Bluegrass Superstar Bobby Osborne Dies At Age 91

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Bobby Osborne. Photo: Stacie Huckeba

Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry member Bobby Osborne died today (June 27) at age 91.

The Opry confirmed his death. Opry VP/Executive Producer, Dan Rogers, shared, “Bobby Osborne was among the last of his generation of bluegrass pioneers. What a profound loss for the Opry family and bluegrass music fans around the world. Mr. Osborne’s legacy will live forever on this stage we love and wherever his style is emulated. Thank you to Bobby Osborne for more than 70 years of music and memories.”

Bobby Osborne. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of Grand Ole Opry Archives

Even into his 90s, the tenor singer and mandolin player performed regularly on the Grand Ole Opry with his band The Rocky Top X-Press.

Robert Van Osborne Jr. was born in Kentucky in 1931 and grew up in the Dayton, Ohio area. He was inspired to become a bluegrass singer after seeing a show by Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys in 1947. He began performing on WPFB in Middletown, Ohio two years later.

He spent several seasons with The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, then graduated to Jimmy Martin’s band. Following a brief stint with The Stanley Brothers, Bobby Osborne joined the Marines for combat duty in Korea. He was wounded and was discharged in 1953.

At this point, he joined forces with younger brother Sonny Osborne (1937-2021). They honed their skills working for Jimmy Martin, Charlie Bailey and Red Allen. The bluegrass classic “Once More” was recorded by Allen with the Osbornes in 1958.

The Osborne Brothers recorded on their own for RCA and MGM during this period. From the start, the act’s calling card was Bobby’s sky-high tenor lead singing. In fact, Monroe once said that there were only three great tenors in country music — himself, Ira Louvin and Bobby Osborne.

Brother Sonny soon garnered industry recognition for his cutting-edge approach to banjo playing and for arranging the group’s complex harmony vocals. Around 1963, Sonny made contact with Doyle Wilburn of Nashville’s hit-making Wilburn Brothers. Wilburn got the brothers a contract with Decca Records, arranged for them to join the Grand Ole Opry (1964) and signed them for publishing and booking.

The Osborne Brothers. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of Grand Ole Opry Archives

This coincided with the modernization of the band. Sonny electrified his banjo, and the act added drums and electric bass to The Osborne Brothers sound. As a result, the group scored hits on the country hit parade and toured with mainstream pop and country acts.

Their charted favorites included “Roll Muddy River” (1967), “Rocky Top” (1968), “Tennessee Hound Dog” (1969), “Ruby Are You Mad” (1970), “Midnight Flyer” (1973), “Blue Heartache” (1973) and “I Can Hear Kentucky Calling Me” (1980).

“Rocky Top” was named one of the state songs of Tennessee in 1982. It is performed in Knoxville every time the University of Tennessee Vols score a football touchdown. In 1992, the Osbornes’ rendition of the Karl & Harty classic “Kentucky” led to a similar honor from the Blue Grass State.

By then, the Osbornes had ditched electrified instruments and reverted to acoustic bluegrass. They recorded for labels such as CMH, Sugar Hill and Pinecastle.

The Osbornes were also recruited to play on records by others. They have backed Conway Twitty, Carl Smith, Charley Pride, Wade Ray, Jethro Burns and Mac Wiseman. They also collaborated with jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton.

Bobby Osborne. Photo: Chris Hollo, Courtesy of Grand Ole Opry Archives

The brothers mentored such future stars as The Grascals and Dale Ann Bradley. They also performed with the 1997 bluegrass/hip-hop fusion act The GrooveGrass Boyz.

Bobby’s mandolin performance of “Ashokan Farewell” appeared on the all-star Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza album, which won the IBMA Instrumental Album and Recorded Event awards in 2000.

The Osborne Brothers are believed to be the first bluegrass act to play on a college campus (1960) and to be invited to perform at The White House (1973). They were elected to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and were presented with a National Heritage award by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997.

Brother Sonny Osborne underwent rotator-cuff surgery, which caused him to quit playing and to retire from the road in 2004. This is when Bobby formed The Rocky Top X-Press and became a solo Opry star. He was joined in the new group by his guitarist son Bobby Osborne III.

The new band recorded for Rounder and Compass. In 2021, Osborne had a late-career bluegrass hit with a version of Merle Haggard’s “White Line Fever.”

Sonny Osborne passed away in October of 2021 at age 83.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Bluegrass Great Jesse McReynolds Passes Away

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Jesse McReynolds. Photo: Courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry archives

Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductee Jesse McReynolds, the oldest cast member of the Grand Ole Opry, has died at age 93.

