[Updated]: LifeNotes: ‘Billboard’s’ Wade Jessen Passes

wade jessen

Billboard Sr. Chart Manager, Nashville, Wade Ray Jessen passed away unexpectedly this morning, March 5, 2015. He was 53 and suffered a massive heart attack.

With the publication since 1994, Jessen managed the Music City operations, and oversaw all radio and retail charts for bluegrass, Christian, country and gospel. He also represented those charts to the global press community and provided weekly chart analysis on multiple delivery platforms.

He was a well-liked and respected member of the Nashville music community for more than 20 years. He was a former ACM Board member, and was active with the CMA, GMA, IBMA, Leadership Music, SGMA and The Recording Academy.

Jessen was also a SiriusXM radio host on the Willie’s Roadhouse channel. A self-described “country music nerd,” he had extensive knowledge of music history and took particular interest in classic country, antique radios, phonographs, and microphones.

A helpful friend to fellow media, Jessen annually assisted MusicRow in compiling data to tabulate the publication’s Top 10 All-Star Musician Awards.

He was born Nov. 15, 1961 in Roosevelt, Utah. Jessen’s first job in radio was at age 16, as an on-air personality at KNEU/Roosevelt. He later moved to KSOP/Salt Lake City and then to WSM-AM/Nashville, where he was named Billboard’s medium market music director of the year in 1994.

With widely varying interests, Jessen also studied rural, farming, and ranching issues. He enjoyed good wine, cooking, furniture and china.

He was preceded in death by parents Robert Gary Jessen and Rosalee Brown Jessen of Utah. He is survived by spouse Corey Jones. 

Funeral arrangements are as follows:

Visitation from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, 2015 with the family receiving guests from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Spring Hill Funeral Home, 5110 Gallatin Pike, Nashville, Tenn.

Visitation at 11 a.m. Monday, March 9, 2015 with Mass at 12 noon at the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 1700 Heiman Street, Nashville, Tenn.

There will be a viewing at the Jessen Family home in Utah Friday, March 13, 2015 from 4-8 pm. Graveside services and interment at the Mt. Home-Boneta Cemetery, Mt. Home, Utah Saturday, March 14, 2015 at 11 am. Arrangements entrusted to Spring Hill Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5110 Gallatin Road, Nashville, TN 37216. Click here for additional details.

Artist Updates: Carrie Underwood Welcomes Child, YouTube Music Awards, James Carothers

Photo courtesy of Carrie Underwood/Instagram

Photo courtesy of Carrie Underwood/Instagram

Carrie Underwood and husband Mike Fisher welcomed their first child, son Isaiah Michael Fisher, on Friday, Feb. 27.

Underwood shared the news via Instagram, with the caption, “Tiny hands and tiny feet … God has blessed us with an amazing gift! Isaiah Michael Fisher – born on February 27. Welcome to the world, sweet angel!” 

The baby’s gender was revealed onstage during the 2014 CMA Awards by Underwood’s co-host Brad Paisley.

Underwood has been married for nearly five years to professional hockey player Mike Fisher.

She has also announced a clothing line with Calia that will release soon, and earned a Grammy Award earlier this year for Best Country Solo Performance for “Something In The Water.”

• • •

youtube music awardsBrad Paisley, Florida Georgia Line, Hunter Hayes, and Meghan Trainor are among the winners at the 2015 YouTube Music Awards, alongside others from various musical genres. Together, the 50 artists have been viewed more than 47 billion times, and have 164 million subscribers. The winners were selected based on growth in views, subscribers and engagement over the past six months on YouTube.

• • •

Renegade Mountain Records’ James Carothers kicked off his first Country Radio Seminar last week by hosting a full Southern breakfast performance at Puckett’s. He performed three songs, including single, “I Must Be Alive,” and entertained the audience of broadcasters and press with stories and impersonations of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

Standing: Ryan McCall ( WGLR Radio), Dr. Dave (KDKD Radio), Mike Thomas (KFAV Radio) Seated: James Carothers and Dave Stanford (WDHR Radio)

Standing: MusicRow CountryBreakout Reporter of the Year Ryan McCall (WGLR), Dr. Dave (KDKD), Mike Thomas (KFAV). Seated: James Carothers and Dave Stanford (WDHR)

• • •

Rick HallRick Hall, known as the “Father of the Muscle Shoals Sound,” the man behind classics including Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally,” Aretha Franklin’s “I Ain’t Never Loved A Man,” and Alicia Keys’ “Pressin’ On,” will share his stories from working with legendary artists at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

Hall has produced more than 300 pop chart singles, including more than 40 Gold and Platinum records.

