Sincere condolences to Sony Music Nashville VP Media Fount Lynch and his wife Krystal, who recently suffered a late-term pregnancy loss.
Their son John-Thomas L Lynch was laid to rest in Fosterville, Tenn. on Wednesday, June 17.
Also mourning the loss are big sisters Naomi and Cordi. The family is recovering at home.
Cards of condolence may be sent to Fount and Krystal Lynch c/o Sony Music Nashville, 1400 18th Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37212.
Delores Dinning Edgin
Prolific Music City session singer Delores Dinning Edgin passed away on Wednesday, June 17 at age 86.
As a founding member of the backup vocal group The Nashville Edition, she sang on thousands of country recordings of the 1960s and 1970s. The group was also the “house” harmonizers with the staff band on TV’s Hee Haw for 25 years.
She was one of nine children born into a musical farm family who worked in Kentucky, Kansas and Oklahoma in the 1920s and 1930s. Older sister Marvis became a singer with the Freddy Owen Orchestra. In 1939, the Dinnings moved to Chicago to further the ambitions of her other siblings.
Sisters Lucille (Lou) Dinning and twins Eugenia (Jean) and Virginia (Ginger) formed The Dinning Sisters and became members of the cast of the National Barn Dance on Chicago’s WLS radio station in 1941. They began making hit records for Capitol in 1945. Lou quit the act in 1945, and teenager Delores began filling in as a Dinning Sister in 1949.
She moved to Nashville and became a hugely successful studio singer. She also filled in as one of the LaDell Sisters on the Grand Ole Opry in the 1950s. Little brother Mark Dinning became another family success when he had the giant pop hit “Teen Angel” (written by sister Jean Dinning) in 1960.
Delores Dinning Edgin’s work in The Nashville Edition kept her constantly busy for approximately 30 years in Nashville studios. In 1980, she helped to form the Music City Christian Fellowship. This is the organization that stages the gospel service/show at the close of the annual Fan Fair / CMA Music Festival celebrations. She resided in Springfield, Tenn.
Delores is preceded in death by her parents and all eight of her siblings. She is survived by her husband of 53 years, Bill Edgin, as well as by daughter Lea Ann Gallardo, son Tracy Edgin and grandson Michael Edgin.
Visitation will take place at Anderson & Garrett Funeral Home in Joelton on Saturday, June 20, from 10 a.m. until the funeral service at 3 p.m. Interment will follow at Orlinda Cemetery.
Pat Patrick. Photo: Pat Patrick Facebook
Pat Patrick left his mark on the music business as a studio owner, record producer, jingle writer, song publisher, recording artist and, most famously, as the leader of Nashville’s top party band.
Patrick passed away on Tuesday, June 16. The music he made in The Pat Patrick Band formed the soundtrack for thousands of society functions, weddings, collegiate events and private parties. His various groups bearing his name could entertain doing pop oldies, r&b “beach music,” rock ’n’ roll or big-band swing. Many of the finest session musicians of Music Row performed in his ensembles over the years.
Born Richard Corry Patrick III, he was a Nashville native who graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in 1965. He formed his first band, Saturns Combo, when he was a teenager and was soon playing gigs at Hillwood Country Club, Belle Meade Country Club, high-school dances and fraternity parties. Around 1968, the group changed its name to The Fabulous Beech Nut Show Band. Next, it was known as The Kracker Jacks Show Band.
After his graduation from Vanderbilt University, he expanded the group several times. During the 1970s, The Pat Patrick Band specialized in cover versions of rock hits. In 1978, the group’s increased size allowed it to graduate to swing music. The Pat Patrick Band recorded a number of albums on its own label.
Meanwhile, Pat Patrick became more and more involved in the business of Music Row. At first, he worked for the independent label Certron Records. He then became the creative director of the recording studio Audio Media. In addition to attracting the top artists in Nashville as clients, the facility became the home of his commercial jingles business.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Patrick produced more than 5,000 jingles for such companies as Holiday Inn, GMC, Chevrolet, Disneyland, Goodyear, Tidy Cat, K-mart and Buick, as well as many local businesses. Several of these earned Addy Awards.
