Rock And Country Titan Don Everly Passes [Updated]

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The Everly Brothers. Photo: Country Music Hall of Fame

Don Everly, one of the most influential artists in pop-music history, died in Nashville on Saturday (Aug. 21).

His death at age 84 was confirmed yesterday by Variety, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, the BBC and other worldwide media outlets. As half of The Everly Brothers, he became an inaugural inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The team is also in the Country Music Hall of Fame. The Everlys have sold more than 40 million records. They toured globally for six decades.

Don and younger brother Phil Everly (1939-2014) were famed for their spine-tingling vocal harmonies, The Everly Brothers were profound influences on artists ranging from The Beatles to Simon & Garfunkel. Their sound has been cited by The Byrds, The Eagles, Peter & Gordon, The Hollies, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, The Beach Boys, Rodney Crowell, The Bee Gees and every harmony duo that has succeeded them.

Don’s driving, open-tuned, steel-string guitar work was also influential. Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones is among many who emulated it.

Don Everly was the writer behind such enduring songs as “Cathy’s Clown,” “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad),” “(‘Til) I Kissed You” and “The Price of Love.” Both he and Phil also had solo recording careers.

Born in 1937, Isaac Donald Everly was the son of country entertainers Ike Everly (1908-1975) and Margaret Everly. He was born in the family’s home state of Kentucky. Phil followed two years later. He was born in Chicago, where Ike was working in local clubs and on WLS radio.

Former coal miner Ike Everly was an accomplished guitarist whose distinctive thumb-picking style was admired by Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler and many others. Don was mentored by his father from an early age, and made his debut as a radio performer in 1945 when Ike was working at KMA in Shenandoah, Iowa. He had a regular singing segment as “Little Donnie.”

The Everly parents and their sons turned their radio appearances into a family affair when Margaret, Don and Phil joined Ike’s act. Thus, The Everly Brothers became show-biz professionals in 1949, when Don was 12 and Phil was 10. The family relocated to WROL in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1953.

Ike contacted Chet Atkins in Nashville, who took an interest in Don’s songwriting. Atkins took the teenager’s song “Thou Shalt Not Steal” to Kitty Wells, who scored a big country hit with it in 1954. In addition, Anita Carter recorded Don’s “Here We Are Again.” After he graduated from high school, the brothers moved to Nashville.

Still shepherded by Atkins, The Everly Brothers signed with Columbia Records in 1955 and issued “The Sun Keeps Shining”/ “Keep A Lovin’ Me,” both Everly originals. The single went nowhere. Atkins kept plugging away on the brothers’ behalf. They were rejected by RCA and Capitol. But Justin Tubb recorded their song “The Life I Have to Live” for Decca in 1957.

The Everly Brothers. Photo: Ed Caraeff

Wesley Rose at Acuff-Rose Publishing signed the boys to songwriting contracts and took them to Cadence Records. Acuff-Rose staff writers Boudleaux & Felice Bryant supplied the Everlys with “Bye Bye Love,” to which Don applied a rollicking Bo Diddley beat. In the summer of 1957, it rocketed to the top of the pop, r&b and country charts. Backed by Don and Chet’s ringing guitars, the single combined the brothers’ hillbilly harmonies with the punch of rhythm & blues, a perfect distillation of the emerging rock & roll sensibility.

The single’s flip side also charted. Credited to both Don and Phil, “I Wonder If I Care As Much” has since been recorded by Dickey Lee, Johnny Winter, Robin & Linda Williams, Tracy Nelson, Andy Kim and more. In 1987, it was a country hit for Ricky Skaggs.

Although they effortlessly switched harmony vocal parts, Don generally sang lead, was usually the dominant songwriter and led the band. Phil’s electrifying high harmonies and “sock” rhythm guitar rounded out their thrilling sound.

The follow-up single to “Bye Bye Love” was the even bigger hit “Wake Up Little Susie,” again penned by the Bryants. Don once again wrote the flip side, “Maybe Tomorrow.” It was subsequently sung by Don Gibson, The Browns, Englebert Humperdinck, Richard Leigh and Del Shannon, among others.

In 1957-59, the Bryants supplied The Everly Brothers with additional major hit songs – “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Bird Dog,” “Devoted to You,” “Problems,” “Take a Message to Mary” and more.

The brothers continued to contribute their own compositions to the cause. The Everly-penned success “Should We Tell Him” of 1958 was revived by The Flying Burrito Brothers in 1990. Don’s “(‘Til) I Kissed You” was a top-10 Everly hit in 1959. The song is now certified as a Million-Air song by BMI, thanks to recordings by Tom Wopat, Kenny Rogers, Connie Smith (top-10 in 1976), The Angels, Johnny Rodrguez, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Sue Thompson, Sandy Posey, Anne Murray and others. The hit single’s flip side was also a Don Everly song, “Oh What a Feeling.”

The brothers paused in their rocking and rolling to create their acclaimed 1958 LP Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. This eloquently gentle, folk/country collection was ahead of its time and an early “concept” album.

Between 1957 and 1959 the duo had eight million-selling singles. In 1960, the Everlys became the first artists to be offered a million-dollar recording contract when they signed with the fledgling Warner Bros. Records. Their presence on the label led to it becoming a major force in the music world.