His new tell-all memoir, The Man From Muscle Shoals, will be released March 17 (Heritage Builder Publishing), with a foreword by music historian Peter Guralnick. The book comes with the bonus DVD of the Grammy award-winning Muscle Shoals.

• • •

Kent Finlay

Kent Finlay

Kent Finlay, longtime owner of Cheatham Street Warehouse, the San Marcos, Texas venue that was a breeding ground for numerous artists died early morning Monday, March 2 at home in Martindale, Texas. He was 77.

He was a lifelong champion of songwriters and a musician himself. Among those who performed at his establishment were George Strait, Randy Rogers Band, Todd Snider, James McMurtry, Bruce Robison, Hal Ketchum, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt.

“Country music-and just music in general really-lost a great friend today,” said George Strait via a statement. “His legend will live forever in Texas, though. We’ll never forget our friend Kent Finlay. Sad day.”

Finlay is survived by family members including daughter Jenni Finlay, a music manager and marketer.

• • •

Ed Sheeran guitar

Ed Sheeran X Signature Edition Guitar by C.F. Martin Guitar Co.

C.F. Martin & Co. has teamed again with Ed Sheeran, this time for another Signature Artist Edition guitar from the Martin Custom Shop, the Ed Sheeran X Signature Edition.

In 2013, Martin Guitar and Sheeran released the LX1E Ed Sheeran Signature Edition. The latest model is available for pre-order.

 

LifeNotes: Services Set For Guitar Great James “Spider” Wilson

James "Spider" Wilson

James “Spider” Wilson

A celebration of the life of James “Spider” Wilson is scheduled for 1 p.m. this afternoon (Monday, March 2) at Woodbine Hickory Chapel.

Wilson was an enduring country guitar great who passed away on Thursday, Feb. 26 at age 79. His career spanned six decades and included a very long stint in the Grand Ole Opry’s staff band, 1953-2006.

He was a Nashville native who listened to the Opry through the windows of the Ryman Auditorium when he was a boy. He first came to prominence as a teenaged member of the band of Little Jimmy Dickens beginning in 1947. His sizzling guitar runs were the star’s sonic trademark in his early years. Wilson also toured with Ray Price. During this era, he reportedly acquired his “Spider” nickname because of his lanky frame.

He became a member of the Opry’s staff band at the age of 18. Wilson was also notable as a session musician on Music Row. In addition to Dickens and Price, he backed such stars as Faron Young, Marty Robbins, Buddy Emmons, Dolly Parton and Bill Anderson on recordings.

Young’s “Sweet Dreams” (1956), Price’s “My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You” (1957) and Skeeter Davis’s “The End of the World” (1962) are among the many hits featuring his guitar work.

Spider Wilson was also a familiar face and sound on television. He spent 29 years in the band of Ralph Emery’s local program The Morning Show on WSMV-Channel 4, frequently trading quips with the host. He was also in the “house band” on the nationally syndicated TV series hosted by singer Bobby Lord.

James “Spider” Wilson is survived by his wife Shirley, by sons David and Darryl, by daughter Julie Hannah, by sister Jo Ann Ferguson, by four grandchildren, one great-grandchild and many other family members and friends.

Woodbine Hickory Chapel is at the Woodbine Funeral Home at 5852 Nolensville Road. Jonas Taylor will officiate at the service. The interment will be at Woodlawn Cemetery.

LifeNotes: Beloved Photographer Alan Mayor Passes

Alan L. Mayor

Alan L. Mayor

Veteran music industry photographer Alan Mayor passed away overnight. He was 65. For five decades, he was the go-to photographer for Nashville’s top artists, publicists and labels. He photographed the Grand Ole Opry, numerous concerts, No. 1 parties, songwriter events and more.

He was a longtime contributor to MusicRow magazine, having joined the masthead of the music trade publication in December 1984 and continuing his work with the magazine until his health declined in recent years.

Mayor chronicled his career with the 2000 release of The Nashville Family Album: A Country Music Scrapbook. He also contributed to Mary Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann’s Finding Her Voice: Women in Country Music, and Barry McCloud’s Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music, among many other books.

Mayor photographed countless country stars, and had a particularly close relationship with Garth Brooks. “Seeing Alan Mayor at an event brought a comfort to artists like few photographers could do. That speaks volumes for him as a human being,” Brooks told MusicRow when notified of his passing. “Seeing unbelievable photos from an event you didn’t know Alan Mayor was at, speaks volumes for him as a professional.”

Longtime friend and colleague Oermann says, “Alan was so good at what he did. Of all the freelance photographers, he was absolutely the best. Whenever I went into a press room, I made it a point to hang with him. He had the best attitude and was so kind. In the press corp he was somebody you could always count on. I’ll miss him terribly.”

