CCM Star Sarah Gaines Dead At 59

Sarah Gaines

By Robert K. Oermann

Dove Award-winning gospel singer Sarah Gaines, 59, died on Jan. 17, following a struggle with cancer.

As a member of the duo Billy & Sarah Gaines, she regularly topped the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) charts in the 1980s and 1990s. She went on to have a solo career as a children’s entertainer.

Sarah was one of seven children raised in a gospel-singing household in Hampton, Virginia. She and Billy began singing together in 1974 and married in 1977. They sang lead in a group called Living Sacrifice in 1977-80. The act performed on TV’s The 700 Club in 1978.

Working as a duo, they performed in churches, at Christian music festivals and in coffeehouses. One early reviewer praised them as having, “the voices of angels.”

In Virginia, Sarah home schooled their children while Billy worked as a custodian. In 1985, they gambled their life savings on a move to Nashville to break into the music business. Billy took a job as a security guard until his songwriting earned him a publishing contract in Music City. Benson signed the duo and issued Billy & Sarah Gaines as the act’s debut LP in 1986. It yielded “Come Drink at My Table,” “You Are Faithful,” “In His Eyes” and “Risen in Me” as top-10 CCM hits. Sarah’s solo performance on the collection was “The Part That No One Sees.”

The team’s He’ll Find a Way was released in 1988. It contained the No. 1 CCM hits “Always Triumphant” and “How Great His Heart Must Be.” Those first two albums were performed in a pop style. For 1990’s Friends Indeed, Billy and Sarah reverted to the r&b sounds of their youth. “While You Wait” and the album’s title tune became big hits. No One Loves Me Like You (1991) and Love’s the Key (1993) rounded out their Benson contract.

Other Christian-radio favorites by Billy & Sarah Gaines included “Right Here at Home,” “The Same All the Time,” “God’s Amazing Love” and “I Found Someone.” They also had a hit BET video, “That Is Why.” They won a Dove Award for their participation on the 1994 project Generation to Generation. They had three other nominations for gospel’s highest honors. Sarah and Billy also became go-to backup vocalists for Amy Grant, CeCe Winans, dc talk and other CCM stars.

Donna Summer’s producer Michael Omartian became Billy’s cowriter in 1995. The couple signed with Warner/Alliance Records. With Omartian producing, Come On Back was issued in 1996. Anointed, CeCe Winans and Chris Willis provided backing vocals on this critically acclaimed album. In 1997, Sarah and Billy appeared on TNN’s Sam’s Place TV series taped at the Ryman Auditorium and on the TBN special Pat Boone’s Gospel America.

In the 2000s, the couple split up. Sarah went back to college to study early childhood education. She operated a series of successful daycare businesses and was a foster parent.

Her solo albums were geared to a young audience. They included Miss Kitty and the Neighborhood Play Place (2006) and Miss Kitty’s Neighborhood Christmas Show (2007). She emerged as a songwriter on these. Son Jason Gaines produced the records.

Last August, Nashville’s gospel community gathered at an event titled “Love Through Giving” to raise funds for Sarah’s cancer treatments. Among those participating were Juan & Lisa Winans, Angelo & Veronica, Alvin Love, Billy Gaines and CeCe Winans.

Sarah Gaines is survived by sons Nathan and Jason, by daughter Rachel Hockett and by two grandchildren. The funeral was held Saturday at Born Again Church on Trinity Lane. The family requests that memorial donations be made to her church’s building-fund campaign — Church on the Rock Nashville (www.cotrnashville.org/donate) — and/or to Grace Works Ministries (www.graceworksministries.net).

Terry Jennings, Eldest Son Of Waylon Jennings, Dies At 62

Terry Jennings

Terry Jennings, the eldest son of the late Waylon Jennings, died Friday, Jan. 25, at age 62.

Terry, born on Jan. 21, 1957 was the eldest of four siblings born to the late superstar Jennings and his first wife Maxine Caroll Lawrence.

“I know he touched many of your hearts and he always enjoyed sharing his life adventures and lessons with you all,” said Terry’s son Josh Jennings via a Facebook message. “I still hold many of those lessons with me everyday. This is a hard time for all of us, and I ask that you give the family and I some peace as we are dealing with this great loss.”

As a teen, he spent time on the road working as part his father’s touring crew. In 2016, Jennings released the book Waylon: Tales of My Outlaw Dad. Jennings was also the CEO and founder of music management and publishing company Korban Music Group. According to his bio included in his book Waylon, Jennings also worked for booking agencies, publishing companies and as a talent scout for labels including RCA Records during his career.