The Everly Brothers. Photo: Courtesy Robert K. Oermann

Don’s song “Cathy’s Clown” became their first hit for the company. It sold three million copies, the biggest selling record of their career. It also became an evergreen, with recordings by Pat Boone, The Shadows, The Williams Brothers, The Springer Brothers, Neil Sedaka, Dee Dee Ramone and more. Reba McEntire’s giant country smash with “Cathy’s Clown” led to it being named BMI’s Country Song of the Year in 1990.

Phil provided the team with the 1960 hit “When Will I Be Loved.” Don followed suit by penning “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)” as the follow-up single. The song has since been a country hit for Hank Williams Jr. & Lois Johnson (1970), Connie Smith (1976) and Emmylou Harris (1983). It has also been recorded by Tammy Wynette, Del Reeves, Frank Ifield, Dillard & Clark, Mott the Hoople, Steve Wariner, Albert Lee, Louise Mandrell, Sweethearts of the Rodeo, Bryan Hyland, The Hombres and John Prine, to name a few.

Don’s “Since You Broke My Heart” (1960) has been reprised by The Searchers, The Chocolate Watchband, Terry Jacks and Dino, Desi & Billy. The Everly Brothers hits with Warners continued, particularly overseas. “Walk Right Back,” “Ebony Eyes,” “Temptation,” “Stick with Me Baby,” “Don’t Blame Me,” “Crying in the Rain,” “How Can I Meet Her,” “No One Can Make My Sunshine Smile” and “The Ferris Wheel” were big British Everly successes in 1961-64.

The brothers served in the Marines in 1961-62. Don was troubled, hospitalized and sidelined by drug and psychological problems in late 1962.

Both Don and Phil are credited with writing 1964’s “Gone, Gone, Gone.” It has been covered by The Ventures, The Surfaris, Crow and Fairport Convention. In 2007, it was a stand-out track on Raising Sand, the Grammy Album of the Year by Robert Plant & Alison Krauss.

The brothers’ composition “The Price of Love” became a No. 1 hit on the British charts in 1965. It has since been recorded by a myriad of acts, including The Move, Bryan Ferry, The Status Quo, Poco, The Highthawks, Roxy Music, The Cactus Brothers, The Kinleys, BR5-49 and Buddy Miller.

The Everlys continued to record for Warner Bros. throughout the rest of the decade. Their 1968 LP for the label, Roots, is regarded as one of the seminal country-rock records. In 1970, the siblings starred in a network TV variety series on ABC, Johnny Cash Presents The Everly Brothers.

A contract with RCA resulted in the albums Stories We Could Tell (1972) and Pass the Chicken and Listen (1973). The latter was produced by their old benefactor, Chet Atkins.

The brothers broke up in 1973. Phil settled in L.A. Don returned to Nashville.

Don issued his solo albums Don Everly (1971, Ode Records), Sunset Towers (1974, Ode Records) and Brother Jukebox (1977, Hickory Records). He made the country charts with “Yesterday Just Passed My Way Again,” “Since You Broke My Heart” and “Brother Jukebox” in 1976-77.

After a decade of estrangement, The Everly Brothers joined forces again in 1983. Their reunion concert in London’s Royal Albert Hall aired around the world on HBO.

Paul McCartney wrote their 1984 comeback single “On the Wings of a Nightingale.” It became their first music video. Don’s song “Born Yesterday” brought the duo back into the country top-20 in 1986, and it, too, spawned a hit video.

He also wrote “Asleep,” “Some Hearts,” “Be My Love Again,” “Can’t Get Over It” and “Three Bands of Steel” for the team’s 1984-88 comeback albums on Mercury Records. His “Following the Sun” and “You Make It Seem So Easy” inspired music videos in 1984 and 1986, respectively.

In 1986, The Everly Brothers were among the 10 debut selections for the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Neil Young inducted the Everlys. Of their fellow pioneer inductees—Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke and Little Richard—Don’s death makes Lewis the only one still living.

The Everlys final appearance on the charts was on a 1989 remake of “Ballad of a Teenage Queen” with Johnny Cash and Rosanne Cash. Heartaches and Harmonies was issued as their four-CD, boxed-set salute in 1994.

The Everly Brothers were given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. They were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001.

In 2003-04, Don and Phil toured with Simon & Garfunkel nationwide. It was the farewell concert tour for the latter duo, whose career began in imitation of the Everly Brothers.

The siblings drifted apart again around 2005. Phil eventually settled south of Nashville, in Columbia, Tennessee. He passed away in 2014.

Four Everly Brothers tribute records were released in 2013. Norah Jones and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong offered Foreverly. The Chapin Sisters issued A Date With The Everly Brothers. The albums Bird Dogs and What the Brothers Sang came from The Wieners and Bonnie Prince Billy & Dawn McCarthy, respectively.

One of Don’s last notable public appearances was when he joined Paul Simon to sing “Bye Bye Love” at the latter’s 2018 Nashville concert. In 2019, Don was voted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville.