Jesse & Jim McReynolds. Photo: Courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry archives

He was noted for his revolutionary, complex “crosspicking” style of mandolin playing as well as for his years of recording and performing in the star brother duo Jim & Jesse. His guitarist-singer older brother Jim McReynolds was born in 1927 and died on New Year’s Eve in 2002.

Jesse McReynolds was born July 9, 1929 near Coburn, Virginia. Jim & Jesse’s grandfather was fiddler Charlie McReynolds, who recorded as a member of The Bull Mountain Moonshiners at the famed 1927 Bristol Sessions where Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family were discovered. Their coal-miner father, Claude, was also a fiddler. Mother Savannah played guitar, banjo and harmonica and taught them to sing gospel songs in harmony.

The brothers established their performing partnership in 1947, following Jim’s hitch in the Army. They began their broadcasting career on WNVA in Norton, Virginia. During the next few years, they held radio jobs in Johnson City, Tennessee; Lexington, Kentucky; Charleston, West Virginia; Augusta, Georgia; Waterloo, Iowa; Wichita, Kansas and other towns. During their first dozen years as professionals, Jim & Jesse performed on 14 radio stations in 10 different states. They had their first recording session in 1951.

Jesse & Jim McReynolds. Photo: Courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry archives

Following radio stints in Asheville, North Carolina and Versailles, Kentucky, Jim & Jesse were signed by Capitol Records and brought to Nashville to record in 1952. The fiddler on the sessions was James Loden, later to become Country Music Hall of Fame member Sonny James. The standout tune of these recordings was one of their trademark songs, “Are You Missing Me,” penned by The Louvin Brothers.

Jesse was drafted and entered the Army to serve in the Korean War. While he was home on leave in 1953, the brothers recorded “Air Mail Special,” “A Memory of You” and other tunes for Capitol.

With Jesse’s military service completed, the duo joined the cast of WWVA’s Wheeling Jamboree in 1955. But the team truly began to prosper the following year when the brothers moved to Florida. They broadcast for several years on WNER’s Swanee River Jamboree in Live Oak and became television stars with their own shows in Tallahassee and Pensacola. By the late 1950s, their programs were also being broadcast on TV in Montgomery, Alabama; Albany, Georgia; Dothan, Alabama and Jackson, Mississippi.

Jesse McReynolds, Ricky Skaggs, Jim McReynolds. Photo: Courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry archives

Jim & Jesse recorded for Starday Records in 1958, then signed with Columbia’s Epic Records division on Music Row in 1962. This is the label where their biggest hits occurred.

Bluegrass music gained popularity on the folk circuit during this era. Jim & Jesse performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963 and 1966.

On the strength of such high-profile engagements and the major-label contract, the Grand Ole Opry invited Jim & Jesse to become members of the show’s cast on March 2, 1964. Throughout their Opry tenure—and indeed, throughout their career—the McReynolds brothers were widely respected for their courtly manners and gentlemanly ways.

Four months after their Opry induction, Jim & Jesse’s first charted single was 1964’s “Cotton Mill Man,” which also became a signature song. “Better Times A-Comin’” followed it onto the charts as a top 40 hit in 1965. Their eyebrow-raising LP Berry Pickin’ in the Country was also released in 1965. It contained their bluegrass arrangements of Chuck Berry’s rock ’n’ roll classics.

This record typified their willingness to experiment. Jim & Jesse also dabbled in Latin, electric country, gospel, cowboy and other genres. In 1969, Jesse McReynolds played mandolin on The Doors rock LP The Soft Parade.

The brothers scored their biggest country hit with 1967’s “Diesel on My Tail.” Other memorable Epic recordings included versions of Robert Mitchum’s “Ballad of Thunder Road” (1967), Tom T. Hall’s “Greenwich Village Folk Song Salesman” (1968), Ray Pennington’s “Yonder Comes a Freight Train” (1968) and Hank Snow’s “Golden Rocket” (1970). They returned to Capitol and charted with Elizabeth Cotton’s folk classic “Freight Train” in 1971.

Jesse McReynolds. Photo: Courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry archives

Jim & Jesse veered into a harder-edged bluegrass sound in the 1970s. Their Virginia Boys band included such stellar alumni as Vassar Clements, Allen Shelton, Bobby Thompson, Carl Jackson, Vic Jordan, Glen Duncan, Randall Franks, Chick Stripling and Jimmy Buchanan. The group was wildly popular on the bluegrass-festival circuit for three decades.