 

Singer-Songwriter Maxine Brown Of The Browns Dies

Pictured (L-R): Bonnie Brown Ring, Jim Ed Brown and Maxine Brown Russell. Photo: Courtesy The Browns

By Robert K. Oermann

Country Music Hall of Fame member Maxine Brown died at age 87 on Monday (Jan. 21).

As a member of The Browns, she sang “The Three Bells,” the first true “Nashville Sound” recording to reach No. 1 on the pop charts. The Browns’ many other hits included “Scarlet Ribbons,” “The Old Lamplighter” and “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On.”

The Browns were a sibling trio specializing in flawless, echoey harmony vocals. In addition to Maxine, the trio consisted of lead vocalist Jim Ed Brown (1934-2015), Bonnie Brown (1939-2016) and oldest sibling Maxine.

Maxine and her two younger siblings spent the formative years of their lives on an Arkansas farm without electricity or running water. On Saturday nights, the family would tune a battery-operated radio to WSM-AM (650) and listen to the Grand Ole Opry.

Proud of her younger brother’s singing ability, Maxine entered Jim Ed into a talent contest in 1952. It was sponsored by Little Rock’s KLRA radio. He was invited to appear on the station’s Barnyard Frolic show. Soon, he invited Maxine to sing with him on the Frolic.

Their distinctive duet harmonies impressed country star Wayne Raney (1921-1993), who championed Jim Ed and Maxine to record labels.

In 1954, they signed with Fabor Records and recorded their first Top 10 country hit, their cowritten “Looking Back to See.” The song has since been recorded by many, including Justin Tubb & Goldie Hill, Buck Owens & Susan Raye, The Canadian Sweethearts, George Jones & Margie Singleton, Bill Anderson & Jan Howard and The Collins Kids.

Bonnie graduated from high school and joined her singing siblings in 1955. From the start, the resulting trio’s dulcet harmony blend was exquisite, with Jim Ed’s fluid baritone, Maxine’s resonant alto and Bonnie’s lilting soprano creating unforgettable audio overtones. They scored immediately on the country charts with “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow” (1955). Signing with RCA, they hit again with “I Take the Chance” (1956) and “I Heard the Bluebirds Sing” (1957).

The Browns’ country successes continued with “Would You Care” (1958) and “Beyond the Shadow” (1959). All three Brown siblings were pitch-perfect harmony singers, but the pattern became Jim Ed singing lead with Bonnie and Maxine as his blending vocalists.

They became stars at both The Louisiana Hayride and The Ozark Jubilee. In the early 1950s, The Browns toured with the then-emerging star Elvis Presley, who took a shine to both Bonnie and Maxine.

But by 1959, the trio was pondering retirement. Jim Ed’s Army service and his job running their father’s sawmill, plus the sisters’ family lives, had distracted them from their emerging music career. “The Three Bells” changed that.

Maxine Brown Russell (right) of the Country Music trio The Browns passed away today, Jan. 21, 2019, at the age of 87. Pictured (L-R): Becky Brown, wife of Jim Ed Brown; Bonnie Brown Ring and Maxine Brown Russell. Photo: John Russell/CMA

The trio’s elegant harmony singing was nowhere better illustrated than on that 1959 smash. This charming, chiming story song was adapted by The Browns from a French pop hit. Produced by Chet Atkins, “The Three Bells” was No. 1 on the country charts for 10 weeks and No. 1 on the pop charts for four weeks. Then as now, this was a stunning feat for a Nashville country record.

Maxine and her siblings replicated that hit’s sound on the pop and country successes “Scarlet Ribbons” (1959) and “The Old Lamplighter” (1960). Then The Browns solidified their country stardom with “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On” (1961). The Browns joined the cast of the Grand Ole Opry in 1963.

The group toured widely, not only the US but abroad as well, making several concert runs in Europe and Japan.The Browns also appeared many hit TV shows of the day, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Arthur Murray Show, The Perry Como Show, American Bandstand and The Jerry Lewis Show. “Then I’ll Stop Loving You” (1964), “Everybody’s Darlin’ Plus Mine” (1964), “I’d Be Just Fool Enough” (1966), “Coming Back to You” (1966) and other hits maintained their prominence on the country charts in the mid-1960s.

Bonnie Brown Ring withdrew from the group in 1967 to settle back home in Arkansas with her husband and raise their daughters. Jim Ed Brown went on to have a hugely successful solo career.

Maxine Brown also made solo records. She signed with the RCA subsidiary label Chart Records, having her biggest success with her self-written “Sugar Cane County” in 1969.

Known for her brassy sense of humor and tell-it-like-it-is frankness, Maxine continued to be a popular personality in the country community. The University of Arkansas Press published Looking Back to See: A Country Music Memoir as her autobiography in 2005.

