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.

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.

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.

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.

Tom Annastas, who served for 39 years as an executive at BMI, died Thursday, Aug. 13.

Tom was born on Feb. 11, 1953 in New York, NY. He eventually moved to West New York, NJ where he attended Memorial High School and met the love of his life, Alice DeGregorio. Tom graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University. After he graduated, he and Alice married in 1973.

That same year, he joined BMI as Operations Manager in Broadcast Licensing, and was promoted to Vice President, General Licensing in 1986. Two years later he became Vice President, General Licensing. He retired in 2012.

During his tenure at BMI, Annastas was responsible for several innovations in the Licensing department, including the use of direct mail and telemarketing techniques to broaden the company’s customer base. He held a Bachelor of Science degree from Farleigh Dickenson University. He served on the board of the TJ Martell Foundation, where he was active with Country in the Rockies, the Best Cellars event and Honors Gala. He also served on the boards of Vanderbilt Ingram-Cancer Center and the BMI Foundation.

He was a member of Leadership Music’s Class of 2008.

He is preceded in death by his Wife Alice, Father George, and Mother Bertha Annastas. He is survived by his two sons Thomas Annastas Jr. (Becki); Paul Annastas (Karianne); grandson Mattox Annastas; granddaughters Maia Annastas, Sophia Rose Annastas and Willow Annastas; and sister Patricia Joan Annastas Gaeta (Anthony).

A celebration of life is planned (pandemic permitting) is planned for Feb. 11, 2021. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to The American Heart Association:

In Memory of Thomas George Annastas.
American Heart Association/ American Stroke Association
PO Box 840692
Dallas, TX 75284-0692