The brothers launched their own syndicated TV series, The Jim & Jesse Show, in the early 1970s, They formed their own Old Dominion and Double J record labels and released a number of LPs, cassettes and CDs on these in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s. In 1977, they created their own annual bluegrass festival and maintained it well into the 1980s.

They were nominated for a Grammy Award for the 1992 CD Music Among Friends. They were inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1993. They received a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997.

The death of Jim McReynolds in 2002 marked the end of the 55-year run of the longest lasting brother duo in country history. Jim & Jesse were also notable for having the longest running fan club in the annals of country music.

Following his brother’s passing, Jesse McReynolds continued to tour, record and appear on the Opry. In 1990, he had been part of a recording and touring “supergroup” called The Masters that also included Josh Graves, Kenny Baker and Eddie Adcock. He created a new instrument called the mandolobro, which was tuned like a mandola and had a resonator-guitar body. It was featured on his CD Jesse McReynolds Introduces the Mandolobro.

His other solo albums included New Horizons (2004), Bending the Rules (2004), A Tribute to Brother Duets (with Charles Whitstein, 2005) and Dixie Road (2007). In 2010, he released a tribute album to the songs of The Grateful Dead.

He was variously dubbed “Mr. Mandolin” (for his innovative, virtuoso playing) and “The Ironman of Bluegrass” (for the 65+ years of his career). Solo and with his brother, Jesse McReynolds recorded more than 50 albums.

Jesse McReynolds was preceded in death by his parents, Claude Matthew McReynolds and Prudence Savannah Robinette McReynolds; loving first wife of 41 years, Darlene McReynolds; son, Keith McReynolds, brother, Jim McReynolds, sisters, Stella McReynolds and Virginia Greear and great grandson, Andrew Keith McReynolds.

He is survived by his loving second wife of 27 years, Joy Tipton McReynolds; daughter, Gwen McReynolds; sons, Michael K. McReynolds and Randy Q. McReynolds; eight grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

Funeral Service will be 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 28 from the chapel of Alexander Funeral Home & Cremation Center with Brother James Bell and Randy McReynolds officiating. Entombment will follow in Sumner Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. Visitation will be Monday, June 26 from 4:00-8:00 p.m., Tuesday, June 27 from 2:00-8:00 p.m. and Wednesday, June 28 from 9:00 a.m. until the time of service.

Remembering Songwriting Great Cynthia Weil

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Cynthia Weil

Cynthia Weil, one of the greatest American song lyricists in history, died recently (June 1) in Los Angeles.

Renowned as the co-writer of such standards as “On Broadway,” “Somewhere Out There” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” Weil also co-wrote “Here You Come Again.” That song took Dolly Parton from country stardom to million-selling pop success in 1977. It was named BMI’s most-performed country song of the year.

The songwriter is also behind a half dozen other country classics. More than 30 country stars have recorded her works, a tally that exceeds those of many Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame members.

Weil is an inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as well as the national Songwriters Hall of Fame. “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” is the most performed BMI song of the 20th century.

Cynthia Weil was a native New Yorker. She was trained as an actress and dancer, but she found her show-biz footing among the so-called “Brill Building” songwriters. They included such future stars as Neil Diamond, Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Paul Simon and Bobby Darin. Teamed with the group’s Barry Mann, she helped to create rock & roll songwriting.

In 1961 Mann and Weil penned “Bless You,” the first hit by Tony Orlando. They also married that year. In 1962, the collaborators scored a No. 3 country smash when Leroy Van Dyke recorded their song “If a Woman Answers (Hang Up the Phone).” They continued to have an impact on country music in the decades to come.

The team found its unified voice in such gritty urban tales as The Animals’ “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” Gene Pitney’s “Looking Through the Eyes of Love,” The Crystals’
“Uptown” and “He’s Sure the Boy I Love,” The Vogues’ “Magic Town,” Jody Miller’s “Home of the Brave,” The Drifters’ “On Broadway” (revived by George Benson), Jay & The Americans’ “Only In America” and Paul Revere & The Raiders’ “Hungry.” These songs depicted working-class struggle and aspiration.

The early years of her songwriting career also included “Walking in the Rain” (The Ronettes), “I’m Gonna Be Strong” (Gene Pitney), “Blame It On the Bossa Nova” (Eydie Gorme), “My Dad” (Paul Peterson), “Soul and Inspiration” (The Righteous Brothers) and “Kicks” (Paul Revere & The Raiders). She became adept with intensely romantic lyrics such as “I Just Can’t Help Believin’” which was popularized by B.J. Thomas, Elvis Presley, David Rogers, David Frizzell, Ronnie Milsap and dozens of others in the 1970s.

