Great Escape Record Retailer Gary Walker Dies

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Multi-faceted country music figure Gary Walker passed away on Wednesday (July 8) at age 87.

He is best known to today’s music fans as the founder of the record store and comic book chain The Great Escape. Walker had earlier careers as a hit songwriter, a recording artist, a manager, a publisher, a record producer, a song plugger, a record label executive and a studio owner.

He began his journey in the music business while he was still a college student in his native Missouri. Walker and Porter Wagoner co-wrote “That’s It,” which Wagoner released as a single on RCA in early 1953.

Gary Walker subsequently became a highly successful songwriter in Music City. Among his top-10 hits were “Trademark” by Carl Smith (1953), “According to My Heart” by Jim Reeves (1956) and “Repenting” by Kitty Wells (1957).

He also wrote songs covered by George Morgan (“Look What Followed Me Home Tonight”), Webb Pierce (“One Week Later,” with Kitty Wells), pre-teen Brenda Lee (“Doodle Bug Rag”) and several other top names.

Success as a songwriter led to Walker’s recording contract with MGM Records. In 1957-58, he issued a trio of now collectible singles on the label—“Everybody’s Gotta Go Sometime”/It’s Only a Matter of Time,” “Makin’ Up With You”/”Then I Think of You” and “Runaway Heart”/”Pretty Patty.”

He gave up his recording aspirations to become a studio entrepreneur. He co-owned Reavis Studio, which became Fidelity Recording. This is where many aspiring acts recorded for the independent labels that sprang up to service the teen rockabilly market of the late 1950s.

Gary Walker next pioneered the profession of Nashville song plugger by representing a number of songwriters as well as several out-of-town music publishers. He notably represented Atlanta’s Lowery Music, whose songwriting stable included Jerry Reed, Joe South, Ray Stevens, Freddy Weller and Mac Davis. His successes for the firm included “Misery Loves Company” (Porter Wagoner), “That’s All You Gotta Do” (Brenda Lee) and “Walk On By” (Leroy Van Dyke).

During the 1960s, he branched out into record production. Walker produced sides for Sonny James, Bill Carlisle, Bobby Russell and Lynn Anderson, among others.

In 1964, Walker founded the Chart Records label. Its roster eventually included Anderson, Johnny Bush and Billy “Crash” Craddock, among others. Most of the label’s success occurred after he sold it to Cliff Williamson.

Walker next managed singer Sandy Posey. Her big pop hits of 1966-67 were “Born a Woman,” “Single Girl,” “What a Woman in Love Won’t Do” and “I Take It Back.”

He also continued to work as a song plugger. During the 1970s, he represented the catalogs of Painted Desert Music and Screen Gems. He later took on the posthumous catalog of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Don Wayne.

As a hobby, he began selling records and comics at flea markets and mall shows. The pastime eventually led him to open The Great Escape in 1977. The store has become a beloved Nashville icon.

The Great Escape deals in used records, comic books and pop-culture memorabilia. Its headquarters is a large storefront on Charlotte Avenue. Branches were established in Madison and Murfreesboro, as well as Bowling Green, KY and Louisville, KY. In 2000, The Great Escape Online was added to the retail chain.

Charming and talkative, Gary Walker could often be found in the stores chatting with customers and sharing anecdotes about his life with history-minded record collectors. After selling the retail chain in late 2017, Walker focused his energy on The Great Escape Music Group. It includes three publishing companies and a record label, Great Escape Records, which has had some success in the bluegrass music field.

He was proud of his Ozark County roots. He and his family regularly attended the annual Walker family reunions held in Missouri, most recently in 2019 in Branson.

Gary Ray Walker passed away at Vanderbilt Hospital. He is survived by his wife, Peggy, son Greg and daughter Karen, as well as many relations in the extended Walker family in Missouri.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Clinkingbeard Funeral Home in Gainesville, MO. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a memorial service will be delayed until a later time. A small graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, July 13, at Lilly Ridge Cemetery near Gainesville. Those attending are asked to maintain social distancing and wear face coverings.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Woodmont Christian Church Capital Campaign, 3601 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37215, or to the charity of the giver’s choice.

Country Music Hall of Fame Member Charlie Daniels Passes

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Charlie Daniels. Photo: Erick Anderson

Charlie Daniels, one of American music’s most eclectic artists and colorful personalities, died on Monday morning (July 6) at age 83.