The trio reunited several times over the years, usually at the Opry. The Browns issued a gospel comeback CD titled Family Bible in 1996. Maxine and Bonnie also appeared on Jim Ed’s final album, 2015’s In Style Again.

Jim Ed Brown was diagnosed with lung cancer that year. He died in June 2015, but was presented with his Hall of Fame honor at his bedside before he passed away. Maxine and Bonnie attended the group’s official Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Nashville that fall. Bonnie died of lung cancer the following year.

Maxine Brown Russell died in Little Rock on Monday, Jan. 21 due to complications from heart and kidney disease.

She is survived by children Alicia and Jimmy, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

A viewing was held on Sunday (Jan. 27) at North Little Rock Funeral Home. A service was held Monday (Jan. 28) at First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, followed by a burial at Pine Bluff Memorial Park.

Legendary Guitarist Reggie Young Passes Away

Reggie Young in 1960

Legendary touring and session guitarist, Reggie Young, passed away on Jan. 17 at age 82.

Young was a leading session musician who played on records with artists such as Elvis Presley, B.J. Thomas, John Prine, Dusty Springfield, Herbie Mann, J.J. Cale, Dionne Warwick, George Jones, Tammy WynetteRoy Hamilton, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, the Box Tops, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard, Dolly PartonJoey Tempest, George Strait, Reba, and many more.

Reggie Young was born on December 12, 1936, in Caruthersville, Missouri. He was raised in Osceola, Arkansas, about fifty miles north of Memphis, Tennessee, where he learned to love music from his father at an early age. Young got his own guitar when his family moved to Memphis in 1949. By the time he was 15, Young had found local bands to play with, like Bud Deckelman and The Daydreamers. One of Young’s first sessions was in 1955 when he backed Barney Burcham with The Daydreamers on Meteor Records. The next year, he was invited to join Eddie Bond and The Stompers.

Young then started playing on the road, backing acts like Cash and Carl Perkins. While on the road, Young caught the attention of a young Johnny Horton, who hired him to play in his band. Together they performed several times on the Louisiana Hayride.

Johnny Horton and Reggie Young at The Louisiana Hayride in 1958.

After some time of the road, Young returned home to Memphis where Bill Black offered him a job playing in the house band at the Hi Records studio. They later formed Bill Black’s Combo, which would go on to have several instrumental hits, like “Smokie, Pts. 1 & 2”, “White Silver Sands,” and an instrumental version of “Don’t Be Cruel.”

In 1960, Young was drafted into the Army. Stationed in Ethiopia, Young kept his guitar muscles working, playing with The Tiny Stoops Band. When Young returned back home, the Beatles invited the Bill Black Combo to open for them during their first U.S. tour in 1964.

Bill Black Combo with the Beatles

After the death of Bill Black in 1965, Young concentrated on studio work. He ended up at American Studios where he became a part of their renowned house band dubbed the Memphis Boys, composed of Young on guitar, Gene Chrisman (drums), Tommy Cogbill and Mike Leech (bass), and keyboardists Bobby Emmons and Bobby Wood. The Memphis Boys played on an estimated 120 pop, country, rock, and soul hit singles until the studio closed in 1971.

In 1971, Young moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he became a session player for mainstream country artists like Jones, Wynette and Parton, as well as the ‘outlaw’ artists including Haggard, Jennings, Nelson, Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Jessi Colter. When Jennings, Nelson, Cash and Kristofferson formed The Highwaymen, they not only invited Young to play on the album, Young also joined them on tour.

Young met his wife, the classically trained cellist Jenny Lynn Hollowell, while playing in Jennings’ Waymore Blues Band in 1999. The two married in 2004 and resided in Leipers Fork, Tennessee.

In 2017 Young released a solo album called Forever Young.

Without Young, we wouldn’t have the masterful guitar playing on tracks like “In The Ghetto” (Elvis Presley), “Pancho & Lefty” (Merle Haggard), “Always on My Mind” (Willie Nelson), “Luckenbach, Texas” (Waylon Jennings), “Family Tradition” (Hank Williams Jr.), “Lucille” (Kenny Rogers), “Little Rock”(Reba McEntire) and many more.

A Celebration of Life for Reggie Young was held Monday (Jan. 21) at Franklin First United Methodist Church.

Singer Shirley Foley Boone Passes

Shirley and Pat Boone. Photo: Pat Boone

Former Nashville vocalist Shirley Foley Boone died on Jan. 11 at age 84.

She is usually recalled as the wife of pop star Pat Boone, the daughter of Country Music Hall of Fame member Red Foley or as the mother of Grammy-winning hit maker Debby Boone. But she was a recording artist, herself. She was also an author, philanthropist and TV personality.