Heartache laments were also in Weil’s wheelhouse. In 1974, Johnny Rodriguez had a top-10 country hit with “We’re Over,” and in 1978 Donna Fargo had top-10 country success with “Another Goodbye.” Martina McBride went to No. 1 on the country charts in 1998 with Weil’s co-written “Wrong Again.” “Here You Come Again” won Parton a country Grammy Award.

Linda Ronstadt memorably sang two of Weil’s works, 1989’s “Don’t Know Much” (with Aaron Neville) and “Somewhere Out There” (with James Ingram), which won the 1987 Grammy Award as Song of the Year. Lionel Richie was Weil’s songwriting collaborator on “Running With the Night” (1984) and “Love Will Conquer All” (1986). Massive pop songwriting success continued with “Just Once” (James Ingram), “He’s So Shy” (The Pointer Sisters), “Somewhere Down the Road’ (Barry Manilow) and “If Ever You’re In My Arms Again” (Peabo Bryson). B.J. Thomas returned to Weil’s catalog for 1972’s “Rock and Roll Lullaby.” All of this occurred after Mann and Weil relocated to the West Coast in the late 1960s.

The most prominent country versions of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” were recorded by Barbara Fairchild (1975) and by Kenny Rogers & Dottie West (1979). Cynthia Weil’s songs have also been sung by such country stars as Crystal Gayle, Lynn Anderson, Don Williams, Eddy Arnold, Debbie Boone, The Bellamy Brothers, Juice Newton, Marie Osmond, Vince Gill, Wynonna, Shelby Lynne, Billy Joe Royal, Glen Campbell, Kelly Lang, T.G. Sheppard, The Kendalls and Roy Clark.

Her Songwriters Hall of Fame induction was in 1987. Ten years later, Cynthia Weil was in the pop top 10 again with Hanson’s million-selling “I Will Come to You.” Induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame occurred in 2010. She has more than 30 BMI Awards.

The songwriter died at her home in Beverly Hills at age 82. No cause of death has been revealed. She is survived by husband Barry Mann, daughter Jenn Mann and two granddaughters. Dolly Parton participated via video at Weil’s memorial service in Los Angeles on Sunday (June 11).

Opry Photographer Les Leverett Dies At Age 96

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Les Leverett. Photo: Courtesy of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

The most important photographer in the history of country music has passed away.

Les Leverett died in Nashville on Friday (June 2) at age 96. He was the staff photographer at the Grand Ole Opry for 32 years, archiving country music’s “golden age” on film. He was the man behind iconic images of Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Bill Monroe, Vince Gill and a myriad of their peers.

Roy Acuff and Les Leverett backstage in Acuff’s dressing room. Photo: Donnie Beauchamp, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

His work has earned him a Grammy Award, prestigious exhibitions and distinction as a major provider of photos for such documentaries as Ken Burns’ PBS opus Country Music. His images have appeared in American Heritage, Country Weekly and many other periodicals, not to mention in annual Opry souvenir books for decades.

Born in 1927, Leverett grew up in Alabama. He served aboard a troop ship during World War II. After the war, he went to photography school in San Antonio on the G.I. Bill. This is when he became infatuated with country music. His wife Dot Vandiver was a Nashville native, and the couple moved to her hometown in 1950.

He initially worked as an advertising and portrait photographer in Music City. Between 1960 and 1992, he was the official photographer for the National Life insurance company and its affiliates WSM Radio, WSMV-TV and the Opry. He also rescued and preserved the photographic record of WSM’s founding years, 1925-50, after he discovered the company was throwing those images away. In addition, Leverett did stars’ publicity portraits, created album covers and documented celebrities at home.

His album covers include the theatrical image of Porter Wagoner on the jacket of 1966’s Confessions of a Broken Man. It earned him a Grammy Award. His 1972 cover for Dolly Parton’s LP Bubbling Over won him Billboard magazine’s award as its Country Album Cover of the Year. Leverett’s vivid photographs appear on more than 200 albums.

Garth Brooks, Kitty Wells, Gene Autry, Roy Acuff, Merle Haggard, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss, Ernest Tubb, Conway Twitty, Maybelle Carter, Emmylou Harris, George Strait, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Kenny Rogers, Waylon Jennings, k.d. lang, Marty Robbins, Hank Snow, Grandpa Jones, Minnie Pearl, Tex Ritter – it would be easier to name a country star he hasn’t photographed than those he has. Les Leverett was the official photographer for the TV series of both Johnny Cash and Marty Stuart.