He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the cast of the Grand Ole Opry. One of the mainstays of Southern rock music, he was also adept at bluegrass, gospel, honky-tonk and folk styles. He was a sideman for Bob Dylan, a songwriter for Elvis Presley, a top bandleader and a noted philanthropist. During his career, he sold more than 13 million albums, wrote giant hit songs and collected Grammy, Dove, CMA, BMI and ACM awards.

His “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” was a smash on both pop and country hit parades in 1979. He has also charted more than 35 other titles. Since 1974, he has hosted a series of world-famous, multi-act, multi-genre Volunteer Jam concert marathons in Nashville.

For many, Charlie Daniels personified the South. He was a lifelong iconoclast who marched to nobody’s drummer. He was a rugged individualist who never followed trends. He carved his own way through the music business, beholding to no one and embracing rock, country and blues in equal measure.

Born in 1936, he is the only child of a North Carolina lumberman. Raised on a diet of Pentecostal gospel music, he began playing guitar and writing songs at age 14. By the time he hit high school, he’d picked up mandolin and fiddle and formed his first band, the bluegrass ensemble The Misty Mountain Boys.

Charlie Daniels poses at “The 50th Annual CMA Awards” in 2016, the same year he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Photo Credit: Joseph Llanes

But in addition to hearing the Flatt & Scruggs bluegrass radio show on WPFT in Raleigh, he listened to the nighttime blues broadcasts of Nashville’s WLAC radio. At one fiddle convention, he and his band played Lavern Baker’s 1955 r&b hit “Tweedlee Dee” and drove the crowd wild.

Daniels graduated from high school later that year. Nine months later, Elvis Presley turned the music world upside down. Charlie Daniels caught rock & roll fever and bought an electric guitar and an amplifier. That summer, he and his band The Rockets began entertaining in the beer joints that serviced the Camp Lejeune marine base. They played the tunes of Elvis, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and rock’s other founding fathers.

The group graduated to the clubs of Washington, D.C. and landed a guest spot at the Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond, VA. In 1959, Daniels and his band recorded an instrumental called “Jaguar” that was nationally distributed by Epic Records. Now billed as The Jaguars, the group toured as far afield as Texas and California.

After The Jaguars were kaput, Daniels migrated to El Paso, TX and worked in a group called The Jesters. Meanwhile, one of his marine friends named Bob Johnson had settled in Nashville. Charlie Daniels visited him in Music City in 1962, and the two co-wrote a few tunes together. The Daniels/Johnson song “It Hurts Me” was recorded by Elvis in 1964 and became a top-30 hit.

By now a record producer, Johnson summoned Daniels back to Nashville in 1967 and began using him as a guitarist on recording sessions by Marty Robbins, Claude King, Johnny Cash and other country stars. At the time, Nashville was rapidly diversifying, so Daniels also worked on records by Pete Seeger, Leonard Cohen, Al Kooper and Ringo Starr. Most famously, he played on Bob Dylan’s Nashville LPs Nashville Skyline, New Morning and Self Portrait in 1969-70.

Charlie Daniels. Photo: Matt Barnes

Daniels became a record producer, himself, starting with The Youngbloods 1969-70 LPs Elephant Mountain and Ride the Wind. He staged his own album debut with a self-titled collection issued by Capitol Records in 1970. The record went nowhere.

He formed the Charlie Daniels Band and signed with Kama Sutra Records. In 1973, the group scored a top-10 pop hit with the “talking blues” hippie number “Uneasy Rider.” Two years later, the band returned with its Southern-rock anthems “The South’s Gonna Do It” and “Long Haired Country Boy,” the latter noted for its “outlaw” defiance and references to pot smoking.

Those two songs were cornerstones of Fire on the Mountain, the first album to truly express his artistic spirit. In order to capture the band’s sizzling, extended “jamming” style for that album, Daniels booked Municipal Auditorium for a live recording session. The Allman Brothers happened to be in town. That group and The Marshall Tucker Band joined him, and the first Volunteer Jam was born.

“Texas,” a track from the LP Nightrider, became a surprise top-40 country hit in 1976. It helped to identify Daniels with the “outlaw” movement surging in Nashville in the mid-1970s.

