Legendary Johnny Cash Drummer W.S. "Fluke" Holland Dies At 85

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W.S. Holland. Photo: Eddie Michel Azoulay

Longtime Johnny Cash sideman W.S. “Fluke” Holland passed away on Wednesday (Sept. 23) in Jackson, Tennessee, at age 85.

Holland was the superstar’s only drummer throughout his career. He joined Cash’s The Tennessee Two in 1960, which prompted the group’s renaming to The Tennessee Three. He played on all of Cash’s hits thereafter, remaining by his side until Cash retired from the road in 1997.

Born in Saltello, Tennessee in 1935, Holland graduated from high school in Jackson in 1953. He began working with fellow Jackson resident Carl Perkins the following year. When Perkins went to Sun Records in Memphis, Holland accompanied him.

He played on all of the classic Perkins Sun Records sides, including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Honey Don’t,” “Boppin’ the Blues,” “Glad All Over,” “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” and “Matchbox” in 1956-59. He also played on records by various other Sun artists, including Roy Orbison, Carl Mann and Billy Lee Riley.

He was present at the famed late-1956 Million Dollar Quartet session at Sun, which joined the forces of Perkins, Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley.

Perkins’ increased drinking, a serious automobile accident and waning disc success led to Holland leaving his band in 1959. The following year, Cash hired him to join bassist Marshall Grant and lead guitarist Luther Perkins in his band. Holland’s “train-like” rhythm subsequently became one of the distinguishing elements of Cash’s sound.

His drumming can be heard on “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town,” “Five Feet High and Rising,” “I Got Stripes,” “Ring of Fire,” “Understand Your Man,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Daddy Sang Bass,” “A Boy Named Sue,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “Man in Black,” “One Piece at a Time” and many more Johnny Cash singles. In addition, Holland is on the landmark Cash LPs Live at Folsom Prison (1968) and Live at San Quentin (1969).

He was also on the 1969 Bob Dylan album Nashville Skyline, alongside Cash. Other stars who recorded with Holland include Dale Watson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Western, Marty Stuart, Johnny Horton, Steve Goodman and George Jones.

After 1997, the drummer toured with his own W.S. Holland Band, extending his career as a working musician to seven decades. He was a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He has been called the most important drummer in country-music history.
In 2019, Holland published his autobiography, entitled Behind The Man in Black: The WS Holland Story. He died of congestive heart failure.

W.S. Fluke Holland is survived by his wife Joyce Lindsey Holland, daughters Kim Holland Lovelace and Krista Holland. The family will receive friends for a visitation on Saturday at West Jackson Baptist Church from 10 a.m. until noon with the funeral beginning at noon. He will be buried at Ridgecrest Cemetery.

Memorial donations can be made in his honor to either West Jackson’s Hartland Ministry or YouthTown of Tennessee.

Rock/Country Showman Roy Head Dies At 79

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Rocker Roy Head, who later forged a long career in country music, died Monday morning (Sept. 21) at age 79.

Head is best known for his 1965 pop/rock hit “Treat Her Right.” He was a wild, unpredictable showman whose stage performances were legendary. Between 1974 and 1986 he placed 24 singles on the country charts.

He grew up in East Texas, influenced by the musicians in the Black community around him, his mother’s Ernest Tubb records and the weekly broadcasts of The Louisiana Hayride.

Head recorded a few rockabilly tunes, then broke through with the R&B barn burner “Treat Her Right.” The single rose to the upper reaches of the charts, prevented from hitting No. 1 by The Beatles’ “Yesterday.”

The song became a big country hit for Barbara Mandrell in 1971. “Treat Her Right” was also covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, Billy “Crash” Craddock, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Mae West, Robert Plant, Tom Jones, Otis Redding, George Thorogood, The Box Tops, Doug Sahm, Sandy Nelson, Joe Stampley and Los Straightjackets.

Head’s version was heard on the soundtracks of the 1991 movie The Commitments and Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

“Apple of My Eye” was the follow-up top 40 hit in late 1965. A string of releases on Back Beat, Scepter and Mercury ensued in 1966-71. Future rock star Johnny Winter got his start in Head’s band The Traits.

It was during this time that Roy Head built his reputation as a microphone-slinging, frantic, manic, back-flipping, leg-splitting stage wild man. Vocal shrieks and enthusiastic shouts accompanied his gymnastic dancing. Head’s offstage exploits were equally colorful, and Head’s re-telling of them was invariably embellished.