A charming raconteur and lovably humble personality, Leverett was especially fond of bluegrass music. His archive includes many images of Flatt & Scruggs, The Whites, Jim & Jesse, Ralph Stanley and the like. In 2001, he was honored with a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).

George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

Les Leverett’s work is preserved in two books, Blue Moon of Kentucky (1996) and American Music Legends (2005). Daughter Libby Leverett-Crew published her memoir Saturday Nights with Daddy at the Opry in 2003, which also featured many of his images.

He was a writer of limericks and a talented artist who had a knack for drawing caricatures. He also had the lesser-known gifts of being able to write backwards and upside down. Les Leverett’s photo archive now resides at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

He is survived by his son, Gary Leverett, his daughter, Libby Leverett-Crew, son-in-law, Larry Crew, nine grandchildren and numerous great and great-great grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Spring Hill Funeral Home & Cemetery, 5110 Gallatin Pike South. Visitation will be on June 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. followed by a Celebration of Life service.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Second Harvest Food Bank, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Nashville Union Rescue Mission or a charity of your choice.

Porter Wagoner’s Confessions of a Broken Man. Photo: Les Leverett

Loretta Lynn. Photo: Les Leverett

Pictured (L-R): Minnie Pearl, Wilma Lee Cooper, Jan Howard, Skeeter Davis, June Carter and Kitty Wells. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

Patsy Cline. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

Grand Ole Opry cast in 1965. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

Dolly Parton. Photo: Les Leverett, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

Jeannie Seely being photographed by Les Leverett. Photo: Dot Leverett, Courtesy of The Grand Ole Opry

Texas Music Journalist John Lomax IV Passes

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Journalist John Nova Lomax died on Monday (May 22) in Houston, Texas at age 53.

For more than two decades, he chronicled the music and lifestyles of the Lone Star State. He authored two books and was a senior editor at Texas Monthly in 2015-2019. He was at The Houston Press for a dozen years, 2000-2012 as both the music editor and staff writer. During this period, he became a mentor to aspiring music journalists. He also wrote for Texas Highways, Houstonia, Spin, The New York Times, The Village Voice and L.A. Weekly.

Nova was an authority on the culture of Houston. One of his books was Houston’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking & Diving in the Bayou City. The other was Murder & Mayhem in Houston (co-witten with Mike Vance). He authored a blog called “Sole of Houston,” which was about seeing his hometown on foot, mile by mile. This also ran as a Houston Press series. He was a regular contributor to the Texas Monthly radio program “Talk Like a Texan.”

He wrote vividly about everything from the downfall of country singer Doug Supernaw to the woes of the Houston Texans football team. He skills as a music writer were reflected in profiles about Johnny Nash, Bobby “Blue” Bland, blues guitarist Goree Carter and many other locals. He was also an eloquent food reporter. His 2007 story about Supernaw won ASCAP’s prestigious Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music writing.

Mimi Swartz of Texas Monthly wrote, “Lomax—and that’s what those who knew him best called him—was one of those writers who, if he was interested in something, could make you interested in it too. Some writers have good ideas but can’t execute; some writers are good enough with words but lack the singularity of vision that makes readers want to follow them anywhere. Lomax had both.”

John Nova Lomax was born in Houston in 1970, but was raised in Nashville. He is the son of noted Nashville journalist, artist manager, performer and author John Lomax III. His “big brothers” were Steve Earle and the late Townes Van Zandt, both of whom were managed by his father.

The Lomax family also includes his great-grandfather John Avery Lomax, the dean of American folklorists and the discoverer of Leadbelly. His grandfather, John II, managed John Lee Hooker and founded the Houston Folklore Society that launched Guy Clark, K.T. Oslin, Earle and more. Great uncle Alan Lomax guided the Library of Congress Archive of American Folksong, wrote prolifically and was a recording artist. Great aunt Bess Lomax Hawes became a leading authority on children’s folklore, a manager at the National Endowment for the Arts and co-wrote The Kingston Trio hit “M.T.A.”

Nova’s mother was Julia Plummer Taylor, known as Bidy. She became an alcoholic who lived on the streets of Nashville before she was struck and killed while trying to cross Interstate 40 in 1998.

Nova had returned to Houston to attend high school in 1985. He dropped out of the University of Texas in Austin and drifted professionally until his father offered him a writing job penning a liner-notes essay. He pursued writing full-time from 2001 onward.

John Nova Lomax struggled with alcoholism his entire life. He went through a recurring cycle of hospitalizations, recoveries and relapses. These accelerated as he got older, but he often hid his problems from loved ones. His liver and other organs began to fail last year, and he entered Intensive Care.