But Daniels still identified with rock more than country. He was signed as a pop act by Epic Records in 1976. His reported $3 million contract made history for a Nashville act at the time. At least part of the reason for that was the band’s reputation as a concert attraction. The CDB was playing more than 200 dates a year by then, developing a reputation for two-and-a-half hour performances that drove audiences into a frenzy. Taz DiGregorio’s keyboards, Charlie Hayward’s bass, Tommy Crain’s guitar and the double drumming by Fred Edwards and Don Murray completed Charlie Daniels’ blistering sonic attack as the band rampaged relentlessly across America.

Pictured: Vern Gosdin, Charlie Daniels, and Carl Perkins. Photo: Beth Gwinn

Producer John Boylan joined the band on the road and became convinced that his task was to capture that energy in the studio. In 1978, he convened the CDB at Woodland Sound in East Nashville. Everything came together on the resulting LP Million Mile Reflections and its massive pop and country hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

Both the song and the band were featured in the movie blockbuster Urban Cowboy. The CDB LP Full Moon, released in 1980, spawned “In America” as the group’s second major crossover hit. “The Legend of Wooly Swamp” (1980), “Carolina” (1981) and the CDB version of “Sweet Home Alabama” (1981) straddled both rock and country playlists. In 1982, “Still in Saigon” became the band’s final big pop hit.

Meanwhile, the Volunteer Jam had become an annual event that attracted jazz musicians, R&B stars, pop headliners, classical musicians, country kings and queens, gospel performers and rockers. Charlie Daniels is unique as a person who has collaborated at these musical marathons with Willie Nelson, B.B. King, Garth Brooks, Pat Boone, Roy Acuff, Little Richard, Ted Nugent, James Brown, Emmylou Harris, Woody Herman, Billy Joel, Amy Grant, Don Henley, Duane Eddy, The Oak Ridge Boys, Leon Russell, Tanya Tucker, Eugene Fodor, Solomon Burke, The Judds, Bill Monroe, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Vince Gill, Steppenwolf, Kris Kristofferson, Black Oak Arkansas, George Thorogood and Tammy Wynette.

The event has been broadcast worldwide on radio, been viewed as a national TV special, served as a T.J. Martel cancer benefit, become a series of record albums and been part of the Jerry Lewis Telethon.

Daniels took up a long residence on the country charts in the mid-1980s. His biggest country hits included “American Farmer” (1985), “Still Hurtin’ Me” (1986), “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye” (1986), “Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues” (1988), “Simple Man” (1989), “Mister DJ” (1990), “(What This World Needs Is) A Few More Rednecks” (1990), “All Night Long” (with Montgomery Gentry, 2000) and “This Ain’t No Rag It’s the Flag” (2001).

Charlie Daniels (right) and Brad Paisley (left) perform at LP Field in downtown Nashville on June 9, 2013 during CMA Fest. Photo Credit: John Russell/CMA

Along the way, Charlie Daniels became an American music icon. His huge bulk, 6’4” frame and wide-brimmed cowboy hat formed an indelible image for millions. The public has also been attracted by his plain-spoken honesty, just-folks humility, no-bull attitude and open-hearted kindness, not to mention that indefinable something known as charisma.

To date, he has earned nine Gold, Platinum or multi-Platinum albums. His album Super Hits went double Platinum, Million Mile Reflection earned triple Platinum status, and A Decade of Hits reached quadruple Platinum.

“The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” earned him a string of honors. The song was named CMA Single of the Year in 1979 and earned the Charlie Daniels Band a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Daniels was also named CMA Instrumentalist of the Year in 1979, while the Charlie Daniels Band won CMA Instrumental Group of the Year Awards in 1979 and 1980.

Daniels was heavily involved in charity work to benefit cancer research, muscular dystrophy research and work to aid farmers as well as those with physical and mental challenges. For more than 20 years, he also led the annual Christmas 4 Kids charity to help provide children in the Middle Tennessee area with toys and gifts for Christmas.

He was a strong supporter of the military and offered his time and talent to causes including The Journey Home Project, which he founded in 2014 with his manager David Corlew, to help veterans of the United States Armed Forces.

2016 Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Fred Foster, Charlie Daniels and Randy Travis. Photo: John Russell/CMA

Daniels was named a BMI Icon in 2005. He received the Spirit of America Free Speech Award from the Americana Music Association in 2006. He joined the Grand Ole Opry cast in 2008 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016.He passed away at Summit Medical Center in Hermitage, Tennessee. Doctors determined the cause of death was a hemorrhagic stroke.