When his pop/rock career faded, Head turned his attention to country music.
He made his debut on the country charts with Mickey Newbury’s tune “Baby’s Not Home” in 1974. The following year, he scored his first country hit, “The Most Wanted Woman in Town.” It cracked the top 20 and became a top 10 hit on the Canadian country charts.

Head had his two biggest country hits in 1977-78, “Come to Me” and “Now You See ‘Em Now You Don’t.” Both were top 20 hits on ABC/Dot Records.

Other notable singles included his country versions of Rod Stewart’s “Tonight’s the Night” (1978) and Loggins & Messina’s “Your Mama Don’t Dance” (1983). Roy Head remained a Houston music legend into the 1990s and beyond. He retained his reputation as an electrifying showman into his senior years, and continued to be an entertaining raconteur.

Son Sundance Head was a finalist on American Idol in 2006, then won on The Voice in 2016. That led to the top 10 country hit “Darlin’ Don’t Lie” and a remake of his father’s “Treat Her Right” as a duet with Blake Shelton.

Roy Head was inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of fame in 2007. He is survived by his wife Carolyn, son Jason (Sundance), daughter-in-law Misty, and three grandchildren. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Songwriter Troy Jones Dies

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Troy Jones.

Songwriter Troy Jones, known for penning songs including Billy Currington’s “People Are Crazy” and “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer,” died Friday (Sept. 11), following an accident when an electrical current came into contact with his boat dock.

A native of Port Saint Joe, Florida, Jones met his wife Patsy and they moved to Sylacauga, Alabama in the late ’70s. Inspired by the music of Randy Travis, Jones began writing songs in the mid-’80s and making trips to Nashville to pursue a career as a songwriter. He first joined Polygram Publishing, and later Carnival Music, led by Frank Liddell.

In 2005, Kenny Chesney included the Jones-penned “Like Me” as an album cut on his project The Road and the Radio. In 2007, Chesney collaborated with George Strait on another song Jones penned, “Shiftwork,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart.

Billy Currington recorded the Jones and Bobby Braddock collaboration “People Are Crazy,” which reached No. 1 and earned Grammy nominations in 2010 for Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Song. The track also earned an ACM nomination for Song of the Year. Currington recorded another of Jones’ songs, “Pretty Good at Drinkin’ Beer,” for his album Enjoy Yourself.

Jones retired a few years ago and lived in Alabama. No funeral plans have been announced at this time.

Music Row Piano Great William Pursell Dies At 94

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Belmont University professor William “Bill” Pursell was known for his Music Row session work, his pop instrumental hits and his classical works as a pianist/composer.

He passed away at age 94 last Thursday, Sept. 3. Pursell’s death was due to COVID-19-related pneumonia, according to the Associated Press.

Pursell was raised in Tulare, California, in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley. He began playing piano at age 3 and was trained to be a concert pianist. At age 15, he was sent to Berkeley to continue his music studies.

After high-school graduation, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore. Pursell’s education was interrupted by World War II, during which he was the arranger for the U.S. Air Force Band.

In 1949, he began attending the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. While earning his B.A. and M.A., he studied under renowned classical composer Howard Hanson.

He toured as a jazz and R&B musician until Eddy Arnold suggested he move to Nashville in 1960. In the studios of Music Row, Pursell soon emerged as a key sideman in the new country style known as The Nashville Sound.

He played keyboards on records by Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Chet Atkins, Joan Baez, Marty Robbins, Dan Fogelberg, Johnny Paycheck and more. During this period, he also began teaching music history and theory at Vanderbilt University.

Bill Pursell’s easy-listening piano performance of “Our Winter Love” became a pop hit in 1963. It was followed by “Loved” and “Stranger.” All three tunes appeared on his debut LP for Columbia Records. It was followed by two other Columbia collections, 1964’s Chasing a Dream and 1965’s A Remembered Love. He next recorded Bill Pursell at the Piano: The “In” Sound of Country and Western Music for Spar Records in Nashville.

During this period, Bill Pursell increasingly emphasized his classical training. He became a regular soloist with The Nashville Symphony. He composed piano sonatas, overtures, symphonies, preludes, concertos, tone poems and operas.

He also composed theme music for Six Flags Over Georgia, Cypress Gardens and Circus World, as well as ad jingles and incidental music for films and television productions. His work as an arranger led to Grammy Award nominations in 1974 and 1978.

Pursell reemerged on disc with the 1976 pop LP Bill Pursell and The Nashville Sweat Band. It spawned a British disco hit titled “Now.”

He joined the faculty of Belmont University’s new music school in 1980. Among his students over the years to come were Brad Paisley and Trisha Yearwood. Belmont premiered his opera, Crooked River City, in 2016. He retired the following year at age 91.