Her father, Clyde Julian “Red” Foley (1910-1968), rose to fame at The National Barn Dance on WLS in Chicago. He married Eva Overstake (1918-1951) of the show’s Three Little Maids act in 1933. Their daughter Shirley Lee Foley was born in 1934.

The family moved to Nashville in 1946, where Red Foley became a Decca Records superstar and a Grand Ole Opry headliner. Shirley’s mother was billing herself as “Judy Martin” by this time. Judy/Eva’s sister, Shirley’s aunt, became Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Jenny Lou Carson (Lucille Overstake, 1915-1978).

Shirley and her two younger sisters began appearing on their father’s radio and TV shows as children. In 1950, they recorded “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” with Red Foley, billed as “The Little Foleys.”

Shirley attended David Lipscomb High School, where the popular cheerleader was voted student-council secretary and Homecoming Queen. Her high-school sweetheart, Pat Boone, was a handsome boy-next-door, a student athlete and the star of the WSIX Nashville radio show “Youth on Parade.” They married in 1953, when both were 19 years old.

He won on TV’s Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts the following year. This show was that era’s American Idol, so Boone launched a highly successful recording career.

Between 1957 and 1962, he had 18 top-10 pop hits, including “April Love,” “Ain’t That a Shame” and “Love Letters in the Sand.” In the early days, his popularity rivaled that of Elvis Presley. Boone starred in 15 feature films.

Shirley and Pat released their first duet LP in 1959. Titled Side By Side, it featured them harmonizing on standards such as “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” and “My Happiness.”

I Love You Truly was issued as the couple’s second duets LP in 1962. Like its predecessor, it was comprised of familiar songs such as “Have I Told You Lately That I Love You,” “Blues Stay Away From Me” and “True Love.”

Shirley taught their daughters to sing four-part harmony. Billed variously as The Boone Sisters, The Boones and/or The Boone Girls, Cherry, Lindy, Debby and Laury Boone became Grammy-nominated gospel vocalists.

Debby became a solo star with hits such as “You Light Up My Life” (1977) and “Are You On the Road to Loving Me Again” (1980). She married minister Gabriel Ferrer, who is the son of Rosemary Clooney and Jose Ferrer and the cousin of George Clooney. Sister Cherry Boone wrote the 1982 book Starving for Affection and became spokesperson for eating disorders.

Mama Shirley Boone became an author, as well. One Woman’s Liberation (1972), The Honeymoon Is Over (1980) and her other works espoused conservative religious values. Both with her husband and solo, she appeared on many Christian-oriented TV talk shows.

She helped to establish Mercy Corps, which has become an international charitable organization dedicated to addressing economic, environmental, social and political problems. She was also a major benefactor of Pepperdine University.

Shirley resumed recording with Pat Boone Family in 1971. The record was nominated for a gospel Grammy Award. This was followed by All in the Boone Family (1972), Pat Boone Family in the Holy Land (1972), the Nashville recorded The Family Who Prays (1973), The Boone Family Christmas (1975) and other titles.

She also costarred in many of her husband’s television programs, beginning with his series The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom in 1959. She performed on such specials as Pat Boone & Family (1968), Pat Boone & Family Thanksgiving Day Show (1962), The Pat Boone & Family Christmas Special (1969), The Pat Boone & Family Easter Special (1970), The Pat Boone & Family Thanksgiving Special (1978), a second Pat Boone & Family Christmas Special (1979) and Together with Shirley & Pat Boone (1983).

After living in Tennessee, Texas, New York and New Jersey, Shirley, Pat and their four daughters moved to Beverly Hills, CA in 1960. She passed away there last Friday with her daughters singing hymns at her bedside.

She and Pat were married for 65 years. She is also survived by 16 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Country-Pop Star Bonnie Guitar Dies At 95


West Coast country personality Bonnie Guitar passed away on Sunday, Jan. 13, at age 95.

Regarded as a groundbreaking woman in the music business, she sang hits such as “Dark Moon,” was a session guitarist, co-founded Dolton Records, wrote successful songs and produced various pop and country artists.

Born Bonnie Buckingham in 1923, she acquired the pseudonym “Guitar” thanks to her instrumental proficiency in the recording studios of L.A. Her older brothers played guitar, which she also took up as a teenager in the Seattle, Washington area. After high school, she went on the road with a country band and hosted her own radio show.