Charlie Daniels is survived by his wife Hazel and his son, Charlie Daniels Jr. Funeral arrangements will be announced in the coming days.

Charlie Daniels takes a picture with a fan at an autograph session during the 23rd Annual Fan Fair 1994, The World’s Biggest Country Music Festival in downtown Nashville. Photo Credit: Steven Goldstein/CMA

Standout Guitarist Pete Carr Passes

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Musicians Hall of Fame member Pete Carr died on Saturday (June 27) at age 70.

Based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, he was unique in that musical community in that he succeeded as a session guitarist, record producer, engineer, songwriter and recording artist. Carr played lead guitar in the Fame and Muscle Shoals Sounds studios, backing Bob Seger, Joan Baez, Paul Simon, Rod Stewart, The Staple Singers, Wilson Pickett, Joe Cocker, Paul Anka, Kim Carnes and dozens of others.

Among the many Nashville artists that Carr backed are Hank Williams Jr., Becky Hobbs, Dobie Gray, Willie Nelson, Paul Davis, Billy Swan, Narvel Felts, Russell Smith and Marie Osmond.

As a member of the pop group LeBlanc & Carr with Lenny LeBlanc, he had a big hit with “Falling” in 1977. He was also a member of the 1979 group Boatz featuring lead singer Thom Flora. Carr recorded two solo albums, 1975’s Not a Word on It and 1978’s Multiple Flash.

Born Jesse Willard Carr, “Pete” Carr grew up in Florida and was influenced by the instrumental rock records of The Ventures. His first notable recording sessions were with Hour Glass and The Allman Joys in 1968. These groups later evolved into The Allman Brothers Band, and Carr formed a lasting friendship with fellow guitarist Duane Allman.

He moved to Muscle Shoals around 1970. Carr produced Sailcat and its hit “Motorcycle Mama” in 1972. Throughout the 1970s, he was in demand as a session guitarist. He can be heard prominently on such hits as Bob Seger’s “Mainstreet” (1977), Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night” (1976), Barbra Streisand & Barry Gibb’s “Guilty” (1980), Luther Ingram’s “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to be Right” (1972) and Mary MacGregor’s “Torn Between Two Lovers” (1977).
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, including Pete Carr, co-produced Paul Simon’s acclaimed There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973) and Still Crazy After All These Years (1975). His guitar work is on such resulting hits as “Kodachrome” (1973).

Carr also co-produced Bob Seger’s LP Stranger in Town, which featured the 1979 hit “Old Time Rock & Roll,” and part of 1980’s Against the Wind (notably “Fire Lake”).

In later years, he studied computer science and explored digital data storage solutions for music. Pete Carr was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville in 2008.

He resided in Florence, Alabama. Pete Carr is survived by his wife Charlotte and son John Carr.

Songwriter Larry W. Johnson Passes

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“Don’t Take the Girl” co-writer Larry W. Johnson died on June 16 at age 69.

The song was a massive hit in 1994 for Tim McGraw, becoming the singer’s first No. 1 smash. The record also rose to No. 17 on the pop hit parade.

“Don’t Take the Girl” was certified Double Platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of two million units. It won Johnson and his co-writer Craig Martin BMI Awards. It inspired a parody, “Please Take the Girl,” which was on the debut Cledus T. Judd album in 1995.

Johnson had more than 50 other titles registered with BMI. His co-written “If You Think You’re Lonely” was recorded by Ray Price in 2002.

Larry Wayne Johnson passed away in Ashland City, Tennessee. He is survived by wife Becky, as well as sons Joshua and Christopher Johnson plus Shane and Joshua Davis, daughter Ginnifer Line and nine grandchildren.

Condolences can be sent to Cheatham County Funeral Home online at cheathamcountyfh.com. The burial will be private, for family, at Neptune-Smith Cemetery in Ashland City. A celebration of life for Larry W. Johnson will be held at a later date.

Hit Songwriter Glenn Ray Passes

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Country songwriter Glenn Ray passed away on Thursday (June 11) at the age of 82.

He is best known as the writer of the John Anderson hit “I Just Came Home to Count the Memories.” Released in late 1981, it became a top 10 hit in 1982.

The song first charted for Bobby Wright in 1975. Cal Smith hit No. 15 with it in 1977. “I Just Came Home to Count the Memories” has also been recorded by Tim Barrett (1984) and Jack Scott (2015).