The University Press of Mississippi published Crooked River City: The Musical Life of Nashville’s William Pursell in 2018. Written by Terry Wait Klefstad, it profiled one of Nashville’s most eclectic musical personalities.

Bill Pursell is survived by his daughter, Laura Pursell, son Bill Pursell and stepdaughters Ellen Spicer and Margaret Pursell. He was preceded in death by daughter Sharon Pursell in 2012 and wife Julie Pursell in 2018. Donations to the William Whitney Pursell Scholarship in Composition can be made to the Belmont University School of Music.

Canadian Country Queen Lucille Starr Dies

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Lucille Starr. Photo: Courtesy Robert K. Oermann

Canadian Country Music Hall of Honour member Lucille Starr died in Las Vegas on Friday (Sept. 4) at age 82.

She was a female rockabilly pioneer who later originated the country standard “Too Far Gone.” Starr’s bi-lingual “The French Song” became a U.S. pop hit, and she recorded a string of Canadian country successes in Nashville. She had numerous television credits and became an international artist with tours and hits in Holland, Belgium, England, Mexico, Guam, The Philippines, Japan, Korea, China and South Africa.

Because she spoke fluent French, many people assumed she was from Quebec, But she was born Lucille Saboie in Manitoba and raised in British Columbia. She began her career in an all-female, French-singing folk group called Les Hirondelles (The Swallows).

She and Bob Frederickson met and married in Vancouver, BC. They took the stage names Lucille Starr and Bob Regan and worked as country performers in the mid-1950s. When the rock ‘n’ roll revolution ignited, they headed for Los Angeles to record rockabilly tunes.

Bob and Lucille’s “Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Moe” was issued in 1959, followed by the equally snappy “What’s the Password,” “The Flirting Kind,” “The Big Kiss” and “Demon Lover.” Now considered rockabilly classics, they are characterized by Starr’s bopping, high-hiccup vocals and Regan’s stinging guitar breaks.

For the next seven years, the team starred on Los Angeles country television shows, including Town Hall Party. Lucille Starr became the yodeling singing voice of Bea Benaderet’s “Cousin Pearl Bodine” character on the top-rated network comedy The Beverly Hillbillies in 1962-63.

Bob and Lucille had a series of country hits in their homeland billed as “The Canadian Sweethearts.” These included 1964’s “Hootenanny Express” plus the singles “Freight Train,” “Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes,” “I’m Leaving It All Up to You,” “Looking Back to See” and the 1966 No. 1 hit “Don’t Knock on My Door.”

But Starr’s husband became jealous of her vocal talent. This increased when she had a solo international pop hit with “The French Song” in 1964. It became the centerpiece of her debut LP, produced by Herb Alpert, Jerry Moss and country star Dorsey Burnette for A&M Records. The album’s “Crazy Arms” became her first top 10 Canadian country hit as a solo.

Signed to Epic Records, she increasingly recorded as a solo artist in Music City. Billy Sherrill produced her singing his “Too Far Gone” in 1967. The song became a country evergreen recorded by Tammy Wynette, Emmylou Harris, Joe Stampley, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Waylon Jennings, Elvis Costello, David Houston and many more.

“The Canadian Sweethearts” recorded their Side By Side LP with Sherrill in 1967. Canadian hits continued with Lucille’s “Is It Love?” (1968) and “Cajun Love” (1969), as well as the duo’s “Let’s Wait a Little Longer” (1968) and “Dream Baby” (1970). They earned Gold and Platinum record awards in Canada, Holland and South Africa.

Lucille Starr’s solo successes included “Bonjour Tristesse,” “Send Me No Roses,” “Yours,” “Colinda,” “Jolie Jacqueline” and “Here Come More Roses.”

“The Canadian Sweethearts” finally divorced in 1977, and Lucille Starr moved to Nashville to further her career. She sang regularly on Ralph Emery’s morning TV show. In 1981, she recorded her comeback LP The Sun Shines Again in Music City. Appearances on TV’s Nashville Now and the Grand Ole Opry ensued.

Her single “The First Time I’ve Been in Love” returned her to the Canadian country charts in 1988. She also made those charts with the title tune of her 1989 Back to You album.

She starred in the Canadian TV special Lucille Starr in Quebec in 1989, the same year she became the first woman inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Honour. She also starred in two TV specials in Holland.

Former partner Bob Regan died in 1990. The following year, Lucille Starr undertook a 17-date European tour. Based in Nashville, she continued to tour internationally during the 1990s.
In 2010 a jukebox musical titled Back to You: The Life and Music of Lucille Starr premiered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A street in Coquitiam, BC is named in her honor.

