LifeNotes: Country Concert In The Hills Founder Dies

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Mike and wife Mary Jo

Mike Barhorst, 77, the founder of the Country Concert In The Hills Festival, passed away at his home in Fort Laramie on March 1.

Barhorst started Country Concert In The Hills in 1981, and the annual event grew out of a family get-together with a few hundred friends in the late ’70s to become the huge festival it is today.

This year’s Country Concert In The Hills is set for July 6-8, 2017 with Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line, and Jake Owen set to headline.

LifeNotes: Label And Publishing Exec Ilene Berns Dies

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Ilene Berns

Ilene Berns, the force behind Bang Records and Web IV publishing, has died at age 73.

The label launched the career of Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Paul Davis. The publishing company included iconic works by the executive’s late husband Bert Berns, as well as such Music City songwriters as Davis and Monty Holmes.

Bert Berns was the writer of the rock and soul standards “Twist and Shout,” “Piece of My Heart,” “Tell Him,” “Here Comes the Night,” “Cry to Me,” “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love,” “A Little Bit of Soap,” “I Want Candy,” “Cry Baby” and “Hang on Sloopy.” He formed Bang Records in 1965. The label made stars of Neil Diamond and Van Morrison, but Bert died of a heart attack in 1967 at age 38.

His widow Ilene Berns was a former model and dancer at The Peppermint Lounge in Manhattan. At age 24, she became the head of her husband’s fledgling enterprises. She soon became one of the most successful female independent label chiefs of all time.

She moved Bang Records to Atlanta in 1970. She rebuilt its catalog with the Paul Davis hits “I Go Crazy,” “Sweet Life,” “Ride ‘Em Cowboy” and “Do Right.” Others on the roster included Brick (“Dazz”), Derek (“Cinnamon”), Nigel Olsson and Peabo Bryson. She also hired future hit Nashville producers Ed Seay and James Stroud.

Bert Berns and Ilene Berns

She sold the label’s masters to CBS in 1979, but retained the company’s song-publishing firms Web IV Music and Sloopy II Music. During the early 1980s, she continued to operate Bang as a CBS imprint. She also bought several country and r&b radio stations.

Ilene Berns moved her businesses to Nashville in 1993. She pitched a country version of “Piece of My Heart” to Faith Hill, who had a No. 1 hit with it in 1994.

Bang II Records was located at 1707 Division Street. The label signed Miguel Salas as a country artist and charted three country singles by Monty Holmes in 1998 – “Why’d You Start Lookin’ So Good” (written by Paul Davis), “Alone” and “Leave My Mama Out of This.” The company also issued r&b records out of its Atlanta office.

Ilene Berns later promoted the 2014 Bert Berns biography Here Comes the Night, campaigned for her husband’s 2016 induction into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, appeared in the 2016 documentary film Bang: The Bert Berns Story and spearheaded the forthcoming Broadway musical Piece of My Heart.

Ilene Berns died on Monday, Feb. 20. Funeral arrangements are unknown at press time.

LifeNotes: Lynda Ann Duncan, Wife of Promoter Jerry Duncan, Dies

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Pictured (L-R): Lynda Ann Duncan, Jerry Duncan

Wife to Duncan Promotions’ Jerry Duncan and and mother to Lisa Smoot, Lynda Ann Duncan, peacefully passed away at her home in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday, Feb. 13, 2017.

In addition to her husband and daughter, Duncan is survived by son Mark Davis and grandchildren Laura Prestige, Kendall Davis, and Waylon Tolliver.

The visitation and funeral service will be held at South End United Methodist Church, located at 5042 Edmondson Pike, Nashville, Tennessee. Visitation will take place at noon with the service following at 3 p.m. CT. Burial will take place at Christ Church Memorial Gardens, located at 15354 Old Hickory Blvd in Nashville.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to Mountain Outreach (operated by the University of the Cumberlands), South End Methodist Church or any other charity of choice. For more information, please contact Rick Kelly at 615-269-7071 ext. 134 or email rkelly@marcopromo.com.

LifeNotes: Industry Leader Kitty Moon Emery Passes

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Kitty Moon Emery

Kitty Moon Emery, one of the most influential figures in Nashville entertainment, has died at age 70.

During her five-decade career, she left her mark on the worlds of music, sports, politics, philanthropy, tourism and more. Kitty Moon Emery was a dynamo who took seats on boards overseeing professional sports, the symphony, film and video production, banks, country music and dozens of charitable organizations. She was one of the most effective civic leaders — male or female — in Music City.

Born Catherine Sue Moon, she was a Nashville native who began her career in public television. She became the press secretary to U.S. Senator Bill Brock in Washington D.C. Next, she served as the assistant national director of advertising for the presidential campaign of Ronald Reagan. Henry Kissinger appointed her to a United Nations advisory committee.