His father posted a final update on Monday. “After a long hard fight in which he defied all doctor’s predictions, John Nova Lomax passed away peacefully early this morning with his former wife, Kelly Graml, at his side,” John Lomax III wrote. “He was in no pain at the end and slipped peacefully away to another realm.”

The medical bills are significant. There is a GoFundMe account. The family plans to distribute any remaining funds after funeral expenses and medical bills to Nova’s children, John Henry and Harriet Rose. He is also survived by his sister, Mandy, a Nashville visual artist.

John Lomax III says they plan to have a quiet family service for his gifted son, followed at some point by a memorial celebration with music. The family is also hoping to put out a book of Nova’s writings.

Variety Attractions Founder George Moffett Passes

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George Moffett

Variety Attractions Founder and veteran industry talent buyer, George Moffett, passed away on May 14 in Zanesville, Ohio.

Moffett made his first foray into booking while in college. Playing trumpet with a dance band in school, he started to book local bands on the side at fraternity parties and social clubs. Following graduation and realizing the need for a booking agency, he founded Variety Attractions in 1961.

At Variety Moffett booked Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Alabama, Garth Brooks, Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney and more at the beginning of their careers and throughout. To date, Variety Attractions has booked over $1.2 billion in contracts since its inception and now operates in 24 states.

As the company grew, Moffett received the Country Music Association’s SRO Promoter/Talent Buyer of the Year award four times. He was also the Academy of Country Music’s Talent Buyer of the Year three times, and received honors from many state fair associations, including being inducted into the Ohio Fair Managers Hall of Fame. He served three terms on the CMA Board of Directors, and visited the White House under President Jimmy Carter.

Moffett was also one of the founding members of the International Country Music Buyers Association in Nashville, along with his colleagues Don Romeo and Hap Peebles. Today the organization is known as the International Entertainment Buyers Association and is recognized as the premier organization for talent buyers of all genres. He served on the IEBA Board of Directors for 30 years, received the Founders Award in 2010 and was inducted into its Hall of Fame in 2018.

Moffett is survived is his wife Shirley (Williams) Moffett; daughter Amy (Rob) Gray; and granddaughters Megan (Gray) Van-Dyke and Elaine Gray.

Visitation is set for Friday, May 19 from 5-8 p.m. at the Snouffer Funeral Home (1150 West Military Road,  Zanesville, Ohio 43701). The funeral service will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 20 in the Snouffer Chapel, with burial to follow in Zanesville Memorial Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the George Moffett Scholarship Fund, which is endowed at Belmont University in Nashville and awarded annually to a deserving student majoring in an accredited music business class. Donations can be made here or by contacting Pam Matthews at 615-679-9601.

Renowned Nashville Music Exec. Richard Landis Passes

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Richard Landis

Veteran singer-songwriter, session musician, producer and label head Richard Landis has passed away. He was 77.

Throughout his career Landis served as an executive at Capitol Records, Giant Records and BNA, and had over 40 years of professional credits and chart success with artists including Juice Newton, The Oak Ridge Boys, Earl Thomas Conley, Eddie Rabbitt, Kenny Rogers, Lorrie Morgan, Doug Supernaw, Neil Diamond, Poco and Vince Gill. Landis also produced the last record of Roy Rogers career, Tribute.

Landis grew up in the borough of Queens, New York and attended the prestigious High School of Music & Art in Manhattan. He was first encouraged to move to Nashville in the ’90s by Joe Galante, then head of RCA. Galante was one of the biggest champions of Landis’ career, hiring him to produce many artists on his roster.

He partnered with Galante and the late Stan Moress in the publishing company, Route 66 Music. From 1993 to 2000, Landis and James Stroud co-owned Nashville’s Loud Recording, as well as an overdub and mixing suite next door called Too Loud. In 2007, Landis opened his own studio, Fool on the Hill, in Berry Hill, which he later sold to Peter Frampton.

Landis began producing music for Juice Newton in 1981. They released her multi-Platinum album, Juice, which charted two No. 1 singles. Landis also produced Lorrie Morgan’s top 10 album, War Paint in 1994. That same year he was one of the producers on CMA Album of the Year, Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, producing the last track on the album, Morgan’s cover of “The Sad Café.” He also produced Morgan’s signature hit “Something in Red.”

An accomplished pianist and a passionate NY Yankees fan, Landis also cherished his beloved dog Rowdy, who was a fixture in the studio and is being cared for by friends. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Folk Mainstay Gordon Lightfoot Dies At 84

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Gordon Lightfoot

Canadian folk singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot died on Monday (May 1) at the age of 84. His passing was announced by his family.