Son Bob Frederickson Jr. was the guitarist in the touring act Buffalo Springfield Revisited.
Lucille Starr’s funeral arrangements were unknown at press time.

Radio Promo Veteran Buddy King Dies at 79

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Buddy King. Photo: Courtesy Alan Young Promotions

Radio promotion veteran Buddy King of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, passed away Friday, Aug. 21. He was 79.

King’s career in the industry spanned over six decades. He began as a radio DJ and later became a program director, before transitioning into radio promotion. He had recently promoted singles for Bobby Wills, Rachael Turner and CJ Solar, and worked with Alan Young as part of the team that took Solar’s “Airplane” and “American Girls” to No. 15 and “Coming My Way” to Top 10 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Radio chart. The unique industry veteran didn’t own a cell phone or computer, choosing to work the old school way with pen, paper, and his home phone over modern technology.

Singer-Songwriter Justin Townes Earle Dies At 38

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Justin Townes Earle. Photo: Joshua Black Wilkins

Americana music star Justin Townes Earle died yesterday (Aug. 23) at age 38.

Earle was a singer, songwriter, recording artist and producer who released eight albums and won awards from the Americana Music Association. He was the son of celebrated singer-songwriter Steve Earle and the nephew of critically acclaimed Nashville tunesmith Stacy Earle.

Born in Nashville in 1982, Justin Townes Earle was raised by his mother, Carol Ann Hunter. He began performing in local clubs as a teenager, including weekly gigs at Springwater. He also played in the rock band The Distributors and in an acoustic group called The Swindlers.

He joined his father’s road band The Dukes when he was 20. He can be heard on Steve Earle’s 2003 live album Just an American Boy.

But both father and son agreed that Justin should chart his own course as an artist and not be tied to his father’s stardom.

Justin Townes Earle issued an EP titled Yuma in 2007 and his first full-length album, The Good Life, in 2008. His style at the time was low-key and poetic, with a bluesy tinge. His second CD, 2009’s Midnight at the Movies, led to his being named Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2010 Americana Music Awards. The record was nominated as Album of the Year and he also received an Artist of the Year AMA nomination.

He came into his own as an artist with 2010’s Harlem River Blues. More fully produced with R&B influences than his earlier efforts, the record made him an Americana star. Its title tune was named Song of the Year at the AMA’s 2011 awards show, where Justin Townes Earle was also again nominated as Artist of the Year.

He performed “Harlem River Blues” on Late Night with David Letterman with Jason Isbell backing him on guitar. The singer-songwriter also appeared at Bonnaroo, MerleFest and the Grand Ole Opry.

In 2012, he produced Unfinished Business, an album by rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson. He wrote one of its songs and sang a duet with her on the collection.

Like his father, Justin Townes Earle experienced periodic setbacks due to substance-abuse issues. But his disc output continued steadily with 2012’s Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, 2014’s Single Mothers, 2015’s Absent Fathers and 2017’s Kids in the Street.

In 2017, he toured with the acclaimed Canadian group The Sadies serving as his opening act and backing band.

Justin Townes Earle turned a promising artistic corner with his 2019 album The Saint of Lost Causes. Its character-driven songs touched on social issues and brought new depth to his rootsy style. He toured in support of the record until the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March.

Justin Townes Earle married his wife Jean Marie in 2013. They became parents to daughter Etta in 2017.

No cause of death has been announced. Funeral arrangements are also unknown at press time.

Americana Music Association’s Harriette Dew Dies

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Harriette Dew

Harriette Dew, the Americana Music Association’s accounting manager, passed away suddenly on Sunday, Aug. 16, after a battle with cancer.

Dew, a passionate music fan, was drawn to the Americana community back in 2013. She volunteered for several years before being hired for a staff position in 2017. Dew was the mother of AMA festival producer and marketing director Sarah Comardelle and her brother Alex Dew, who volunteers every year and helps build the AMERICANAFEST app.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Nashville Children’s Theatre or the Americana Music Association Foundation (AMAF).

Bluegrass Star Steve Gulley Dies

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Steve Gulley. Photo: Courtesy Mountain Home

Award-winning bluegrass guitarist, songwriter and tenor vocalist Steve Gulley died on Tuesday (Aug. 18). He was 57.

Noted for his work at Kentucky’s Renfro Valley Barn Dance and in the groups Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Mountain Heart, Grasstowne and his own band Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle, the East Tennessee artist was widely liked and admired in the bluegrass community.