He formed a close relationship with the Disney company. This led to producing and performing on a series of children’s albums, including Mousercize, Rock Around the Mouse and Mickey Mouse Disco. These records have earned him more than 30 million-seller awards.
Audio Media became Cal IV Music. Patrick purchased the Ray Stevens studio on Grand Avenue and renamed it Grand Central Studios in 1983. Here, he began producing such Christian-music stars as First Call, Steve Green, Bruce Carroll and Amy Grant.
He next co-founded the publishing company the Grand Music Group. Among the company’s copyrights were “High Cotton” (Alabama), “1982” (Randy Travis), “What’s Going on in Your World” (George Strait) and “Out of Your Shoes” (Lorrie Morgan).
In recent years, the entrepreneur has been the creative director of Pearl Trax Studios, Patilison Tunes and Pat Patrick Music.
He is survived by Dr. Elizabeth Cato and daughters Mary and Ellie. Visitation will be today, Thursday June 18, from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Woodlawn Roesch-Patton Funeral Home. His memorial service is Friday at 11:30 a.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church with visitation an hour prior at the church.
Honorary pallbearers will include SAE fraternity brothers, The Pat Patrick Band and the MBA Class of 1965. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Kathleen Patrick Hughes Endowed Scholarship of Education at the University of Alabama, Box 870231, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487-0231.
Ronald W. Kerr, who previously owned Sound Stage recording studio in Nashville, died June 8, 2015. He was 78.
The studio hosted landmark recordings by Garth Brooks, Jerry Lee Lewis, Hank Williams Jr., Reba, The Oak Ridge Boys, Waylon Jennings and numerous others. Legendary producer Jimmy Bowen leased the studio from Kerr.
A native of Detroit, Mich., Kerr was an accomplished businessman who worked in real estate and music. He was also an avid sailor, winning the J-24 Class, U.S. Championship twice. Kerr was a trumpeter and gentleman farmer, and a devoted husband, father and grandfather. Friends and family say they will miss his vivacious spirit and love for life.
Kerr was preceded in death by parents Walter and Eleanor Burr Kerr. He is survived by loving wife Gwyneth B. Kerr; daughter Bonnie S. Kerr; sons Ronald S. (Wendy) Kerr, Robert W. (Lisa) Kerr and Donald W. Kerr; grandchildren Peter, Madeline, Amelia, Rowan, Daphne, Brianna and Veronica; and Marion Stahl Kerr of Miami, FL, mother of his children.
The cause of death remains unconfirmed, but according to reports he passed away from injuries sustained in an automobile accident.
A life celebration will be held Saturday, June 13, 2015, 5 to 7 p.m. at Sound Stage Studios (10 Music Cir. S., Nashville, TN 37203).
Today Black River Entertainment owns Sound Stage.
Arrangements by Williamson Memorial Funeral Home & Gardens, 3009 Columbia Ave., Franklin, TN 37064.
Jim Ed Brown, a star of the Grand Ole Opry for more than fifty years and a newly elected member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died Thursday, June 11th at Williamson Medical Center in Franklin, TN after battling cancer.
Mr. Brown scored major country hits as a solo artist, as a duet singer, and as a member of The Browns with sisters Maxine and Bonnie. The Browns’ 1959 crossover hit “The Three Bells” topped Billboard’s country chart for ten consecutive weeks, and it spent four weeks atop Billboard’s all-genre singles chart.
“If you listen to The Browns, it’s a very pretty sound,” Mr. Brown said earlier this year, in an interview with Peter Cooper of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “It was sibling harmony, a sound that was very pleasing. I’ve never heard anybody that could come close to that particular sound. It couldn’t be imitated.”