His other big song occurred when Barbara Mandrell had a No. 12 hit with “Hold Me” in 1977.

Glenn Ray also wrote “Til a Better Memory Comes Along,” which has been recorded by Shelby Lynne (1990), Mark Chesnutt (1993) and Gene Watson (2009).
His song “Yesterday Will Come Again Tonight” was recorded by Leroy Van Dyke (1972) and Loretta Lynn (1973).

During his years in Nashville, Ray co-wrote with Ed Bruce and Tim Mensy, among others. He was the cousin of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Ted Harris, who mentored him. Glenn Ray was affiliated with SESAC.

Music Row song publishing executive Sherrill Blackman recalls the songwriter as being a somewhat colorful figure. He was known as “Gator,” reportedly because he had been a game warden in Florida who could catch alligators by hand, without using a snare.

Blackman believes he was also a sideman who toured with several top country artists in the 1970s.

The songwriter’s full name was Glenn Ray McGuirt. He died in Newton Grove, NC. He is survived by wife Edna Williams McGuirt, son Curtis, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Arrangements are being handled by West & Dunn Funeral Home in Newton Grove, NC.

Daughter Of Hank Williams Jr. Dies In Car Crash

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Hank Williams Jr. Photo: David McClister

Hank Williams Jr.‘s daughter, 27-year-old Katherine Williams-Dunning, was killed in a one-car crash on Saturday (June 13) in Henry County, Tennessee.

The Tennessean reported that Williams-Dunning was driving the 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe on Highway 79 near Antioch Road when an SUV, which was towing a boat, crossed the median and crashed around 7:45 p.m. CT Saturday evening. Williams-Dunning was killed, while her 29-year-old husband, Tyler Dunning, who was also in the vehicle, was flown to Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Katherine and Tyler were married on Oct. 15, 2015, and share two children, son Beau Weston (5) and daughter Audrey Jane (2). Katherine owned the clothing company Weston Jane.

Williams-Dunning is the daughter of Hank Williams Jr. and Mary Jane Thomas and the sister of Sam Williams. Williams-Dunning is the half-sister of Holly Williams and Hilary Williams (mother: Becky White), and Shelton Hank Williams, also known as Hank Williams III (mother: Gwen Yeargain).

Holly Williams shared a family photo taken with Katherine one day before the crash.

“I have no words,” Williams said via the Instagram post. “On Friday morning I talked the family into taking this picture and had no idea it would be our last together with my precious little sister Katie. We all went to my great aunts funeral on Thursday whom we all loved dearly, and now are faced with another one. ALL we need is prayers. My daddy. My little brother. Katie’s husband (he is awake and responding don’t know injury extent yet). My niece and nephew. Her Mama. The Dunning family. All of us. So. Many. Prayers. Jesus is close. Thank you all ??❤️ Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief. Psalm 31:9”

[Update]: Celebration Of Life Service Set For Jimmy Capps

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Jimmy Capps. Photo courtesy Marushka Media

[Update]: A visitation and a Celebration of Life service have been set for late guitarist Jimmy Capps.

Visitation will be held Monday, June 8 from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Spring Hill Funeral Home (5110 Gallatin Pike S, Nashville, TN 37216). A Celebration of Life Service will be held Tuesday, June 9 at 1 p.m. at the Grand Ole Opry House (2804 Opryland Drive, Nashville, TN 37214).

[Original post: Wednesday, June 3, 2020]

Jimmy Capps, the genial, white-haired and goateed guitarist who is one of Nashville’s most beloved pickers, died Tuesday, June 2, at age 81.

Best known as the long-time lead guitar player in the Grand Ole Opry staff band, Capps also performed on a breathtaking number of country music standards. He can be heard on “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “The Gambler,” “Stand By Your Man,” “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool,” “Elvira” and “Amarillo By Morning,” among many other familiar megahits.

He is a member of The Musicians Hall of Fame. Capps was saluted in 2012 by the Country Music Hall of Fame in its “Nashville Cats” series profiling recording-session greats.

Born in 1939 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Capps began playing guitar at age 12. By age 16, he was performing on local radio and TV shows. He was just 19 when he successfully auditioned to join The Louvin Brothers band in 1958. He debuted on the Opry by performing “The Knoxville Girl” with the duo later that year. He also recorded with the Louvin Brothers on such hits as “How’s the World Treating You” (1961).