Don and Phil Everly have been the subjects of a theater musical, 1998’s Bye Bye Love. They have provided authors with the material for at least four books, John Hosum’s Living Legends: An Illustrated Discography (1985), Phyllis Karpp’s Ike’s Boys (1988), Consuelo Dodge’s The Everly Brothers: Ladies Love Outlaws (1991) and Roger White’s The Everly Brothers: Walk Right Back (1998).

Don Everly is survived by his wife of 24 years, Adela, his son Edan. and daughters Venetia, Stacy and Erin, once married to Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose. He is also survived by his mother Margaret Everly, who is 102. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

“The Storyteller“ Tom T. Hall Passes [Updated]

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Tom T. Hall. Photo: Courtesy Robert K. Oermann

Country Music Hall of Fame member Tom T. Hall has died at age 85.

Known as “The Storyteller,” the singer-songwriter and Grand Ole Opry star passed away on Friday, according to his son Dean Hall. He had been in failing health for several years.

Tom T. Hall created such indelible songs as “Harper Valley P.T.A.” for Jeannie C. Riley, “Little Bitty” for Alan Jackson and “How I Got to Memphis” for Bobby Bare. As a recording artist, he placed more than 50 singles on the country popularity charts in 1967-87, 21 of which became top-10 hits.

The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee was born near Olive Hill, KY in 1936. His family was poor, but the boy’s upbringing was relatively carefree. He picked up the guitar at age four and wrote his first song when he was nine.

His childhood ended at age 13 when his mother died, as did his boyhood musical hero, the latter immortalized in his 1971 hit “The Year That Clayton Delaney Died.” When he was 15, his father was shot and wounded in a hunting accident, Hall dropped out of school and went to work in a garment factory, a “sweat shop.”

He joined a local bluegrass band and began appearing on WMOR radio in Morehead, Kentucky. When his fellow musicians were drafted for the Korean War, Hall remained at the station as a disc jockey.

In 1957, he enlisted in the Army for a three-year hitch. While stationed in Germany, he earned his high-school diploma and performed in a servicemen’s country band. He impressed the G.I.’s with his original songs. His 1970 hit “Salute to a Switchblade” was inspired during this time.

Back in civilian life, he resumed work as a D.J. and attended college in Virginia on the G.I. Bill. An acquaintance sent his songs to Nashville, where Newkeys Music signed him to a songwriting contract. The company’s co-founder Jimmy C. Newman turned Hall’s “D.J. For a Day” into a top-10 country hit in 1963. On Jan. 1, 1964, Tom T. Hall moved to Music City with $46 and a guitar.

Within months of his arrival, Dave Dudley scored with Hall’s songs “Mad” (1964) and “What We’re Fighting For” (1965). Dudley subsequently issued singles of eight additional Hall songs, including the No. 1 hit “The Pool Shark” (1970). Newman reprised his support with the top-10 hits “Artificial Rose” (1965) and “Back Pocket Money” (1966). Meanwhile, Johnny Wright hit No.1 in 1965 with Hall’s “Hello Vietnam.”

Mercury Records signed Tom T. Hall as a recording artist, and he debuted on the country charts with the top-40 hit “I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew” in 1967. During that same year, fellow Mercury artist Margie Singleton asked him to write her a song. She was out of town when he finished it, so newcomer Jeannie C. Riley was pitched the tune. Her version of “Harper Valley P.T.A.” was recorded on a Friday night in 1968. By Saturday afternoon, radio stations were playing it. By the close of the following week, factories were shipping the singles to stores as fast as they could press them.

“Harper Valley P.T.A.” topped the pop and country charts, sold six million copies, won a Grammy and a CMA award, inspired a movie and a TV series and became a national sensation. Tom T. Hall never recorded it.

Instead, he released his debut top-10 hit in 1968, “Ballad of Forty Dollars.” The following year, he repeated the feat with “Homecoming.” In 1970, he had his first No. 1 hit as an artist, “A Week in a Country Jail.”

With songs like these, Tom T. Hall vaulted to the front ranks of Nashville songwriters. Along with Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury, Dolly Parton and a handful of others, he transformed country songwriting, taking the artform to new levels of insight and sensitivity.

Bobby Bare scored with Hall’s “(Margie’s At) The Lincoln Park Inn,” “The Town That Broke My Heart” and “How I Got to Memphis” in 1968-70. The last-named became a perennial favorite, thanks to recordings by Buddy Miller, Rosanne Cash, Solomon Burke, Eric Church, Ronnie Dunn, The Avett Brothers, Kelly Willis, Lee Hazelwood and Deryl Dodd, among others.

As a recording artist, Hall’s next No. 1 hits were 1971’s “The Year That Clayton Delaney Died” plus 1973’s “(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine” and “I Love.” They opened the floodgates for a string of top-10 smashes, including “Ravishing Ruby,” “County Is,” “I Like Beer,” “Faster Horses,” “Fox on the Run” and “Your Man Loves You Honey.” All were produced by legendary session guitarist Jerry Kennedy.

Hall’s peers voted him into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1978, but he was far from finished. Success continued on RCA Records with “I Wish I Loved Somebody Else” (1978), “What Have You Got to Lose” (1978), “The Old Side of Town” (1980) and more.

