running continuously in West Virginia ever since. Wheeler’s Young Abe Lincoln outdoor drama premiered in Indiana in 1987, and his Johnny Appleseed premiered in Ohio in 2004. Both are also still running. The National Geographic Society commissioned his folk opera Song of the Cumberland Gap.

Country stars Johnny Darrell (“I Ain’t Buyin’”) and Hank Williams Jr. (“A Baby Again”) succeeded with his tunes in 1968-69. Then Cash returned to his catalog to score a big top 10 hit with 1969’s “Blistered.” Anita Carter & Johnny Darrell memorably dueted on his “The Coming of the Roads” in 1969, and the mountain song has also been sung by Kathy Mattea, Mary Hopkin, Judy Collins and Peter, Paul & Mary, among others

Songwriting success continued in the 1970s. Wheeler’s “Baby’s Smile, Woman’s Kiss” (1972), “It’s Midnight” (1975) and “Gimme Back My Blues” (1978) were winners for Johnny Duncan, Elvis Presley and Jerry Reed, respectively. In 1979, “Coward of the County” became a chart-topping smash for Kenny Rogers on both country and pop hit parades. It inspired a successful TV movie starring Rogers in 1981.

Meanwhile, Kapp, United Artists, RCA and other labels continued to release charting singles by Wheeler throughout the 1970s. He issued 15 albums between 1961 and 2006.

“Coward of the County” was co-written with Roger Bowling, who became a steady songwriting collaborator. Beginning in 1980, Bowling issued a string of charting singles containing their co-written songs. Also in 1980, Roy Clark had a hit with the team’s “Chain Gang of Love.”

Another regular songwriting collaborator was Country Music Hall of Fame member Chet Atkins. Wheeler commemorated their friendship with his 1995 album Songs I Wrote with Chet. Over the years, Wheeler’s songs have been recognized with 13 ASCAP awards in Music City.

Beginning with Laughter in Appalachia in 1986, Billy Edd Wheeler published six books of country humor. Star of Appalachia was published as his debut novel in 2004. He issued his memoir Hotter Than a Pepper Sprout in 2018, which contained an appreciation written by his longtime friend Janis Ian. Wheeler also published three songbooks. In addition, Billy Edd Wheeler became an accomplished painter, sculptor and wood worker.

More than 150 artists have recorded his songs. Country’s Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn, Mel Tillis, John Denver, George Strait, Carl Perkins, Hazel Dickens, Glen Campbell, Merle Haggard, Faron Young, George Hamilton IV, Del Reeves, Rex Allen, Jean Shepard, Flatt & Scruggs, Ed Bruce, Bill Anderson, Wanda Jackson, Narvel Felts, Vernon Oxford, Charlie McCoy, Stella Parton and Jerry Lee Lewis are among the many stars who have sung the works of Billy Edd Wheeler. In the pop world, he had cuts by Bobby Darin, The Association, Florence & The Machine, Jose Feliciano, The Chipmunks, Jay & The Americans, Gram Parsons, R.E.M., Lone Justice, Stephen Stills, B.W. Stevenson, The Human League, Lonnie Donegan, Carly Simon, O.C. Smith and more. His songs have sold an estimated 57 million records.

Wheeler was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001, the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

“The world has lost a treasure, a character, and a wonderful example of a life lived with beautiful authenticity,” eulogized Kathy Mattea yesterday. “I feel lucky to have known him.”

Billy Edd Wheeler passed away peacefully at his home. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Mary Bannerman Wheeler, by daughter Lucy Wheeler, son Travis Wheeler and brother Robert Stewart.

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Will Jennings passed away on Sept. 6 at age 80.

The lyricist wrote classic country hits and had massive pop success. He won multiple Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe awards for such iconic songs as “Up Where We Belong,” “Tears in Heaven” “My Heart Will Go On” and “Higher Love.”

Will Jennings was a native Texan who began his professional career as an English professor in Nacogdoches and then at The University of Wisconsin. He moved to Nashville to pursue songwriting in 1971. He was signed by Almo-Irving Music in 1974. The publisher’s Music Row office was his base of operations in Nashville throughout his career.