Following military service and a stint in Ferlin Husky’s band, Capps launched his recording-studio career on Music Row. At his peak, Capps was playing on more than 500 recording sessions a year. Although usually cited for his tasteful acoustic-guitar work, Capps was also a skilled electric guitarist. He is considered to be one of Nashville’s finest and most prolific session guitarists in history, alongside Grady Martin, Ray Edenton, Chet Atkins, Hank Garland and Harold Bradley.

Jimmy Capps joined the Grand Ole Opry staff band in 1967. During the following five decades, he performed on more Opry shows than anyone in history.

The Opry occurs on weekends so during the week, Capps collaborated in the studio with the biggest stars of Nashville music. Even a year-by-year sampling of his work illustrates the breadth of his accomplishments – Mickey Newbury (1970), Freddie Hart (“Easy Lovin’” 1971), J.J. Cale (1972), Dolly Parton (“My Tennessee Mountain Home” 1973), Waylon Jennings (1974), the soundtrack of the movie Nashville (1975), Moe Bandy (1976), Ronnie Milsap (“It Was Almost Like a Song” 1977), Johnny Cash (1978), Ernest Tubb (1979), Amy Grant (1980).

That’s just one decade. His session work became even more intense during the 1980s. During that era, Capps could be heard on records by John Denver, George Strait, Tom Jones, Reba McEntire, K.D. Lang, The Whites, Alan Jackson, George Jones, Wayne Newton, B.J. Thomas, Barbara Mandrell, Vern Gosdin, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Keith Whitley, Lacy J. Dalton, The Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers, David Allan Coe, Charlie Rich, Dottie West and a jaw-dropping number of others.

At the annual NARAS Super Picker Awards in the 1970s and 1980s, Jimmy Capps was repeatedly honored as “Most Valuable Acoustic Player.” He also rose to become the Opry’s bandleader. Capps performed in the “house band” for the CMA Awards telecasts for more than 20 years.

He was known as “the master of smoothness” for the way he made intricate picking appear effortless. As such, he was a Nashville guitar institution by the 1990s. That is when Capps recorded with The Statler Brothers, Lorrie Morgan, Gene Watson, Connie Smith, Conway Twitty, The Florida Boys, Loretta Lynn, John Conlee, Ed Bruce, Ray Charles, Hank Locklin, Riders in the Sky and T. Graham Brown, as well as dozens of newcomers of the day.

In addition to the many listed above, his guitar can be heard on the records of such Country Music Hall of Fame members as Roy Clark, Jean Shepard, Eddy Arnold, Porter Wagoner, Ray Price, Charley Pride, Faron Young, Don Gibson, Bill Anderson, Charlie McCoy and Dottie West.

A new generation of country fans has been charmed by Jimmy Capps in recent years thanks to his regular appearances on RFD-TV’s Larry’s Country Diner. That’s where he was billed as “The Sheriff.”

Fellow topnotch musicians Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Charlie Daniels, Ricky Skaggs and Steve Wariner have all praised Capps as an influence.

Capps was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2014. The State of Tennessee honored him as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2015. He published his autobiography, The Man in Back, in 2018. At that time, the rehearsal space backstage in the Opry House was named The Jimmy Capps Music Room.
Capps is survived by his wife Michele and three sons.

Former CBS Records, Warner, Asylum Music Exec Stan Byrd Dies At 77

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Veteran country record promoter and Music Row businessman Stan Byrd died in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, on Saturday, May 23, at age 77.

He began his music career by working in radio while a student at Texas A&M in the 1960s. He then became a regional promotion representative for Capitol Records in Houston.

Byrd initially made his mark in Nashville in the promotion department of CBS Records in 1970-76. At the time the company’s Columbia and Epic labels included such stars as George Jones, Marty Robbins, Tammy Wynette, Johnny Cash, Ray Price, Lynn Anderson, Joe Stampley, Charlie Rich, Tanya Tucker, Larry Gatlin and David Allan Coe.

Byrd was named national director of country promotion at Warner Bros. Records, where he worked in 1976-83. The Warner roster then included Emmylou Harris, Margo Smith, John Anderson, T.G. Sheppard, David Frizzell & Shelly West, Hank Williams Jr., Gail Davies and The Bellamy Brothers, among others.

In 1984, he became the president of his own firm, Chart Attack, working as an independent promoter for such artists as B.J. Thomas, Ricky Van Shelton, Joe Diffie and Earl Thomas Conley. During this same period, he founded BDM Management and signed Mark Chesnutt as his first client.