Despite the hit records, he insisted he wasn’t a “star.” Nevertheless, he was the TV host of the nationally syndicated Pop Goes the Country (1980-83), the longtime commercial spokesman for Tyson Chicken and Chevy Trucks, a guest on the top variety and talk shows and an inductee into the Opry cast.

And despite being something of a “loner” in Nashville, he discovered Johnny Rodriguez and brought him to town. He championed songwriter Billy Joe Shaver by recording “Old Five and Dimers Like Me” and “Willy the Wandering Gypsy and Me.” He teamed with Earl Scruggs on a 1982 LP that introduced the future Alabama No. 1 hit “Song of the South.” He sang with Johnny Cash on his 1988 composition “The Last of the Drifters.”

Hall returned to Mercury Records in the mid-1980s and recorded a series of albums in rural Florida in the following decade. One song from these sessions was “Little Bitty,” which became a No. 1 hit for Alan Jackson in 1996.

Storyteller, Poet, Philosopher was issued as the Tom T. Hall boxed set in 1995. The title reflects the literary bent that underlies his music. He published six books, including the novel The Laughing Man of Woodmont Cove, a short-story collection titled The Acts of Life and the autobiographical The Storyteller’s Nashville.

The depth of Tom T. Hall’s songwriting catalog is revealed on such albums as I Witness Life (1970), 100 Children (1971), In Search of a Song (1971), We All Got Together And (1972), The Storyteller (1972), The Rhymer and Other Five and Dimers (1973) and his much- loved children’s album Songs of Fox Hollow (1974). The last-named was saluted with a tribute album in 2011.

He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008. He was presented with a BMI Icon award three years later.

In 1968, Tom T. Hall married song lyricist and former Music City News journalist Dixie Dean (1934-2015). Born in England as Iris Violet May Lawrence, she blossomed as his song collaborator in the 1990s. Separately and together, they enjoyed more than 500 bluegrass recordings of their songs.

Hall had grown up playing bluegrass and dedicated his 1976 LP The Magnificent Music Machine to the genre. He often opened his Toy Box Studio to bluegrass bands. Dixie formed a bluegrass song-publishing company and record label. Tom T. and Dixie Hall were inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.

Literary scholars have taught Tom T. Hall’s songs as poetry in university courses. More than anyone, Hall illustrated the elevation of country songwriting from a simple folk art to an expression that can plumb the depths of the soul, comment on politics, paint a vivid personality portrait, observe an emotional tumult or take a snapshot of the social world. Even decades after their creation, the best of them remain extraordinary listening experiences.

Tom T. Hall died at his home, Fox Hollow, according to his son Dean Hall, a blues-rock performer. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Tom T. Hall speaks at the 2008 Country Music Hall of Fame inductee press conference on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. Photo: John Russell

“Tom T. Hall’s masterworks vary in plot, tone and tempo, but they are bound by his ceaseless and unyielding empathy for the triumphs and losses of others,” says Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “He wrote without judgment or anger, offering a rhyming journalism of the heart that sets his compositions apart from any other writer. His songs meant the world to Bobby Bare, Johnny Cash, George Jones and other greats, and those songs will continue to speak to generations. He was a storyteller, a philosopher, a whiskey maker, a novelist, a poet, a painter, a benefactor, a letter writer, a gift giver, a gentleman farmer and many more things. My bet is that we won’t see the likes of him again, but if we do I’ll be first in line for tickets to the show.”

“Few could tell a story like Tom T. Hall. As a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, he was one of those triple threat artists who continued to make an impact on the next generation. I’ll always remember growing up listening to Tom T.’s music with my father, who was a huge bluegrass and country fan,” says Sarah Trahern, Country Music Association, CEO

Renowned Singer-Songwriter Nanci Griffith Passes

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Nanci Griffith

American singer, guitarist, and songwriter Nanci Griffith passed away today (Friday, Aug. 13). She was 68.

Born Nanci Caroline Griffith in Austin, Texas, Griffith became known for her unique version of country-folk music.

She released over 20 albums, perhaps most notably her 1993 project Other Voices, Other Rooms, which consisted entirely of cover songs, in tribute to songwriters who influenced her own songwriting. Other Voices, Other Rooms earned a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album in 1994.

As a songwriter, some of Griffith’s greatest hits include Kathy Mattea’s cover of “Love at the Five and Dime” and Suzy Bogguss’s hit with “Outbound Plane.”

Griffith was awarded the Kate Wolf Memorial Award by the World Folk Music Association in 1995, and in 2008 the Americana Music Association awarded her its Lifetime Achievement Trailblazer Award. Most recently Griffith was invited to be a member of the Texas Heritage Songwriters’ Association’s Hall of Fame. She was to be inducted in February of 2022.

“Nanci Griffith was a master songwriter who took every opportunity to champion kindred spirits, including Vince Bell, Elizabeth Cook, Iris DeMent, Julie Gold, Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett, Eric Taylor and Townes Van Zandt,” said Kyle Young, CEO, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “Her voice was a clarion call, at once gentle and insistent. Her brilliant album The Last of the True Believers is a template for what is now called Americana music, and her Grammy-winning Other Voices, Other Rooms is a compelling guide to 20th-century folk songs. Nanci offered gifts that no one else could give.”