Her homemade recordings came to the attention of Fabor Robinson in 1955. He was the owner of the 4-Star and Abbott record labels in Los Angeles. Robinson brought her to his home in Malibu and hired her as a session guitarist for his label’s Dorsey Burnette, Jim Reeves, Tom Tall, Ferlin Husky, Ned Miller and other artists. Robinson also changed her name and began recording her as a singer-guitarist. He brought her Miller’s song “Dark Moon.” She recorded it for his Fabor label in 1957. Picked up by Nashville’s Dot Records, the song became a major pop and country hit. This led to appearances on TV’s Ed Sullivan Show and American Bandstand, as well as concerts alongside Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, The Del-Vikings and Jerry Lee Lewis.

She and Miller co-wrote her follow-up, “Mister Fire Eyes,” which became a much bigger country hit. She made just the pop charts with her self-composed “Candy Apple Red” in 1959.

Guitar and some business associates discovered the Washington State pop trio The Fleetwoods and formed Dolton Records to distribute the group’s records. She co-produced the act, which had its first hit with 1959’s “Come Softly to Me.”

Later that year, she brought The Fleetwoods “Mr. Blue.” It launched the career of future Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Dewayne Blackwell. She wrote the group’s 1960 single “Magic Star.” With Guitar producing and backing the trio on guitar, its other hits on Dolton included “Tragedy” (1961), “The Great Imposter” (1961), “Outside My Window” (1960) and “Lovers By Night Strangers By Day” (1962). Next on the Dolton roster was the instrumental rock group The Ventures. This act scored with “Walk Don’t Run” (1960), “Perfidia” (1960) and “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue” (1964).

Guitar, herself, joined the Dolton roster. She and songwriter Don Robertson recorded as The Echoes and issued “Born to Be With You” on the label in 1960. She and her partners sold Dolton to Liberty Records in 1963.

Following a brief stint at RCA in 1961-62, she re-signed with Dot in 1965. This resulted in her longest string of country hits, beginning with “I’m Living in Two Worlds” in 1966. Other successful country tunes for her included “Get Your Lie the Way You Want It” (1966), “The Tallest Tree” (1967) and “You Can Steal Me” (1967). She was named the ACM Female Vocalist of the Year in 1966.

Bonnie Guitar had her biggest country hit with 1967’s “A Woman in Love” and followed it with “Stop the Rain” (1968), “Leaves Are the Tears of Autumn” (1968), “That See Me Later Look” (1969) and “Allegheny” (1970). She and publisher/songwriter Buddy Killen were duet partners on Dot with 1969’s “A Truer Love You’ll Never Find.”

Guitar was also Dot’s country talent coordinator. She commuted between Seattle and Nashville for several years. Among the country acts she produced for the label was Mac Wiseman.

Her own Dot LPs included Two Worlds (1966), Miss Bonnie Guitar (1966), Award Winner (1967), A Woman in Love (1968) and Affair (1969). She co-produced all of these in Nashville.

She subsequently recorded country discs for Columbia, MCA, 4-Star, MAC, Tumbleweed and Playback. Her songwriting came back into the spotlight when Susan Raye scored a 1973 hit “The Cheating Game.” It was co-written by Guitar and Dennis Knudson.

Bonnie Guitar retired to a ranch where she and her husband raised cattle and quarter horses. After his death in 1983, she resumed her entertainment career. She became the “house band” at the Notaras Lodge in Soap Lake, Washington. With just her own guitar accompaniment and a drummer, she headlined there for more than a decade.

In 1985, she returned to Nashville to record two albums, Yesterday and Today. The latter contained five new Guitar compositions alongside a number of pop tunes. Her LP You’re Still the Same was issued in 1989. She made a number of media appearances in Nashville the following year, including some on CMT. In 1991, Germany’s Bear Family label reissued her early Dot sides.

She retired from the Notaras Lodge in 1997. Guitar occasionally performed at a resort in Idaho and at cowboy-poetry gatherings thereafter. She was profiled extensively in No Depression magazine in 2007. At age 93, she began performing every weekend at a Soap Lake nightclub.

Dr. Hook’s Ray Sawyer Passes

Ray Sawyer

Former Nashville pop star Ray Sawyer died in Florida on New Year’s Eve.

Sawyer was the co-founder of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show. The group scored 10 top-40 pop hits and six Gold-selling singles in 1972-82. With his black eye patch and rumpled cowboy hat, Sawyer gave the act its name and its iconic visual image.

Born in rural Alabama, he played in bands in New Orleans and Mobile in the 1950s and 1960s. Sawyer was in a car accident in 1967, which cost him his right eye. He formed Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show in 1968 with guitarist George Cummings and keyboard player Billy Francis. Cummings recruited fellow New Jersey native Dennis Locorriere to be the band’s lead vocalist.

Nashville’s Ron Haffkine became the act’s producer and manager. Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show first achieved notoriety by appearing on screen and on the soundtrack of the 1971 Dustin Hoffman movie Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?