Jennings’ first songwriting success was 1974’s “Keep On Lovin’ Me,” which rose to No. 23 on the country charts thanks to Johnny Paycheck’s recording of it. The songwriter’s first big hit was 1975’s “Feelin’s,” sung by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. Johnny Cash and June Carter had a hit with “Old Time Feeling” in 1976. His lyrics were subsequently recorded by Emmylou Harris, The Bellamy Brothers, Amy Grant, Brady Seals, BeBe & CeCe Winans, Diamond Rio, Freddy Fender, Glen Campbell, Peter Frampton, Tompall Glaser, B.J. Thomas, The Oak Ridge Boys, Janie Fricke, Dobie Gray, Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, Ronnie Milsap, Tracy Nelson, Barbara Mandrell and Clint Black, among other Nashville acts.

One of his songwriting collaborators persuaded Jennings to move to L.A. The lyricist first tasted pop-music success when Helen Reddy took his co-written “Somewhere in the Night” into the top 20 in 1977. Shortly afterward, Jennings had a No. 1 pop smash with Barry Manilow’s version of “Looks Like We Made It.” The following year, Manilow revived “Somewhere in the Night” and made it a top 10 hit. In 1979, The Crusaders scored with his “Street Life,” featuring a vocal by Randy Crawford.

Also in 1979, Dionne Warwick revived her career with the million selling and Grammy winning “I’ll Never Love This Way Again.” Jennings also co-wrote her 1980 hit “No Night So Long.” This began the decade in which he achieved his greatest successes.The Crusaders returned to his catalog for 1981’s “I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today,” featuring a vocal by Joe Cocker. That is the same year that Jennings formed a songwriting partnership with Steve Winwood. Their cowritten pop hits included “While You See a Chance” (1981), “Still in the Game” (1982), the Grammy winning “Higher Love” (1986), “The Finer Things” (1987), “Back in the High Life Again” (1987), “Valerie” (1987), “Roll With It” (1988), “Don’t You Know What the Night Can Do” (1988) and “Holding On” (1989).

Will Jennings moved into movie soundtrack work. The 1982 Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes smash “Up Where We Belong” was the theme song for An Officer and a Gentleman. Co-written by Jennings with Buffy Sainte-Marie and Jack Nitzche, it won a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for best motion-picture song of the year. The songwriter also contributed to the soundtracks of The Competition (1980), The Commitment (1976), The Land Before Time (1988) and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991).

In the early 1980s, Jennings began cowriting songs with Jimmy Buffett for use on the albums Coconut Telegraph (1981), Riddles in the Sand (1984) and Last Mango in Paris (1985). Five of their songs went onto the country hit parade in 1984-85 —“When the Wild Life Betrays Me,” “Who’s the Blonde Stranger,” “Gypsies in the Palace,” “Please Bypass This Heart” and the top 20 hit “If the Phone Doesn’t Ring It’s Me.”

Much of Buffett’s music was recorded in Nashville, and Jennings continued his songwriting trips to Music City. He began collaborating with Rodney Crowell in 1989. Crowell scaled the country charts with their cowritten 1989 top 10 hit “Many a Long and Lonesome Highway.” The team went on to make the country charts with Rodney’s singles of “What Kind of Love” (1989) and “Please Remember Me” (1995).

Returning to soundtrack work, Jennings and Eric Clapton co-wrote “Tears in Heaven,” and it was used in the film Rush. Clapton’s 1992 performance of the song sold a million and earned its creators a Grammy Song of the Year honor, as well as a Golden Globe award.

In 1998, Will Jennings achieved new prominence due to his lyrics for “My Heart Will Go On,” the theme song of the movie blockbuster Titanic. As a single, it hit No. 1 for Celine Dion and earned multiple Grammy Awards, It also earned Jennings his second Oscar for Song of the Year from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Meanwhile back in Nashville, Tim McGraw brought back “Please Remember Me” in 1999. This time, the Cowell/Jennings song became a No. 1 country smash that endured on the charts for half the year and remained at the top of the country hit parade for five weeks. McGraw’s wife, Faith Hill, recorded the Jennings co-written “Where Are You Christmas” for the soundtrack of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Her 2000 single of the song has become a holiday perennial, as has Mariah Carey’s version.