Griffith is a survivor of breast cancer which was diagnosed in 1996, and thyroid cancer in 1998.

Her death was confirmed by her management company, Gold Mountain Entertainment. A cause of death was not provided.

Memorial services have not yet been announced.

‘80s Country Chart Topper Razzy Bailey Passes

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Razzy Bailey. Photo: Courtesty Robert K. Oermann

Singer-songwriter Razzy Bailey, who placed more than 30 singles on the country charts in 1976-89, died at his home in Goodlettsville on Wednesday, Aug. 4, at age 82.

Bailey had 13 top-10 hits and five No. 1 smashes, including “Midnight Hauler,” “Lovin’ Up a Storm” and “She Left Love All Over Me.” He was named Billboard’s No. 1 country chart artist of 1981.

Born Erastus Michael Bailey, he was raised in rural poverty in Alabama. The performer was named for his father, “Rasie” (he later changed the spelling so people would pronounce his name correctly). The elder Bailey was a farmer who played guitar and banjo and was an amateur songwriter. Razzy Bailey was also influenced by the blues music played by the Black farmhands he worked alongside as a youth.

He formed his first country band at age 15 and began recording four years later in 1958. Bailey’s career was characterized by decades of dogged determination. For the next 20 years, he recorded for such labels as B&K, Peach, Lowery, ABC, Boblo, 123 (distributed by Capitol), Aquarian, MGM, Capricorn and his own Erastus imprint, all without success.

At one point on his journey, he became utterly disillusioned, frustrated and discouraged. He dropped out of music and tried working as a delivery-truck driver, insurance salesman, butcher and furniture seller. He had married as a teenager and was desperate to support a young and growing family. His wife, Sandra, urged him to continue pursuing his music dreams. They went to a psychic who predicted that his fortunes would soon change.

They did. In 1976, Dickey Lee scored a major country hit with Bailey’s song “9,999,999 Tears.” The following year, Lee also hit the charts with Bailey’s “Peanut Butter.” These successes reawakened Music Row’s interest in him.

Producer/publisher Bob Montgomery had been behind the board during Bailey’s stint on Capricorn. He brought the singer-songwriter to RCA Records. With Montgomery producing, Razzy Bailey debuted on the label with the top-10 hit “What Time Do You Have to Be Back To Heaven” in 1978.

Montgomery’s staff songwriters provided Razzy Bailey with the subsequent hits “Tonight She’s Gonna Love Me (Like There Was No Tomorrow),” “If Love Had a Face,” “I Can’t Get Enough of You,” and the bluesy “I Ain’t Got No Business Doing Business Today” in 1979.

Bailey scored his first No. 1 hit with “Loving Up a Storm” in 1980 when he was 41 years old. This was the first of five successive chart toppers of 1980-82 – “I Keep Coming Back,” “Friends,” “Midnight Hauler,” and “She Left Love All Over Me” being the others.

During the early 1980s, he also scored with “True Life Country Music,” “Love’s Gonna Fall Here Tonight,” “Scratch My Back,” “Every Time You Cross My Mind (You Break My Heart)” and his own composition “Anywhere There’s a Jukebox.” By the time of his third RCA album, he was also recording songs co-written with his father, a unique composing partnership in country music.

Razzy Bailey earned top-newcomer awards from Cash Box and Record World, as well as an ACM nomination. His humility, good-time energy and warmth endeared him to audiences at concerts. He headlined overseas in England at the Wembley Festival, as well as at shows in Australia, Croatia and New Zealand.

He showcased his distinctive, sandpapery vocals on Austin City Limits, Hee Haw, That Nashville Music, The CMA Awards, The John Davidson Show, The Mike Douglas Show (which he co-hosted), Nashville Now, Solid Gold, Nashville After Hours, Church Street Station, Pop Goes the Country, Farm Aid ’94, Nashville On the Road, Country Comes Home and other national telecasts.

In 1984, Razzy Bailey switched to MCA Records and began emphasizing his r&b influences. He issued country singles of the soul songs “In the Midnight Hour,” “Knock On Wood” and “Starting All Over Again.” His homage Blues Juice album of 1989 capped this phase.

He’d started producing his own albums in the mid-1980s and also began recording more of his own compositions. These included “After the Great Depression” (1983), “Modern Day Marriages” (1985), “Old Blue Yodeler” (1986), “Rockin’ in the Parkin’ Lot” (1986) and “Unattended Fire” (1988). His last charted single was 1989’s “But You Will,” which he co-wrote.

After turning 50, Bailey recorded for smaller labels, including his own SOA (Sounds of America) imprint. The year after he recorded his 1992 collection Fragile Handle With Care, his wife Sandra committed suicide. Hoping to find a fresh start, they had moved to Decatur, AL. In the wake of her death, Razzy Bailey returned to Music City.

In 1997, his obscure, 20-year-old recording of “The Love Bump” became a hit in Japan. In 2008, a Thai artist named Bird Thongchai had an overseas dance-mix hit with Bailey’s “9,999,999 Tears.”