Songwriter Shel Silverstein took a shine to the band and wrote its breakthrough hit, 1972’s “Sylvia’s Mother.” Dennis Locorriere sang lead on it and almost all of its subsequent hits. Sawyer usually sang harmony, handled percussion instruments and provided showmanship.

Silverstein also wrote the group’s second single, “Carry Me, Carrie.” The third single and second big hit was Silverstein’s “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone.’” Ray Sawyer sang lead on this humorous ditty. After it became a pop smash in 1973, the group did, indeed, appear on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. Later that year, Sawyer and Silverstein co-wrote the band’s single “Life Ain’t Easy.”

In 1975, the group declared bankruptcy, relocated to Nashville, switched from Columbia to Capitol Records and shortened its name to Dr. Hook. With Locorriere again singing lead, the band had a third Gold-selling single with a remake of Sam Cooke’s “Only Sixteen” in 1976.

Ray Sawyer issued his debut solo LP that year. He briefly made the pop charts with its single, “(One More Year of) Daddy’s Little Girl.” It was penned by Haffkine’s office manager, the late Hazel Smith (1937-2018). Meanwhile, Locorriere’s soulful vocal rasp propelled Dr. Hook’s “Sharing the Night Together” (1978), “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman” (1979) and “Sexy Eyes” (1980) to Gold Record status. Even so, the public continued to identify Ray Sawyer as “Dr. Hook.” He and Silverstein co-wrote the “Sexy Eyes” flip side, “Help Me Mama.”

The group switched labels again, this time from Capitol to Casablanca. This resulted in its last flurry of pop-chart activity with “Girls Can Get It” (1980), “That Didn’t Hurt Too Bad” (1981), “Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk” (1982) and Eddie Rabbitt’s co-written “Loveline” (1982). Other notable singles included “A Little Bit More” (1976), “If Not You” (1976, the band’s only top-40 country success), “A Couple More Years” (1976), “Walk Right In” (1977), “Better Love Next Time” (1979) and “Years From Now” (1980).

The original group broke up in 1983 when Ray Sawyer quit to pursue a solo career. Locorriere and most of the other band members remained in Music City. Drummer John Wolter died of cancer at age 52 in 1997.

Sawyer performed in Europe and on the nostalgia circuit in the U.S. He settled in Daytona Beach, Florida in 2000. He was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2005 and retired due to ill health in 2015.

According to Goldmine magazine, Ray Sawyer died in Daytona Beach on Dec. 31, 2018 at age 81. He is survived by his wife Linda and son Cayse.

Honky-Tonk Great Whitey Shafer Passes

Whitey Shafer

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Whitey Shafer died on Saturday, Jan. 12, at age 84 following years of declining health.

Regarded as one of the finest hard-country tunesmiths of his generation, Shafer wrote or co-wrote such classics as “Does Ft. Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” (George Strait), “That’s the Way Love Goes” (Merle Haggard, Johnny Rodriguez), “I Wonder Do You Think of Me” (Keith Whitley), “Tell Me My Lying Eyes Are Wrong” (George Jones) and “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” (George Strait).

In addition to having more than 200 of his songs recorded by major artists, Whitey Shafer was also a much-admired vocal stylist. During his career, he recorded for RCA, Musicor, Hickory, Elektra and other labels.

Born Sanger D. Shafer in 1934, he was raised in rural Whitney, TX. His mother played piano and taught him. At age 12, Shafer also began playing guitar. He and his teenage friend Willie Nelson visited honky tonks in “wet” counties nearby so that they could drink beer and soak up country music.

Shafer was particularly enthralled with the singing of Lefty Frizzell. That influence showed in his own vocals throughout his life.

After high school, he served three years in the Army. Back in Texas, he worked as a turkey farmer, an ironworker and an electrical company repairman before heading to Nashville in 1967.

His aim was to become a country singing star. Songwriter Doodle Owens, whom he’s known in Texas, introduced Shafer to publisher/producer Ray Baker. As a result, two of Shafer’s first three songs were recorded by George Jones, “Between My House and Town” and “New Man in Town.” His destiny as a songwriter was set. Owens and Dallas Frazier tutored him as a writer, although Shafer also continued to write a lot on his own.

Still waiting for a big break, Whitey Shafer dug ditches and did carpentry work during his early years in Music City. That changed in 1970 when Jack Greene had a hit with “Lord, Is That Me” and Jones took “Tell Me My Lying Eyes Are Wrong” up the charts.

Shafer introduced himself to Frizzell, his boyhood idol, when he discovered that they lived near one another. They became songwriting collaborators. Between 1972 and 1975, Frizzell issued five Shafer songs as singles, “You Babe,” “I Can’t Get Over You to Save My Life,” “I Never Go Around Mirrors,” “Lucky Arms” and “Falling.”