James Edward Brown was born April 1, 1934, in Sparkman, Arkansas. He spent the first decade of his life on a farm, without electricity or running water. On Saturday nights, the family would tune a battery operated radio to WSM-AM (650) and listen to the Grand Ole Opry. As a teenager, Jim Ed would mimic the vocal styles of Opry stars – his Hank Snow impersonation was particularly effective – and in 1952 Maxine entered him into a talent competition at KLRA radio in Little Rock. He didn’t win the contest, but was asked back to appear on the station’s Barnyard Frolic show. Soon, he invited Maxine to sing with him on the Frolic, and their harmonies impressed touring musician Wayne Raney, who championed Jim Ed and Maxine to record labels. In 1954, they signed with Abbott Records and recorded their first Top 10 country hit, the Jim Ed-and Maxine-penned “Looking Back to See.” Bonnie Brown soon joined her siblings, and the duo became a trio.
As The Browns, Jim Ed, Maxine, and Bonnie notched Top Twenty country hits with “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow,” “I Take the Chance,” “Just As Long As You Love Me,” “Money,” “I Heard the Bluebirds Sing,” “Would You Care,” and “Beyond the Shadow.” But in 1959 the trio was pondering retirement. Mr. Brown’s service in the U.S. Army and the sisters’ family lives had distracted musical attentions, and Mr. Brown was running his father’s sawmill. The Browns—who by then were signed to RCA Records—told producer Chet Atkins that they were thinking of quitting the music business, but Atkins asked them to come to Nashville and record again.
“Chet asked if there was anything we wanted to do that we hadn’t recorded,” Mr. Brown said. “We told him about a song called ‘The Three Bells’ that we sang coming from Pine Bluff to Nashville. We recorded it, and after the session Chet said, ‘You kids may think you’re about to retire, but I think you’ve just recorded the biggest song we’ve ever done.’”
Mr. Brown was driving a truck in Arkansas in 1959 when he parked, walked into a drive-in to buy a Coca-Cola, and heard “The Three Bells” playing on the radio. The song resonated with country and pop audiences, impressed and inspired the Beatles, and ensured that Mr. Brown need not spend his life at the sawmill. The Browns joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1963, on the strength of “The Three Bells” and follow-ups including “Scarlet Ribbons (for Her Hair),” “The Old Lamplighter” and “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On.” But in 1967, Maxine and Bonnie decided to retire. Mr. Brown stayed in Nashville as a solo artist on RCA, and he recorded his signature solo song in 1967 with “Pop a Top,” a No. 3 country single that was later revived by Alan Jackson on Jackson’s Under the Influence album.
From 1967 through 1974, Mr. Brown also reached the Top Ten of the country charts with singles “Morning,” “Southern Loving,” “Sometime Sunshine” and “It’s That Time of Night.” In 1976, he began recording duets with Helen Cornelius, logging a No. 1 country hit with “I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You.” With Cornelius, Mr. Brown won a CMA Vocal Duo of the Year award and reached country’s Top 10 with “Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye,” “If the World Ran Out of Love Tonight,” “Lying in Love with You,” Fools,” and “Morning Comes Too Early.”
Mr. Brown’s easygoing manner made him an effective host on the Opry and on numerous television programs. He helmed shows including the syndicated Nashville on the Road and The Country Place and The Nashville Network’s You Can Be a Star and Going Our Way. In 2003, he began hosting syndicated radio program, Country Music Greats Radio Show.
In September 2014, Mr. Brown was diagnosed with lung cancer. While he was undergoing treatments, Plowboy Records released In Style Again, Mr. Brown’s first solo effort in 40 years. Fellow Opry stars Vince Gill and Sharon and Cheryl White joined him on the critically acclaimed album. In March 2015, Mr. Brown and The Browns were elected along with Grady Martin and The Oak Ridge Boys as the newest members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
“Fame is fleeting, hit records change every week, award show winners and nominees change every year, but being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame will be forever,” Mr. Brown said, in response to receiving country music’s highest honor. The Browns’ official induction will come in October, but CMA CEO Sarah Trahern, Country Music Hall of Famer Bill Anderson, and Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum CEO Kyle Young visited Mr. Brown in the hospital on June 4 to present him with a medallion commemorating his Hall of Fame membership.