Lightfoot had success in success in folk, folk-rock and country music. His legacy is his key involvement helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. With songs such as “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” “Sundown,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Early Morning Rain,” “For Lovin’ Me” and more, he is known to many as Canada’s greatest songwriter.

Born Gordon Meredith Lightfoot Jr. on November 17, 1938 in Orillia, Ontario, Lightfoot exhibited musical promise as a child. His mother schooled him to become a successful child performer. As a child, Lightfoot sang in the choir at Orillia’s St. Paul’s United Church and performed periodically in public. He learned piano and taught himself to play the drums as a teenager.

After graduating high school, he spent two years in California studying jazz composition and orchestration at Hollywood’s Westlake College of Music. He eventually grew tired of LA and returned to Toronto in 1960, where he stayed until his death.

Lightfoot’s career began when two singles, both recorded at RCA in Nashville and produced by Chet Atkins, became local hits in Toronto—”(Remember Me) I’m the One” and “Negotiations / It’s Too Late, He Wins.” In 1963, Lightfoot travelled in Europe and hosted BBC TV’s Country and Western Show, returning to Canada in 1964.

Lightfoot’s songwriting prowess began to earn him cuts by other artists, with Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Chad & Jeremy, George Hamilton IV, the Clancy Brothers and the Johnny Mann Singers all cutting his songs. Ian and Sylvia Tyson had success with “Early Mornin’ Rain” and “For Lovin’ Me,” as did Peter, Paul and Mary. Established recording artists such as Marty Robbins (“Ribbon of Darkness”), Leroy Van Dyke (“I’m Not Saying”), Judy Collins (“Early Morning Rain”), Richie Havens and Spyder Turner (“I Can’t Make It Anymore”) and the Kingston Trio (“Early Morning Rain”) all achieved chart success with Lightfoot’s material.

After signing a recording contract with United Artists in 1965, Lightfoot released his version of “I’m Not Sayin'” as a single. He released his debut album Lightfoot! in 1966, which featured the now-famous songs “For Lovin’ Me,” “Early Mornin’ Rain,” “Steel Rail Blues” and “Ribbon of Darkness.”

Throughout his career, Lightfoot was able to have success from his home in Canada without moving to any music mecca, though he often recorded in Nashville at Owen and Jerry Bradley’s Bradley’s Barn during the ’60s.

Between 1966 and 1969, Lightfoot recorded four additional albums for United Artists: The Way I Feel (1967), Did She Mention My Name? (1968), Back Here on Earth (1968), and the live recording Sunday Concert (1969). He placed several singles in the Canadian top 40, including “Go-Go Round,” “Spin, Spin” and “The Way I Feel.” One of Lightfoot’s biggest hits was a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Canadian charts in 1965.

When he signed with Warner Bros./Reprise in 1970, Lightfoot had a big hit in the U.S. with “If You Could Read My Mind,” which sold over one million copies. He recorded a series of successful singer-songwriter albums in the ’70s.

Lightfoot was diagnosed with Bell’s palsy in 1972. The condition left his face partially paralyzed for a time and reduced his touring schedule, but he continued to have hits.

1974’s “Sundown” became his only No. 1 hit in the United States. He released another fan-favorite, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” in 1976. The tune was based on the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald, which claimed the lives of all 29 crew members on November 10, 1975. It hit No. 2 in the U.S. and No. 1 in Canada.

During the ’80s and the ’90s, Lightfoot recorded six more original albums and a compilation record.

His health began to suffer more substantially in the early 2000s. He underwent emergency vascular surgery for a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm in 2002, and endured a six-week coma while recovering from it. In 2006, he suffered a minor stroke in the middle of a performance.

Lightfoot persevered, making music and touring up until three weeks ago, when he canceled his tour due to his declining health.

Gordon Lightfoot was a renowned tunesmith, having influenced generations of songwriters and musicians. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1986, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012. He was awarded 16 Juno Awards throughout his career, and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by SOCAN at the 2014 SOCAN Awards in Toronto.

Lightfoot is survived by his wife, actress Kim Hasse, as well as his six children.

Singer-Songwriter & Producer, Keith Gattis, Passes Away

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Keith Gattis

Beloved singer-songwriter and producer Keith Gattis passed away on Sunday, April 23 due to a tractor accident at his home. He was 52.

A Texas native, Gattis began playing around the Austin area as a teen, and moved to Nashville after college in pursuit of a music career. He signed with RCA Nashville in 1996 and released his debut self-titled album, which yielded the single “Little Drops Of My Heart” but not much commercial success.