Byrd also became a real-estate entrepreneur. He owned a number of houses on Music Row that he converted into business buildings for publishing companies, management firms, publicists and booking agents.

In 1997-2001, he was vice president of promotion at Asylum Records. That label’s roster included Bryan White, Kevin Sharp, George Jones, Lila McCann, Mark Nesler and Monte Warden.

He resumed work as an independent promotion consultant in the new millennium. Among his clients were Brent Maher’s Morraine Music companies in Berry Hill. Byrd also continued to work as a real-estate investor.

Byrd reportedly had been suffering from the after effects of a stroke. He is survived by his wife Valerie, daughter Caitlin Foote, stepchildren Will and Claire Wilson, three grandchildren and sisters Peggy and Christa.

Arrangements are being handled by Sellars Funeral Home, 2229 Mt. Juliet Rd., Mt. Juliet, TN 37122. According to Sellars, the family will schedule a service at a later date.

Bucky Baxter, Steel Guitarist For Bob Dylan And Founding Member Of The Dukes, Passes At 65

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Nashville instrumentalist Bucky Baxter passed away in Florida on Monday (May 25) at age 65.

Best known as the longtime steel guitarist for Bob Dylan, the Nashville picker also recorded with mainstream country stars, Americana performers, bluegrass acts and pop/rock artists. He was the father of critically applauded Americana singer-songwriter Rayland Baxter, on whose albums he also appeared.

Born William Baxter, the multi-instrumentalist came of age in New Jersey. Already accomplished on guitar, dobro and other stringed instruments, Bucky Baxter took up steel guitar playing in the 1970s.

He rose to prominence in Nashville as a founding member of Steve Earle’s band The Dukes. As such, he performed on Earle’s breakthrough albums Guitar Town (1986), Exit 0 (1987), Copperhead Road (1988) and The Hard Way (1989).

During his early years on Music Row, he also backed rock greats R.E.M. and country hit makers Suzy Bogguss and Sara Evans.

While on the road with The Dukes, Baxter met Dylan, who asked him for steel guitar lessons. He joined Dylan’s band in 1992, touring constantly and appearing on a string of the superstar’s albums, including the Grammy-winning Time Out of Mind (1997).

He left Dylan’s group in 1999 and returned to Nashville session work. His resume during the next decade included playing on albums by Los Lobos, Ben Folds, Joe Henry and Webb Wilder. He was a particular favorite of bluegrass artists Shawn Camp and Kathy Chiavola, rocker Ryan Adams (with whom he toured) and Americana star Jim Lauderdale.

Baxter also released a solo album, 1999’s Most Likely No Problem.

Since 2010, Bucky Baxter had continued to pursue a musically eclectic career. He played on recordings by Will Hoge, Billy Ray Cyrus, Greta Gaines, Old Crow Medicine Show and Kacey Musgraves, among others during the past decade.

Rayland Baxter has included his father’s instrumental talents on both of his career-launching albums, 2015’s Imaginary Man and 2018’s Wide Awake. Rayland announced his father’s death on Tuesday (May 26).

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Vince Gill’s Longtime Guitar Tech Benny Garcia Passes Away At 64

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Guitar tech and musician Benny Garcia passed away on Saturday, May 9 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, following a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 64.

Garcia was born in Tulsa and spent the majority of his professional career working with Vince Gill for over three decades. In addition to his 30 years working with Gill, Garcia also lent his guitar tech talents to other artists including Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Dixie Chicks, Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter, and Reba McEntire.

“Benny and I had a 50-year friendship,” said Gill. “We met as kids and played in our first garage bands together, and for the last 30 years, he traveled with me everywhere. And for the last 50 years we’ve been inseparable.”

Garcia is survived by his wife Brenda, his mother Clara, sister Lisa Renee’ Garcia and her fiancé Jeff Wilder, brother Paul Garcia, Aunt Matilda Alviso, and numerous cousins. He was preceded in death by his father, legendary jazz and swing guitar player Benny Garcia, Jr.

Due to the present coronavirus pandemic, no funeral will be held. A gathering to celebrate Garcia’s life will be held at a later date.

Those wanting to leave messages for the family can do so at dignitymemorial.com.

Pictured (L-R): Benny Garcia, Vince Gill. Photo: Morris PR