Mr. Brown died at peace with himself and with his place in country music.
“I’ve always loved to sing,” he said. “My grandmother nicknamed me ‘Jaybird,’ because I’d go around singing all the time. I’ve gone through some hard times, but some good times, too. If push comes to shove, I’ll do it again.”
The funeral service for Brown will take place on Monday, June 15 at 10 a.m. at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The service is open to the public with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. Interment will follow immediately at Woodlawn at 660 Thompson Ln. and is also open to the public. Visitation over the weekend is private for family and close friends.
Country-music performer Randy Howard was shot and killed by a bounty hunter in Lynchburg, Tenn. on Tuesday night, June 9.
Howard was formerly an artist on Warner Bros. Records in Nashville. According to The Tennessean, bounty hunter Jackie Shell went to Howard’s log-cabin home to take him into custody because of a missed court appearance. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman Josh DeVine stated that Howard opened fire on Shell. The bounty hunter shot back and killed him.
Shell was reportedly trying to detain Randy Howard based on a warrant charging the singer with fourth-offense DUI, possession of drug paraphernalia and a firearm while intoxicated and driving on a revoked license. Randy Howard, 65, was a native of Macon, GA. As a teenager, he appeared as a regular on a local TV show hosted by Buddy Knos. He later became a radio disc jockey and program director.
He first made the country charts in 1983 with his self-written “All-American Redneck.” The song inspired a popular bumper sticker. He returned to the country hit parade in 1988 with a remake of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.” Howard has recorded seven albums. His self-titled 1988 LP was for the Atlantic label and was produced by Nelson Larkin.
He has shared stages with Hank Wiliams Jr., Waylon Jennings, David Allen Coe, Bobby Bare, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Willie Nelson, among others. Randy Howard was among the performers on Charlie Daniels’ Volunteer Jam XIII in 1987 at Starwood Amphitheater in Nashville.
Jackie Shell was reportedly injured in the gunfight. DeVine said that the TBI is investigating the shooting.
Toni Dae (Helen J. Hamm )
Songwriter Toni Dae passed away peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday, June 3. She was 76 years old. The songwriter had cuts by such iconic artists as Alan Jackson, Conway Twitty, George Jones, Aaron Neville, Tammy Wynette, Tracy Byrd, Mark Chesnutt and many more.
She is preceded in death by her husband of 61 years, James E. Hamm and is survived by her children, Daffie Gayle (David) Moore, Janice Kay (James) Schlichting, Dennis (Lynda) Hamm; six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Visitation for Dae will be this afternoon at Nashville’s Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home from 4-7 p.m. The funeral is set for tomorrow, Saturday June 6, at 1:00 p.m. All arrangements are listed under her legal name, Helen Jo. Hamm and can be viewed here.
Jean Ritchie
Appalachian music icon Jean Ritchie, who influenced generations of folk and country stars, passed away on Monday, June 1, at age 92.
During her long and illustrious career, Ritchie revived and popularized the dulcimer, preserved hundreds of traditional mountain songs, recorded more than 30 albums, wrote seven books, helped establish the Newport Folk Festival, wrote songs for many country and bluegrass stars, and was a musical touchstone for Pete Seeger, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Doc Watson, Judy Collins and more.
Joan Baez called her “the Mother of Folk” music. Dolly Parton said, “When I grow up, I want to write just like Jean Ritchie.”
The legend’s final album, Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie, was released by Nashville’s Compass Records label in 2014. It featured contributions from Seeger, Collins, Kathy Mattea, Janis Ian, Robin & Linda Williams, Tim O’Brien, Suzy Bogguss and Dale Ann Bradley, among many others.