Razzy Bailey resumed his own recording career with such collections as Razzy Unwrapped (1998), Your Cheating Heart (1999), Damned Good Time (2008) and Whiskey California (2009). During the later years of his career, he recorded with Johnny Cash, Charlie Daniels, Mickey Gilley, Delbert McClinton, Willie Nelson and Dobie Gray, among others.

Bailey was noted for mentoring new songwriters and aspiring country performers. This kept him active as a record producer well into the 2000s. He was involved in a car accident last November that broke his back in two places.

Razzy Bailey is survived by his wife and manager, Faye Bright Bailey, by daughters Tammy, Jenita, Jenevra, Teressa and Paula, by sons Rasie and Douglas and by 13 grandchildren and six great- grandchildren as well as by his sister Vanda and a host of extended family members.

Visitation will be on Thursday, Aug. 12 from 4-8 PM at Spring Hill Funeral Home in Nashville. A celebration of life service will take place on Friday, Aug. 13 at 1 PM at the funeral home with the family receiving friends and visitors for two hours prior to that. Burial will follow in Spring Hill Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Razzy Bailey’s name to Music Health Alliance.

Beloved Songwriter & Producer Jim Femino Passes

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Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, producer, publisher, educator, speaker, and author Jim Femino passed away on Tuesday (Aug. 3). He was 69.

Before becoming a music industry executive, Femino spent twenty-five years as a country, rock and soul recording artist, touring the eastern hemisphere for crowds big and small. Along the way, he built Road Records, an independent record label, and its accompanying merchandising and sponsorship arms.

After his career as an artist, Femino launched his own publishing company and recording studio in Nashville, and he began to write songs professionally for Music City’s recording artists. Among artists who have recorded his songs are Toby Keith, Ronnie Milsap, Craig Morgan, Jamie O’Neal, John Michael Montgomery, Steve Azar, and others.

His biggest hit was James Otto’s 2008 single, “Just Got Started Lovin’ You.” The song boasted a list of achievements, including a nomination for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, Billboard‘s 2008 Most Played Country Song of the Year, and being named to Billboard‘s Greatest 100 of All-Time Country Songs.

For the last 30 years Femino was President of Songstarters!, Inc., an award-winning publishing, production, artist development, and online songwriter/music education company. He was a board member of the CMA, The Recording Acadmey and various other trade organizations.

Earlier this year, Jim’s wife, Leslie Thola Femino, passed away at the age of 69 due to cancer. Femino is survived by his children Kristie Weidner (Tom Rhoads), Arthur Femino (Michelle), Adam Holcomb (Nicole Nocito) and Matthew Femino; five granchildren Kaitlin Weidner (Keegan Kling), Jacob Weidner, Tori Femino, Sarah Femino, and Jimmy Femino; and one great grandchild Kinsley Kling.

Funeral arrangements for Jim Femino have not yet been announced.

James Otto, who recorded Femino’s biggest hit, posted a tribute to the songwriter, saying that Femino had recently survived a heart attack.

 

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Australian Country Great Tom LeGarde Dies At Age 90

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Tom LeGarde, who performed in Nashville for decades with brother Ted, passed away on Friday (July 30) in Hendersonville. He was 90 years old.

Billed variously as “The LeGardes,” “The LeGarde Twins” or “Australia,” the siblings were top country showmen who charted with four titles between 1978 and 1988. Tom LeGarde sang lead and usually did the gospel recitations. His identical twin Ted LeGarde, who died in 2018, sang flawless, pinpoint high harmony vocals. Both played guitar and were prominent ambassadors of Australian country music in Nashville.

Born March 15, 1931, the LeGardes were raised on a farm in Queensland, Australia. At age 15, they quit school and became rodeo riders. Influenced by Canada’s Wilf Carter (Montana Slim) and by their homeland’s Tex Morton, they were soon singing for the rodeo audiences, billed as “Australia’s Yodelling Stockmen.”

By age 17, they’d added rope stunts, whip cracking, rifle marksmanship and card tricks to their yodeling act. This reflected their lifelong commitment to audience-pleasing showmanship.

Tom and Ted LeGarde honed their act in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. The handsome, clean-cut siblings launched their Australian recording career with a string of successful singles in 1950-57. These were in a very traditional brother-duet style and included such country standards as “They Cut Down the Old Pine Tree,” “Nobody’s Darlin’ But Mine,” “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” and “There Stands the Glass.”

They migrated to North America in 1957. Following a stint in Canada, the LeGardes landed in Hollywood. They appeared on Doye O’Dell’s Western Varieties TV shows and hosted their own TV series on KTLA in Los Angeles.

In 1958, they relocated to Nashville. The duo recorded for Dot (“Freight Train Yodel”), Liberty (“Baby Sister”) and Bel Canto (“Rock and Roll That Hula Hoop”) and made waves with their colorful costumes and stagecraft. The LeGarde Twins debuted on the Grand Ole Opry with their own tune, “Cooee Call.”

They returned to Sydney, where television and disc stardom continued in 1963-65. Three LPs were released during this period.

Then they returned to the U.S. and were signed to a management contract by Elvis impresario Col. Tom Parker. The LeGardes became casino stars in Las Vegas and also appeared on a 1967 episode of Star Trek portraying androids.