His ultra-romantic lyrics were particularly favored by female stylists. Bette Midler, Diana Ross, Anne Murray, Joan Osborne, Patti LaBelle, Juice Newton, Dorothy Moore, Bonnie Raitt, Etta James, Millie Jackson, Nancy Wilson, Rita Coolidge, Kim Carnes, Shirley Bassey, Linda Ronstadt, Nicole Kidman and Vanessa Williams all recorded his works. His songs were also on albums by The Lettermen, B.B. King, Color Me Badd, Steve Ray Vaughan, Aaron Neville, Bill Withers, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Sam & Dave, Ry Cooder, Tom Jones, Warren Zevon, Roy Orbison, Peter Wolf, Paul Anka and Christopher Cross.

Will Jennings was inducted into the national Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006 in New York City. The lyricist was always widely liked on Music Row. He was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2013.

He is survived by his wife of 59 years, the former Carole Thurman and by two sisters, Joyce and Gloria.

Billy Sherrill, the engineer who was behind the board for hits recorded by Kenny Rogers, Kenny Chesney, The Chicks, The Marshall Tucker Band and many more, passed away on Tuesday (Sept. 10). He was 77.

Born in west Tennessee and raised for most of his childhood in Paducah, Kentucky, Sherrill was in bands in high school and college. He first got a taste of the recording world when he and the band recorded in a friend’s studio in Benton, Kentucky.

Having connected with Music Row engineer Scotty Morris, Sherrill headed to Nashville after college. Morris introduced him to Thomas Wayne, and Sherrill began to help Wayne set up the studio that became Sound Shop. Soon, Sherrill was making tape copies for publishers on Music Row.

While working at Sound Shop, Sherrill met producer/songwriter Larry Butler, who invited him to work on his first real recording session for Jean Shepard’s “Slippin’ Away” (1973). The record hit the top five on the country charts and garnered more work for Sherrill. It also marked the beginning of his and Butler’s long relationship.

Together the pair worked on hit records for Dottie West, Billie Jo Spears, Ed Bruce, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich, Mac Davis, Mickey Gilley, John Denver, Paul Anka and more. When Butler bought Jack Clement’s studio, Sherrill followed him.

Butler produced and Sherrill engineered many of Kenny Rogers’ hits, including “Lucille,” “She Believes In Me,” “The Gambler,” “Love Or Something Like It,” “You Decorated My Life” and “Coward of the County.”

Eventually Sherrill went out on his own. He engineered more hit records such as The Chicks’ Grammy-winning Fly album, and a lot of Kenny Chesney’s early work, like hits “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” and “That’s Why I’m Here.” He also served as the sound mixer for the Grand Ole Opry for several years.

In 2019, the Audio Engineering Society (AES) presented Sherrill with a Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in Studio Recording & Mixing. He was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame the same year.

Billy Sherrill is survived by his wife, Susan, daughter Chandler Nicole and son David.

A visitation for Billy Sherrill will take place on Friday (Sept. 20) from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday (Sept. 21) from 2 p.m. until a service will commence at 4 p.m. at Brook Hollow Baptist Church (678 Brook Hollow Road, Nashville, TN 37205).

In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made in Sherrill’s honor to The Musicians Hall of Fame or Brook Hollow Baptist Church.

Steve Kaspar, the Owner and CEO of KFAV-FM, KWRE-AM and Kaspar Broadcasting of Missouri, passed away on Wednesday (Sept. 4) after a sudden trip to the emergency room. He was 71.

KFAV is a MusicRow CountryBreakout Radio Chart panelist.

In addition to Kaspar’s work in radio, he was also an accomplished musician and songwriter. He was known as a believer in community, a passionate pet lover and a proud patriot.

Kaspar is survived by his wife of 45 years, Pat; three sons Ryan, Alex and Trevor; daughter-in-law Lafayette; granddaughters Lillian and Olivia and brothers Russell and Vic Kaspar.

Funeral arrangements and a special radio memorial service are pending.