Gulley’s death at age 57 came less than a month after he was diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas.

He was a native of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. His father was a country DJ and a member of The Pinnacle Mountain Boys bluegrass ensemble. Gulley initially rose to prominence as a cast member at the Renfro Valley Barn Dance.

He joined the award-winning Quicksilver in 1994. Gulley and fellow Quicksilver bandmembers Jim VanCleve (fiddle) and Barry Abernathy (banjo) formed the basis of Mountain Heart in 1996. The group recorded five albums over the next five years.

Dobro IBMA award winner Phil Leadbetter and acclaimed mandolinist Alan Bibey joined Gulley in forming Grasstowne in 2006. He recorded three albums with the group before leaving it to continue under Bibey’s leadership.

Gulley recorded his solo Sounds Like Home CD in 2006. Next came a 2010 duo album with Tim Stafford titled Dogwood Winter.

He formed Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle in 2014. The group’s disc, Aim High, led to a 2016 IBMA nomination as Emerging Artist of the Year. Other albums have included Time Won’t Wait, Steve Gulley & New Pinnacle, High Peaks and New Ground and Family, Friends & Fellowship.

Steve Gulley was well regarded as a bluegrass songwriter. His works have been recorded by Kenny & Amanda Smith, Blue Highway and Lawson, among others. His “Through the Window of a Train” was named the IBMA’s Song of the Year in 2008.

His cowriter on that song was Tim Stafford. Prior to his death, the two had recorded a second duo album sadly titled Still Here. This has not been released.
During his career, Steve Gulley appeared more than 90 times on the Grand Ole Opry.

In addition to his performing, recording and songwriting activities, Gulley worked as a DJ on WDVX in Knoxville. He was the co-owner of the Curve recording studio.

He is survived by wife Debbie, son Brad and daughters Lyndsey Hunley, Alyson Robinson, Kim Beers and Amber Doss, as well as by 10 grandchildren, his parents Don and Linda Gulley, sister Kristi Laws and his beloved dog Rip.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Steve Gulley’s home church Summey’s Bridge Missionary Baptist Church in his memory. The address is Summey’s Bridge Missionary Baptist Church, 200 Providence Road, Cumberland Gap, TN 37724.

The family will receive friends Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020 from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. with funeral services to follow at 6 p.m. in the Claiborne ~ Overholt Funeral Home Chapel, 1106 HWY 33 South, New Tazewell, TN 37825. Private graveside services will be conducted in the Kibert Cemetery. All in attendance are required to wear a face mask for the protection of everyone in attendance.

Songwriter/Music Producer Edward "Felix" McTeigue Dies At 48

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Felix McTeigue

Edward “Felix” McTeigue, a Grammy-nominated songwriter and music producer with chart-topping hits that include Florida Georgia Line’s “Anything Goes” and Lori McKenna’s “Wreck You,” died July 24 after complications from surgery. He was 48 years old.

“He had an extraordinary ability to harness magic in the room that no one else could see,” McKenna said. They collaborated on many songs, including “Wreck You,” which McKenna included on her Grammy nominated album, The Bird & The Rifle. The song was also nominated for a Grammy and Americana Music Award.

“We always wrote great songs together,” offered fellow collaborator Chris Tompkins. “The first time we met, we were instant friends. I’m so thankful for the good times we had and the beautiful songs.” McTeigue, Tompkins and Craig Wiseman wrote FGL’s No. 1 hit “Anything Goes.” McTeigue and Tompkins also wrote Canadian country singer Dallas Smith’s chart-topping single, “Jumped Right In,” title track for the Juno nominated Gold-certified album and Platinum-certified EP.

New Jersey native McTeigue grew up with parents Joan and Frank McTeigue. He was already showing an interest in songwriting when he discovered that his birth mother was Maggie Roche of folk band the Roches. He met wife Liz Lynch at a folk rock adaptation of the Odyssey at The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. They have two children.

He spent time in the New York City music scene, and released albums Felix McTeigue, Radio Perfecto, and The New Deal (under the moniker FDR) which attracted champions in the music industry. After the birth of his children, he transitioned to become a sought-after songwriter and producer. As a producer, he recorded more than 30 albums. Kobalt Music Publishing represents hundreds of his songs, several dozen of which were in various phases of production at the time of his death.

McTeigue is survived by his wife Elizabeth Lynch, his children Nora and William, his mother Joan, sister Alvina and her family, and brother Frank.
In honor of his life, a GoFundMe page has been set up both to support his children and to create a Scholarship Fund to provide educational opportunities in music, for youths of all backgrounds.