Resettling in Nashville, the twins became ground breakers in bringing the country sounds of their homeland to Music City. Tom and Ted LeGarde worked with Marty Robbins, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, Roy Rogers, Lassie, Groucho Marx, Dale Robertson, Barbara Mandrell, Nat King Cole, Hopalong Cassidy and Randy Travis as they entertained across the subsequent decades.

In 1978, The LeGardes debuted on the charts with their harmony version of the Cole Porter standard “True Love.” Their other charted titles were “I Can Almost Touch the Feelin’” (1979), “Daddy’s Makin’ Records in Nashville” (1980) and “Crocodile Man” (1988).

They became popular visitors to TNN’s Nashville Now and other TV shows. In 1987, The LeGarde Twins were honored by country Hall of Fame induction at Tamworth in Australia. During the 1980s, the brothers also became popular in Great Britain, becoming favorites at the Wembley Festival.

During the 1990s, they operated their own LeGarde Twins Country Music Theatre at Twitty City. Following Conway Twitty’s 1993 death, they relocated to the Best Western/Quality Inn Hall of Fame motor inn adjoining Music Row.

Tom and Ted LeGarde blazed a trail for Keith Urban, Jedd Hughes, Jamie O’Neal, Olivia Newton-John, Kasey Chambers, Catherine Britt, James Blundel, Diana Trask, Sherrie Austin, Morgan Evans and the other Australians who have had an impact on the American country charts.

Funeral arrangements for Tom LeGarde have not been announced.

ZZ Top’s Dusty Hill Passes

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Photo: Courtesy Bob Merlis

Joseph Michael “Dusty” Hill, bassist of legendary rock group ZZ Top, passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, Texas on July 27. He was 72.

Born in Dallas, Hill, his brother Rocky, and future ZZ Top member Frank Beard got their start playing in local Dallas bands the Warlocks, the Cellar Dwellers, and American Blues. In 1968, the band relocated to Houston where Rocky left the band and Dusty and Beard joined guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons in ZZ Top, just after they released their first single in 1969. Playing bass and keyboards in the band, Hill also provided vocals as well, and sang lead on “Tush,” the band’s first Top 20 hit and one of its most popular songs.

ZZ Top racked up dozens of hits through the decades and packed arenas with their hard-driving mix of Southern rock and blues. In the 80’s they hit pay dirt when they released a series of albums that added funky synthesizer sounds to their hard-driving guitars, yielding massive hits like “Legs,” the quintessential “Sharp-Dressed Man,” and “Gimme All Your Lovin,'” which sold 10 million copies and remained on the Billboard charts for 183 weeks.

Hill and the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. He played with ZZ Top for over 50 years until his death.

“We are saddened by the news today that our Compadre, Dusty Hill, has passed away in his sleep at home in Houston, TX,” a statement from surviving members Frank Beard and Billy Gibbons, said. “We, along with legions of ZZ Top fans around the world, will miss your steadfast presence, your good nature and enduring commitment to providing that monumental bottom to the ‘Top.’ We will forever be connected to that ‘Blues Shuffle in C.’ You will be missed greatly, amigo.”

Music-Video Mainstay Martin Kahan Passes

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Martin Kahan

Prominent and prolific music-video maker Martin Kahan has died at age 74.

Noted for his work with top country stars, Kahan passed away in Lakewood, New Jersey on Sunday (July 18) following a battle with cancer. The director’s career began during the dawn of the music-video era and endured into the new millennium. He was particularly noted for his work with Kenny Chesney, Sawyer Brown and Neal McCoy.

Martin Samuel “Mendel” Kahan was born in Miami. The son of a rabbi, he began his film career in documentaries. Actor Lorne Greene narrated his film about “frog-gigging” in the Florida Everglades. Kahan also created a documentary about rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins.

Moving to Toronto, then New York, he gravitated to working in the then-emerging field of music videos in the early 1980s. MTV went on the air as a pop-music outlet for videos in 1981, and CMT followed suit for country clips in 1983.

Kahan’s early clients included rock stars such as Rush, Scandal, Ian Hunter, Clarence Clemons, Bon Jovi, Loverboy, Michael Bolton, Motley Crue, Kiss, The Scorpions and Eddie Money.

By the mid-1980s, he was working in Nashville. His early country videos included career-establishing 1985-88 hits by Sawyer Brown—“Betty’s Bein’ Bad,” “Heart Don’t Fall Now,” “Out Goin’ Cattin’” and “Shakin.’”

The two 1984 clips he created for Ricky Skaggs on the streets of Manhattan drew particular acclaim—“Honey (Open That Door)” (which featured a cameo by New York Mayor Ed Koch) and “Country Boy” (with Bill Monroe in a prominent role). Another ‘80s effort was John Anderson’s “Countrified” (1986).

As the decade continued, Martn Kahan became increasingly associated with country music. He eventually established a residence in Nashville.

Some of the most iconic country videos of the 1990s were directed by him. These included the award-winning “Chattahoochie” by Alan Jackson (1993) and “Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)” by John Michael Montgomery (1995), plus “Then What” by Clay Walker (1998), “Hog Wild” by Hank Williams Jr. (1995) and “High Powered Love” by Emmylou Harris (1993).