Back in Nashville, she founded Scene Three Inc. in 1974. The company initially specialized in creating political campaign ads, but rapidly diversified. When music videos became popular in the early 1980s, Scene Three was at the forefront of the trend.

The company created video clips for such stars of the 1980s and 1990s as Kathy Mattea, The Statler Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, Sylvia, The Oak Ridge Boys, Ray Charles, Amy Grant, Crystal Gayle, Michael W. Smith, Janie Fricke, Alabama, K.T. Oslin, Reba McEntire, Chet Atkins, George Strait, Tanya Tucker, Patty Loveless, John Michael Montgomery and Sawyer Brown. Among Scene Three’s videos were the career launching “If Tomorrow Never Comes” (1989) and “The Dance” (1990) for Garth Brooks.

Scene Three’s directors included company president Marc Ball, as well as John Lloyd Miller, Larry Boothby, Robert Gabrielsen, Trip Payne and Rob Lindsay. Other key figures at Scene Three at one time or another included Nick Palladino, Dale Franklin, Eric George, Patrice McPeak, Mark Sedgwick and Terry Dull. At its peak, the multi-million-dollar company was the largest video firm in Tennessee and employed more than 50 people.

Under Moon Emery’s leadership, the firm also continued to make waves in the advertising world. In addition to music videos, Scene Three created spots for Toyota, United Cerebral Palsy, Health/Trust, South Central Bell, Northern Telecom, Saturn Corporation, Johnston & Murphy Shoes,

Drexel Heritage Furniture and Bridgestone Tires, among others.

She produced such television specials as A Day in the Life of Country Music (1994), Influences: George Jones & Randy Travis (1991), Jerry Clower Live (1990) and The Gift of Song (1984).

She also founded Scene Three Construction. This firm won a 1995 award from the Metro Historical Commission for its redesign and renovation of the Fitzgerald Hartley Management office on Wedgewood Avenue. Scene Three also began the redevelopment of the Melrose Shopping Center, The firm relocated into the old Melrose Theater there. That building is now the restaurant Sinema on Franklin Pike.

Moon Emery left Scene Three Construction in 2004. Scene Three’s video business was liquidated the following year. She went into the interior-design business at Moll Anderson Home, then became involved in the Global Action Summit Steering Committee and founded Kitty Moon Enterprises. In 2010, she was among the first business figures to back Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam’s gubernatorial candidacy.

Frank Bumstead, Kitty Moon Emery and CMA CEO Sarah Trahern. Photo: Christian Bottorff / CMA

In 1995, Kitty Moon Emery served as the president of the CMA board of directors. She then became president of the CMA Foundation board, overseeing the organization’s charitable donations. These included funds to help build the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame exhibits in the Music City Center.

She was a key figure on the Metro Sports Authority board for more than a decade, and was its chairwoman during the era that lured professional hockey and football franchises to Nashville. As such, she was also part of the team that named the latter the Tennessee Titans.

Her other boards included the Rotary Club, Leadership Nashville, The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and Leadership Music, among many others. She was co-chair of the T.J. Martel Honors Gala of 2013.

Kitty Moon Emery’s honors included the CMA President’s Award and the Easter Seals Nashvillian of the Year award. In 2014, she was given a SOURCE Award as well as Leadership Music’s Bridge Award. She was also an inductee into the YWCA’s Academy for Women of Achievement.

Kitty Moon Emery is survived by her husband of 18 years, Patrick Emery, her sister Lady Bird, sister-in-law Jacque Moon and by nieces, nephews and cousins.

Visitations will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 14, from 4 p.m.-6pm and on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 10-11 a.m. at Woodmont Christian Church on the corner of Woodmont and Hillsboro Road. The funeral service, which was planned by Kitty, will be held at the church on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 11 a.m. following the second visitation. Following the funeral service, there will be a graveside service for only family and close friends.

LifeNotes: Sandi Spika Borchetta’s Father Passes

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Condolences go out to Big Machine Label Group’s SVP Creative Sandi Spika Borchetta on the loss of her father Albert Joseph Spika. The 87-year-old died peacefully with his family by his side on Feb. 3. The father-in-law of BMLG President/CEO Scott Borchetta, Spika was a lifelong music aficionado who played sax in the family orchestra from high school well into his adult years.

A Celebration of Life is taking place Tuesday, Feb. 7, at 6 p.m. in Delta, Colorado, at the Hellman Motors showroom (750 Hwy. 92, Delta, CO, 81416). In lieu of flowers, the family has asked that donations be made to the Music Has Value Fund in memory of Albert. The donations will be used to support and encourage music programs in Delta, Colorado schools.

The Music Has Value Fund is a fund within the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and all proceeds from products and donations go to music-in-schools programs.