Undeterred but battle-scarred, he headed to the west coast and found work out there, eventually recording an indie solo album nearly a decade later, Big City Blues. In 2002 he became band leader for Dwight Yoakam, and played bass and electric guitar on Yoakam’s album Blame The Vain. An in-demand guitar slinger and session player throughout his career, Gattis worked in the studio with Bruce Robison, Sunny Sweeney, Jon Pardi, Brandy Clark, and many others.

He found success as a songwriter as well, penning the hauntingly beautiful “El Cerrito Place,” which appeared on his Big City Blues album, was recorded by Charlie Robison, and was later a hit for Kenny Chesney. Chesney also co-wrote “When I See This Bar” with Gattis, who also had cuts by George Strait, Randy Travis, Gary Allan, Randy Houser, Charlie Robison, Randy Rogers Band, Jack Ingram, Wade Bowen, and more.

Gattis found success behind the boards as well, helming sessions at his own Pioneertown Recording Studio for artists including Jon Pardi, Jake Owen, Waylon Payne, Kendell Marvel, Wade Bowen, and more. He was the co-producer of Randy Houser’s 2019 acclaimed, rootsy album Magnolia.

Keith Gattis’ wife Penny Gattis is GM of Publishing at Eclipse Music Group in Nashville. They have two children together. In addition to his wife and children, Gattis is survived by his mother Donna (Robert) Booth; his father Donny (Sharon) Gattis; his siblings Brad (Julie) Booth, Cody (Keisha) Booth, Mike (Bridget) Booth, Rob (Caryn) Booth, Casey (Shayna) Gattis, Knox Gattis, and Lee Ann (Scott) Schumpelt; and many beloved nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his best friend Charlie Brocco.

A celebration of life for Gattis will take place Sunday, April 30 at the Spring Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery at 5110 Gallatin Pike South in Nashville. Visitation will be from 11-2 p.m. with a service immediately following.

Opry Crooner Ray Pillow Passes

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Ray Pillow

Grand Ole Opry star Ray Pillow has died at age 85.

He is best known for his 1966 hit duets with Country Music Hall of Fame member Jean Shepard (1933-2016) “I’ll Take the Dog” and “Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be.” Pillow had top-40 solo country hits with “Thank You Ma’am” (1965), “Common Colds and Broken Hearts” (1966), “Volkswagen” (1966) and “Reconsider Me” (1969). He charted 18 times between 1965 and 1981.

Pillow also had a career on Music Row as an executive for Liberty Records in the 1990s. He was a song publisher and the co-founder of an independent record label as well.

Born Herbert Raymond Pillow, the singer was a native of Lynchburg, Virginia. He graduated from Lynchburg College with a business degree and served in the U.S. Navy.

Pillow performed locally on radio and TV before coming to Nashville to compete on the Pet Milk Talent Contest. He did not win, but he persevered and eventually found his Nashville manager, Joe Taylor. This led to a 1964 contract with Capitol Records. This label is where most of his hits occurred.

Ray Pillow was named “Most Promising Male Artist” by Billboard in 1966. Cash Box echoed that by naming him its Most Promising New Artist of 1966. That was also the year that he was inducted into the Opry cast.

During his heyday, he appeared on the nationally syndicated television shows of Porter Wagoner, Bobby Lord and The Wilburn Brothers. He also appeared in the feature films Country Boy (1966) and The Disc Jockey (1979).

The baritone vocalist continued to record for the next three decades. Pillow placed singles on the charts on such imprints as ABC, Plantation, Mega, Hilltop, Dot, MCA and First Generation.

In 1964, he and Taylor formed The Joe Taylor Artist Agency, a management and booking company. It was located on 12th Avenue South in the complex now occupied by Dolly Parton’s offices.

Pillow also partnered with former Mel Tillis bass player Larry McFaden. They co-founded the song-publishing business Sycamore Valley Music. The firm became highly successful, handling the songwriting catalog of Lee Greenwood in the 1980s. The songs included Greenwood’s 1984 anthem “God Bless the U.S.A.,” which won the CMA Song of the Year award.

In 1990, Jimmy Bowen hired Pillow as an A&R executive at Liberty to screen songs for the label’s artists. Ray Pillow celebrated his 50th anniversary as an Opry member in 2016 and retired two years later.

The singer passed away on Sunday, March 26. He is survived by his wife, Joanne Pillow, daughter, Selena Malone, son, Daryl Ray Pillow and by six grandchildren and a great-grandchild. A celebration of life will be announced at a later date by the family.