Among his more than 30 country-music clients were David Ball, Billy Dean, T.G. Sheppard, Emilio, Ty England, The Gibson Miller Band, John & Audrey Wiggins, Kieran Kane, Dude Mowery, Andy Childs, The Buffalo Club and Rick Trevino.

Kahan directed multiple videos for Confederate Railroad, including “Trashy Women,” “Daddy Never Was the Cadillac Kind” and “When You Leave That Way You Can Never Go Back.” His many clips for Neal McCoy included “Wink,” “No Doubt About It” and “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye.”

In 1997, he created the “She’s Got it All” and “That’s Why I’m Here” videos for Kenny Chesney. In 2000, Chesney’s “I Lost It” became Kahan’s final music video.

Four months after completing it, Martin Kahan fell down a flight of stairs at a friend’s home in Nashville, suffering severe brain damage. He remained a lively raconteur about events from his past, but was unable to retain new information.

His declining health sidelined him professionally, and he eventually became homeless. His rabbinical family stepped in to provide long-term care at a facility in Lakewood.

Final arrangements have not been announced.

Industry Member Ben Ewing Passes

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Ben Ewing

Music industry member Ben Ewing passed away on Sunday (June 27), according to a post on his Facebook. He was 67.

He was General Manager at Plowboy Records, the Nashville-based label established in 2012 to promote and further the legacy of the late singer Eddy Arnold. Plowboy has released projects by Country Music Hall of Fame member Bobby Bare, as well as JD Wilkes & The Dirt Daubers, Buzz Cason, The Ghost Wolves and more. Ewing most recently oversaw management of punk artists The Dead Boys/Cheetah Chrome and The Bad Signs, and guided Plowboy Records releases from The Kentucky Headhunters, Chuck Mead, Paul Burch, Smoky White Devils and Richard Lloyd of Television.

Before joining Plowboy Records, he owned and operated Ewing Management, where he managed the careers of Brandon Jenkins, Johnny Solinger, Michael Lattanzi, and more. Prior to that Ewing was General Manager at the artist management, music publishing, and record distribution company, Red Dirt Music Company.

He also spent time at Progression Music Group and Artist Envoy Agency in Nashville, and was CEO of the radio and television broadcasting company South Eastern Communications in Bowling Green, Kentucky for 10 years.

Ewing was a veteran of the Vietnam War and got his start in the music business working for Phil Walden at Capricorn Records.

A memorial service will be held Monday, July 12 at 6 p.m. at Sellars Funeral Home at Mt. Juliet. Visitation with the family will be held on Monday, July 12 from 4-6 pm.

Music Row Veteran Larry Sheridan Passes

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Larry Sheridan

Music industry member Larry Sheridan died on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at age 69. He died of adrenocortical carcinoma, an aggressive and rare form of cancer, according to his wife Robin Ruddy Sheridan.

Larry was born on Oct. 31, 1951 in Rockville Centre, New York. He grew up on Long Island, where he worked on the family farm. In high school he was one of three co-captains of the gymnastics team and went on to join the Regional Champions team, The New York Athletic Club, as a gymnast where his specialty was the rings.

A talented musician, in the ’70s Larry acted as a solo artist, playing in clubs around New York City and Long Island.

He and his wife moved to Nashville in 1986 and bought, renovated and added on to a bungalow on Music Row and created The Parlor, and Parlor Productions, a recording studio and production facility. Through their work at The Parlor, Larry became a mentor to many music industry professionals, spawning many successful artists, song pluggers, artist managers and hit songs. Well-known artists such as Vince Gill, Amy Grant, John Michael Montgomery and Kenny Chesney recorded at the studio. Robin and Larry took part in the Grammy winning album, Beautiful Dreamer: Songs of Steven Foster, having recorded “Old Folks at Home (Swanee River),” at The Parlor.

Larry was the President of the Nashville Publisher’s Network for a time, working to preserve the integrity and financial well-being of singers and songwriters. He also served on the boards of the YMCA and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He was a leader in the historic preservation and redefinition efforts of the Music Row Neighborhood Association. Caring deeply about protecting the rights and future of the songwriting community, he was a mentor and a sponsor of the National Songwriters Association International (NSAI) for over a decade.

A man of many talents, Larry was also formerly a licensed general contractor and a cabinetmaker.

Larry and Robin co-founded Music Row Realty in 2006, developing an additional business that specializes in the entertainment industry’s real estate needs. His background in general contracting helped his clients envision the possibilities of an improved property.

Larry is survived by his wife of 34 years, Robin Ruddy Sheridan, two sisters Pat Rini and Betty Lange, 7 nieces and nephews, and 8 grand nieces and nephews.

There will be a celebration of life for Sheridan held on Aug. 10 from 4-6 p.m. at 3rd & Lindsley in Nashville.

Donations can be sent in his name to MusicCares and Music Health Alliance, or to the family’s GofundMe to help cover the expense of the studio on Music Row, the home, and all the funeral expenses. Cards and letters can be sent to Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home (660 Thompson Ln., Nashville, TN 37204).