Friends and family can click the red donation button on musichasvalue.com or visit bigmachinelabelgroup.com/mhv-donation.

LifeNotes: Manager Kerri Edwards’ Father Passes

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MusicRow sends its condolences to Kerri Edwards, owner/President of KP Entertainment (manager for Luke Bryan, Cole Swindell and more), in the loss of her father Mr. Billy Pauley over the weekend.

A visitation will be held on Thursday, Jan. 26 from 4 p.m.-8 p.m., and on Friday, Jan. 27 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ, located at 5120 Franklin Pike in Nashville. A service will also be held on Friday, Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ.

Donations can be sent to Brentwood Hills Church of Christ c/o: Camp Leatherwood, 5120 Franklin Pike, Nashville TN 37220.

LifeNotes: Songwriter Greg Trooper Dies

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Greg Trooper

Songwriter Greg Trooper died Jan. 15, 2017, two days after his 61st birthday.

Trooper, a New Jersey native, has had songs recorded by artists including Vince Gill, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Robert Earl Keen, Maura O’Connell, Lucy Kaplansky, Tom Russell and Walt and Tina Wilkins. On previous albums he has had harmony vocals provided by Emmylou Harris and Rosanne Cash.

The songwriter first garnered the attention of Steve Earle, who recorded Trooper’s “Little Sister” and later Gill, who recorded “We Won’t Dance” on his 1989 debut project for MCA Nashville When I Call Your Name.

Trooper recently released his 13th album, Live At The Rock Room, a recording of a live performance from January 2015 in Austin, Texas. It features Texas musicians Jack Saunders on upright bass and Chip Dolan on keyboards and accordion.

 

LifeNotes: Studio Musician Hayward Bishop Jr. Dies

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Hayward Bishop Jr.

Studio musician Hayward Sherman Bishop Jr., age 71, of Old Hickory, Tennessee, passed away Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2017 at the Veterans Hospital in Nashville following a year-long illness.

Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he graduated Norview High School in 1964, served in the United States Air Force 1965-68, and married Donna Milloway in 1969 (divorced in 1979). After his honorable discharge in 1968, he began working at American Music Studio in Memphis, Tennessee.

After moving to Nashville in 1972, he spent the 1970’s and 1980’s building a studio recording resume as a drummer recording with artists including Perry Como, Carl Perkins, Brenda Lee, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Julie Andrews, Slim Pickens, Jerry Reed, Wilson Pickett, Dianne Warwick, Chet Atkins, Bobby Blue Bland, Earl Scruggs Review, Ronnie Milsap, Charley Pride, and Bill Medley, with songwriting legends such as Mickey Newberry and Roger Miller, and with groups such as Alabama, The Grass Roots, Nashville Brass, The Box Tops, and members of The Kingston Trio.

He also played drums for TV and movie soundtracks, and commercials. He earned a Grammy in 1983 for the best instrumentation on a record for Alabama’s The Closer You Get album. In the years following, he continued his passion for music by digitally restoring and remastering sound recordings in his studio.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Hayward Sherman Bishop Sr. and Evelyn Watson Bishop of Norfolk, Virginia. Hayward leaves his daughter, Amy Bishop Kyker; two grandchildren, Julia Kyker and Lauren Kyker; and sister, Arden Gentle.

A memorial service will be held at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017 at Tulip Grove Baptist Church, located at 563 Shute Lane, Old Hickory, Tennessee, with Pastor Gerald Bontrager officiating. The family will receive friends from 5:30 p.m. until the time of service at the church.

LifeNotes: Guitarist/Producer Tommy Allsup Passes

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Tommy Allsup

Famed guitarist, record producer and former Nashville session musician Tommy Allsup has died at age 85.

Allsup is known for his work with such artists as Buddy Holly, Bob Wills, Willie Nelson, Moon Mullican and Asleep at the Wheel. He was also a recording artist.

He first achieved prominence as a 1952 member of the western-swing band led by Johnnie Lee Wills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The bandleader was Bob’s brother and had a big hit in 1950 with “Rag Mop.”

Allsup was playing in a group called The Southernaires based in Lawton, Oklahoma when he was summoned to Clovis, New Mexico to play on some recording sessions in 1958. Among the tunes Allsup played on were “It’s So Easy,” “Love’s Made a Fool of You” and “Heartbeat” by Buddy Holly.

Allsup relocated to Odessa, Texas to open a dancehall called The Silver Saddle. His band there was headed by Moon Mullican, the hillbilly-boogie piano stylist famed for such hits as “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone,” “Sweeter Than the Flowers,” “Cherokee Boogie” and “New Jole Blon.”
Holly came to hear the band on New Year’s Eve. He asked Allsup to accompany him on an upcoming 1959 tour called The Winter Dance Party. Holly had already hired Waylon Jennings to play bass. Allsup recruited drummer Carl Bunch.