Mattea recorded Ritchie’s “West Virginia Mine Disaster” and “Black Waters.” Ritchie’s “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore” was popularized in 1979 by Johnny Cash, and was also recorded by Michelle Shocked, The New Coon Creek Girls, Bobby Goldsboro and others. Kenny Rogers recorded the folk legend’s “Tennessee Bottle.” Emmylou Harris did Ritchie’s “Sorrow in the Wind” on her landmark 1979 LP Blue Kentucky Girl.
“Blue Diamond Mines” was cut by bluegrass artists including The Seldom Scene and The Johnson Mountain Boys. “My Dear Companion” was on the acclaimed 1987 Trio LP by Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. Others who recorded Jean Ritchie’s songs include Roger McGuinn, June Carter Cash, Laurie Lewis, Alice Gerrard and Graham Nash.
Jean Ritchie was the youngest of 14 children born to a farm family in the mountains of Viper, KY. She grew up singing traditional folk songs. As an adult, she learned they were called “hillbilly” or “country” numbers.
With a college degree in social work, she moved to New York City in 1947. She sang her traditional tunes in Greenwich Village, where she was heard by Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and Oscar Brand, all of whom praised her. In 1950, she married photographer and filmmaker George Pickow (1922-2010).
Her influential repertoire at the time included “Fair and Tender Ladies,” “Pretty Saro,” “Amazing Grace,” “Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair,” “One Morning in May,” “Barbara Allen,” “Lord Randall” and “Father Get Ready.”
Ritchie began recording in 1952. By the time of the “folk revival” of the late 1950s and early 1960s, she was fairly prominent. She often sang on Brand’s WNYC radio show. She was among the headliners at the inaugural Newport Folk Festival in 1959, along with Earl Scruggs, Odetta, Baez and Seeger.
The Kingston Trio and Judy Collins both relied on her arrangements of traditional songs on their early albums. Her melody for “Fair Nottamun Town” was used by Bob Dylan for his “Masters of War.” She demanded and received compensation.
In 1963, she recorded a landmark album with Doc Watson. During this same period, she began encouraging craftspeople to build mountain dulcimers and published instruction booklets about playing the ancient modal instrument.
Ritchie released the album None But One in 1977. It won a Rolling Stone magazine Critics’ Choice award. She was the subject of the 1996 nationally telecast documentary Mountain Born: The Jean Ritchie Story. She also appeared in the 1996 TBS six-hour documentary series America’s Music: The Roots of Country, produced by Nashville’s Tom Neff.
In 2002, Jean Ritchie received a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship and was inducted into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame. She suffered a stroke in 2009 and moved to Berea, KY, where she died.
Jean Ritchie is survived by sons Peter and Jonathan Pickow, both of whom have performed with her.
Bob Stegall
Former Abbott Records artist and Louisiana Hayride performer Bob Stegall passed away on Wednesday, May 27 at age 85.
He was a steel guitarist and pianist who was in Johnny Horton’s band and performed in such groups as The Hackberry Ramblers and The Road Runners. Stegall also owned a Louisiana recording studio and several Nashville song publishing companies. He is the father of noted producer, songwriter and performer Keith Stegall.
Born Robert O. Stegall in Cortez, CO, he performed in Texas and California before settling in Shreveport, LA, the home of The Louisiana Hayride on KWKH radio. While on the Hayride, he performed alongside Jim Reeves and Hank Williams, as well as Horton. He joined the roster of Abbott Records in the early 1950s.
He taught son Keith to play guitar, which led to the boy performing on stage and having his first recording session at age eight. Keith Stegall went on to produce million-selling records for artists such as Alan Jackson and Tracy Byrd and co-write hits for Jackson, Ronnie Milsap, Mickey Gilley, Glen Campbell, Travis Tritt, Clay Walker and more. Like his father, he also became a recording artist.
While Keith was growing up, Bob Stegall’s business interests included owning a Gulf Oil service station in Bossier City, LA, as well as a child-care center and the Beech Springs Recording Studio in Haughton, LA.