The songwriter soon became a favorite of others. Connie Smith began recording Shafer songs in 1971 and subsequently had hits with “I’m Sorry If My Love Got In Your Way” (1971), “Dream Painter” (1973), “I Never Knew What That Song Meant Before” (1974), “I’ve Got My Baby On My Mind” (1974) and “I Got a Lot of Hurtin’ Done Today” (1975).

Moe Bandy launched his career with Whitey Shafer songs. His eight hit Shafer singles were “I Just Started Hatin’ Cheatin’ Songs” (1974), “Honky Tonk Amnesia” (1974), “It Was Always So Easy to Find an Unhappy Woman” (1975), “Bandy the Rodeo Clown” (1975), “The Biggest Airport in the World” (1976), “She Took More Than Her Share” (1976), “She Just Loved the Cheatin’ Out of Me” (1977) and “Soft Lights and Hard Country Music” (1978). Bandy has recorded a total of 33 Shafer songs.

Despite songwriting success, Whitey Shafer never lost sight of his own recording aspirations. Baker produced Shafer singles for Musicor Records in 1967 and RCA Records in 1968-70. The RCA sides were reissued by Germany’s Bear Family label in 1984.

Meanwhile, Shafer’s co-written “The Baptism of Jesse Taylor” began its journey as a gospel favorite when Johnny Russell made it a hit in 1974. It has since been recorded by The Oak Ridge Boys, Tanya Tucker, Connie Smith, The Gaither Vocal Band and others.

“I Never Go Around Mirrors,” which Shafer had written with Frizzell, has also become an evergreen. In the four decades since Frizzell’s 1974 single, it has been recorded by Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Keith Whitley, Trace Adkins, Gene Watson, Daryle Singletary, Leona Williams and Mark Chesnutt, among many others.

Similarly, the Shafer/Frizzell song “That’s the Way Love Goes” became a No. 1 hit for Rodriguez in 1974 and for Haggard in 1984. It has also been recorded by Nelson, Smith, Iris DeMent, Jewel, Anne Murray, Buddy Miller and more.

Whitey Shafer resumed his recording career on Hickory Records in 1974-76, again produced by Baker. These songs were also reissued by Bear Family in 1984.

He finally hit the country charts when he signed with Elektra. His self-penned “You Are a Liar” and “If I Say I Love You Consider Me Drunk” became modest successes in 1980-81.

Shafer staged his national television debut on PBS in 1982, when he appeared alongside Nelson, Hank Cochran, Red Lane, Sonny Throckmorton and Floyd Tillman on Austin City Limits.

This led to another spate of recording, this time for his own Palatial Records label. Shafer issued a novelty single titled “Hi-Yo Leon” and marketed a TV album of him singing the hits he’d written for others.

As a songwriter, he hit new heights in the late-1980s. George Strait had big hits with his “Does Ft. Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” (1985), “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” (1987) and “Overnight Success” (1989).

Keith Whitley’s version of Shafer’s “I Wonder Do You Think of Me” hit No. 1 in 1989. Haggard revived “You Babe” in 1988. Scott McQuaig bought back “Honky Tonk Amnesia” in 1989.

Whitey Shafer was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1989. By then, his songs had been recorded by dozens more, including John Anderson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty, John Conlee, Eddy Raven, David Frizzell & Shelly West, Carl Smith, Billy Walker, Sammi Smith, Ed Bruce and The Osborne Brothers.

This activity continued into the 1990s with Kenny Chesney, Lee Ann Womack, Shawn Colvin, Randy Travis, Aaron Tippin, Joe Diffie, Lorrie Morgan, Rhonda Vincent, Jeannie Seely and others recording his tunes.

John Michael Montgomery scored a hit with Shafer’s co-written “Beer and Bones” in 1993. Several bluegrass bands drew from his catalog, as well.

But Whitey Shafer’s public performances became fewer during this era. He did participate in the Recording Academy’s 2000 documentary Nashville Songwriter. He made a rare appearance in 2008 as an honoree in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s “Poets & Prophets” series.

In 2015, Moe Bandy organized an all-star tribute at The Nashville Palace to honor Whitey Shafer. By then, the songwriter was suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

He reportedly began receiving hospice care last year. He passed away at his home in Ridgetop, TN. A funeral service took place Sunday (Jan. 20) at Family Heritage Funeral Home in Gallatin, Tennessee, with Dallas Frazier officiating. Visitation was Saturday (Jan. 19) Sunday (Jan. 20).