At a tour stop in Clear Lake, Iowa, Jennings gave his seat on Holly’s chartered plane to The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson), who was ill. Allsup lost a coin toss to Ritchie Valens for the last seat on the aircraft. On Feb. 3, 1959, the plane crashed, killing all aboard. This event became known as “The Day the Music Died.”

Later in 1959, Tommy Allsup relocated to Los Angeles. He became a session musician and a record producer. Among the hits he played on was 1965’s “This Diamond Ring” by Gary Lewis & The Playboys, as well as several instrumentals by The Ventures.

Allsup became the A&R director for country music at Liberty Records. In this role, he became the producer for the label’s Tex Williams, Willie Nelson, Warren Smith, Billy Mize and Bob Wills.

He produced the 1963 Willie Nelson LP Here’s Willie Nelson. Among the Wills albums he produced was 1960’s Together Again, which reunited the western-swing legend with his Texas Playboys vocalist Tommy Duncan.

Returning to Odessa, Allsup opened his own recording studio. Among the hits recorded there was 1969’s “In the Year 2525” by Zager & Evans.

Allsup next relocated to Nashville. In the 1970s, he played on records by George Jones, Marty Robbins, Reba McEntire, Ferlin Husky, Faron Young, Wanda Jackson, Lynn Anderson, Charlie Rich, Kenny Rogers and other country stars. He produced five albums for Asleep at the Wheel and was the head of the Metromedia Records label.

In 1973, Allsup played bass and produced the final album by Bob Wills, For the Last Time. Following the death of Wills, Allsup and vocalist Leon Rausch fronted The Original Texas Playboys. They kept the Wills western-swing legacy alive for several decades.

Tommy Allsup was also a recording artist. In Music City, he led the recording bands The Nashville Surveys and The Tennessee Saxes. His albums included Twistin’ the Country Classics (1962), Tommy Allsup Plays the Buddy Holly Songbook (1965), The Hits of Charley Pride (1969), Tommy Allsup & The Tennessee Saxes Play the Hits of Tammy Wynette (1971), Country Guitars (1994), Tommy Allsup’s Gospel Guitar (2000), True Love Ways (2001) and Precious Guitar (with Billy Grammer, 2010).

Allsup is a member of the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. His son, Austin Allsup, competed on the 2016 edition of the hit TV program The Voice.

Tommy Allsup passed away in Lubbock, Texas on Wednesday, Jan. 11. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

LifeNotes: ‘Hee Haw’ Producer Sam Lovullo Passes

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candle lifenotes11Sam Lovullo, who produced the iconic country TV show Hee Haw for 25 years, died on Tuesday, Jan. 3, at age 88.

Hee Haw made television history by being continuously produced from 1969 to 1993. This was the longest run of any non-news program in U.S. broadcasting. Lovullo was also the show’s casting director, hiring a who’s-who of country comedians and musicians.

He was a native of New York State who attended UCLA in California as an accounting major in its school of business
administration. Lovullo’s goal was to work on Wall Street, but after graduation in 1954, he took a job in the accounting department of CBS television.

He rose through the ranks to become the financial administrator of such CBS shows as Lassie, The Judy Garland Show and the top-rated The Beverly Hillbillies. In 1967, he became the associate producer of The Jonathan Winters Show.

After that show ended in 1969, Lovullo and his Winters writers John Aylesworth and Frank Peppiatt joined forces to create Hee Haw. It ran on CBS from 1969 to 1971, then entered into an extremely successful phase as a syndicated series.

Lovullo hired established stars Minnie Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Stringbean, George Lindsey, Roni Stoneman, Archie Campbell and cohosts Roy Clark and Buck Owens as cast members. He also brought to fame such mainly unknown personalities as Junior Samples, Gordie Tapp, Lulu Roman, Gunilla Hutton, Gailard Sartain, Misty Rowe, Cathy Baker, Don Harron, Linda Thompson, Lisa Todd, Barbi Benton, The Hager Twins and Marianne Gordon.

In addition to producing Hee Haw, Lovullo was behind the spin-off series Hee Haw Honeys. His TV credits also include The Nashville Palace and Swing Out Sweet Land.

Although a resident of California, he did all of his Hee Haw television work in Nashville. He also served on the boards of the Nashville-based Country Music Association and Gospel Music Association.

For his international contributions to country music, Sam Lovullo was given the Jim Reeves Memorial Award by the Academy of Country Music in 1974.

Sam Lovullo chronicled his show-business experiences in his 1996 memoir Life in the Kornfield: My 25 Years at Hee Haw (co-written with Marc Elliot).

According to CMT.com, he passed away at his home in Encino, California. He is the father of Arizona Diamondbacks baseball manager Torey Lovullo. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.