For the past 25 years, Bob Stegall has been a music publisher in Nashville. Working from an office in Berry Hill, he established Jenerilin Publishing, Bob Stegall Music and Courtyard 108.
He was diagnosed with Lewy Body Disease last summer, which led to his retirement. He resided in Santa Fe, TN.
In addition to son Robert Keith Stegall, Bob Stegall is survived by his wife of 62 years, Jean Kirkland Stegall. Other survivors include daughter-in-law Janet Stegall, granddaughters Jen Ketner, Erin Stegall and Lindsay Nixon; great-granddaughter Eden June Nixon; brothers Bill, Larry and Stan Stegall; sister Mary Nell Kirk; many nieces, nephews and cousins; and close friends Susan and Richard Parker.
Visitation will be 5-8 p.m. today, May 29, at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 30. Dr. Joe Bowers will officiate, assisted by Rev. Larry Stegall and Stan Stegall. Interment will take place in Williamson Memorial Gardens.
Memorials may be made to the Lewy Body Dementia Association. The online guest book is here.
Mike Hyland
By Robert K. Oermann & Michael McCall
Longtime Nashville publicist Mike Hyland passed away following a two-year battle with cancer on Thursday, May 28, at his home in Sonoma, CA. He was 65.
He began his career in rock music and was the first publicist for The Allman Brothers. He moved to Nashville in 1979 to head the publicity department of Elektra/Asylum. The following year, he formed Network Ink with Exit/In nightclub co-founder Liz Thiels. This was one of the Nashville music industry’s first and most important independent publicity firms.
In 1984, he formed The Hyland Company. Over the years, his clients included Hank Williams Jr., Asleep at the Wheel, Waylon Jennings, The Burrito Brothers, Keith Whitley, Dale Watson, Riders in the Sky, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Kentucky HeadHunters, Charley Pride, Eddie Rabbitt and Leon Russell.
He also represented such companies as Acuff-Rose Music, Almo/Irving Music, House of Gold Music, MCA Music, Monument Records, The Bluebird Cafe, Country Radio Seminar, the Minnie Pearl Museum, NARAS, WSM-AM/FM, WKDF-FM and WLAC-AM/FM.
In late 1989, Hyland joined Gaylord Entertainment. He did publicity for the 1991 Grand Ole Opry Tour, the 1994 re-opening of The Ryman Auditorium, Opryland’s Nashville on Stage summer concert series and other endeavors.
In 1997, Hyland established Full Court Press with his wife, Phyllis. During the next few years, the company became increasingly involved with the wine industry. It launched the annual Wine Down Main Street Festival in Middle Tennessee. In 2009, the Hylands decided to relocate to the California wine country.
Hyland wrote for Wine Country This Week and The Sonoma Sun, as well as providing public-relations consulting to CornerStone Sonoma, Meadowcroft and Thomas Henry Wines.
Michael Hyland was born on Long Island and raised in upstate New York. As a young man, he began representing such top rock acts as Humble Pie, Dave Mason, Procol Harum, The Rascals, Cat Stevens and Traffic. He also represented the famed concert venue The Fillmore East.
His passion for the music of The Allman Brothers led him to relocate to Macon, GA in the early 1970s. At age 25, he became Vice President of Public Relations for Capricorn Records there. This made him one of the youngest record executives in America. In addition to the Allmans, he worked with the rest of the label’s roster, including Elvin Bishop, Bonnie Bramlett, Delbert McClinton, the Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Martin Mull, Sea Level and Livingston Taylor, as well as the solo careers of Gregg Allman and Dickey Betts.
Hyland’s succeeding successes in Nashville spanned the 1980s and 1990s.
Mike Hyland is survived by his wife Phyllis Lewis, by sons Glynn and John Hyland of LaGrange, GA, by daughter Amanda Hyland Jones of Dallas, TX and by stepchildren Travis and Laurie Armstrong of Nashville. Funeral arrangements have not been released.