Singing-Cowboy Promoter Packy Smith Passes

Packy Smith

Nashville’s Packy Smith, renowned as an expert on western music and movies, has died at age 77.

Smith co-produced the Happy Trails Theatre TNN TV series about Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. He authored books about Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy. He was the co-founder of the Western Film Festival.

He was an expert on Autry, Rogers, Tex Ritter, The Sons of the Pioneers, Rex Allen, Foy Willing and other singing-cowboy stars. He founded Riverwood Press to publish the works of other western-film enthusiasts.

Born Morton Packard Smith in 1941, he was raised in Nashville’s Inglewood neighborhood. He developed a love for cowboy movies at an early age. This evolved into a lifelong career collecting, selling and analyzing western movies and music. In addition to his books, he authored numerous articles about the topic.

For the past three decades, he has been screening rare cowboy films at the Western Film Festival in Arizona and the Lone Pine Film Festival in California. He also booked vintage Hollywood cowboy stars for these gatherings.

He served on the board of the Museum of Western Film History in Lone Pine, north of Bakersfield, CA. He had a nationally recognized, encyclopedic knowledge of this genre.

Packy Smith is survived by wife Cathleen, sons Tony and Jeff, daughters Cathy and Izora, stepchildren Kim and John, siblings Blanton and Judy and 10 grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life was held Jan. 12  in The Pavilion at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens (9090 Highway 100). In lieu of flowers, the family requested donations to Alive Hospice, the Museum of Western Film History, the Democratic Party or a favorite charity.

Songwriting Mainstay Phil Thomas Passes

Phil Thomas

Country songwriter Phil Thomas, a presence on the Music Row scene for three decades, died Saturday (Jan. 5) at age 74.

Thomas’s songs were recorded by such superstars as Country Music Hall of Fame members George Strait, Alabama, Randy Travis and Barbara Mandrell.

He is perhaps best known for the 1978 “signature” songs he wrote for Johnny Paycheck, “Colorado Kool-Aid” and “Me and the I.R.S.” The former was a chart hit and the flip side of the five-million-selling “Take This Job and Shove It.” The latter was a top-40 hit that reflected its singer’s personal life.

Phil Thomas’ co-written “Drinkin’ My Way Back Home” was a top-10 hit for Gene Watson in 1984. His charted titles also included singles by Mel McDaniel (1987’s “Now You’re Talkin’”) and Tari Hensley (1985’s “Hard Baby to Rock”).

Raised in Memphis, the Army veteran was a starting quarterback at Oklahoma State and Mississippi State. Although scouted by the NFL’s Washington Redskins, he became a high-school football coach.

A natural storyteller, he was encouraged to become a songwriter by his first wife, Jan Scaife, and her family. Music City publisher Bill Hall signed him as a staff songwriter in 1978. Thomas remained with Hall’s descendent Welk companies through 2001.

Among those who charted with his songs were Mandrell (1989’s “Mirror, Mirror”), Paul Proctor (1988’s “Tied to the Wheel of a Runaway Heart”), McDaniel (1984’s “Most of All I Remember You”), Shylo (1977’s “Drinkin’ My Way Back Home”) and Susi Beatty (1989’s “Hard Baby to Rock”).

Montgomery Gentry (“Blackjack Fletcher”), Strait (“Baby Your Baby”), Paycheck (“Billy Bardo”), Alabama (“Fireworks”), Travis (“My Heart Cracked,” “Anything”) and John Conlee (“Walking Behind the Star,” “The Shade”) included his songs on their top-selling albums.

Phil Thomas’s daughter Kori Plunkett has hosted the radio show “Plunkett’s Playhouse” on WMLR in Hohenwald, Tennessee. The veteran songwriter’s home was in nearby Linden.

Daughter Brandi Warden is the wife of musician Monte Warden in Austin, Texas. His band The Wagoneers scaled the country charts in 1988-89 and remains an Austin favorite. Monte Warden also performs in the Austin jazz group The Dangerous Few, which will issue its debut CD this year.

Father-in-law Phil Thomas was regarded as an ace rhythm guitarist as well as an entertaining raconteur. His Nashville songwriting collaborators included Ronny Scaife, Mark Collie, Bobby Barker, Don Scaife, Bobby Neal and David Luttrell.

“He was a character, a patriot, a cowboy philosopher, a playful prankster,” writes Brandi. “He left an indelible mark on everyone who knew him. He was a rock-solid friend.”

In addition to his daughters, Phil Thomas is survived by wife Hunny, stepson Tony Pruitt and grandchildren Van, Sam and Brooks Warden.

At his request, a private graveside service was held at the family’s cemetery in Perry County, Tennessee, “in the spring when the buttercups are up,” writes Brandi.