Alan Leslie Mayor was born August 21, 1949. With a father in the Air Force, his family moved frequently before settling in Clarksville, Tennessee in 1966. He attended Austin Peay State University where he was staff photographer and graduated with degrees in theater, English and philosophy. When one of his college professors was hired as the first musical director of Opryland, Mayor eventually joined him as a stage manager at the park in 1973.

Mayor initially moved to Nashville to be a songwriter. When recounting his early days in Music City, he recalled buying an Alverez guitar at Cotten Music from a young Paul Worley. “I write songs like everybody else in this town, but I wasn’t about to pull out a guitar in front of these stars,” Mayor said in a 1985 interview with Oermann. “So I pulled out another instrument, a camera.”

Indeed, in 1973 he decided to focus on photography. When Opryland flooded in 1974, his photograph of the damage was used on the front page of fan publication Music City News—after dabbling in sports and advertising photography, this was his entrée into the world of music. His first exhibit was at Mill’s Bookstore in Nashville and his first paying gig was when MGM Records hired him for a Hank Williams Jr. photo shoot. Soon after, Mercury Records hired him and work with Reba McEntire, The Statler Brothers, and Jerry Lee Lewis followed. In 1975, his photograph of Linda and Paul McCartney backstage at the Opry was published in The Tennessean.

His career thrived for more than thirty years.

In March 2007, Mayor was diagnosed with cirrhosis and given six months to live. He underwent a liver transplant and survived. Iconic BMI leader Frances Preston helped him secure treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where her name graces a lab at the cancer center.

“I wasn’t going out without a fight,” he wrote in an unreleased memoir chronicling the experience. “I now understood why I had been blessed with a few more years on this earth. That purpose is to do what I can to make a difference. I have a story to tell—warts and all. I know I can make a difference, simply by living and sharing my experience. Maybe I can help others who are going through what I’ve gone through with a little bit of hope.
 Maybe I can help them know that they should never give up, and with God’s grace and the power of lasting friendships, they will make it, no matter whatever anyone else says. Life is a gift. It is our choice live it.”

In recent months he had suffered a series of strokes, and was living in a Clarksville rehabilitation center. Even yesterday before he died, he wanted to continue the work he loved, and asked his sister to deliver his camera and laptop.

He is preceded in death by mother Rosemary Fulmer Mayor and father Lt. Col Albert Mayor Jr. USAF. He is survived by sister Theresa Mayor Smith (Lee) and brother Kenneth Albert Mayor. A private family service will be held, with a public memorial to follow at a later date.

Alan Mayor and Garth Brooks

Alan Mayor and Garth Brooks

Celebration of Life Planned For Joe Guercio

joe guercio1A celebration of life for late musical director and arranger Joe Guercio will take place Saturday, Feb. 28, 3 p.m. at The Nashville Palace.

Guercio, best known as Elvis Presley’s musical director from 1970 to the King’s final concert in 1977, unexpectedly passed away in Nashville on Jan. 4. He also worked with numerous musical giants including Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, Gladys Knight and Patti Page. In addition, he was the Musical Director for the International Hotel in Las Vegas for many years.

It was Guercio who created the iconic six-note theme for Elvis’ stage entrance and bows. He also suggested that Elvis’ shows open with the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Starting in 1997, Guercio served as the conductor for Elvis: The Concert, which paired a live band with archival Presley recordings. He was also Musical Director for the “Elvis 35th Anniversary Concert” in Memphis in 2012.

Guercio continued to conduct Elvis tribute shows and work with new artists until he died at age 87.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to MusiCares, 109 Wedgewood Avenue, Nashville, TN 37212, or Johnson’s Chapel, 201 High Lea Rd., Brentwood, TN 37027.

Gospel Great Mosie Lister Passes

Mosie Lister

Mosie Lister

Gospel Music Hall of Fame member Mosie Lister has died at age 93.

Renowned for creating such enduring classics as “Where No One Stands Alone,” “His Hand in Mine” and “He Knows Just What I Need,” the songwriter, arranger and publisher passed away on Thursday, Feb. 12. He lived in Spring Hill, TN.

Born Thomas Mosie Lister in Cochran, GA, he sang in his family’s gospel group and learned to play fiddle, piano and guitar as a youngster. He later said that he knew he wanted to become a songwriter even when he was a child performer. In 1939, he began studying at the Vaughan School of Music in Lawrenceburg, TN.

He joined The Sunny South Quartet in Tampa, FL in 1941. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he rejoined the group. In 1946, he joined The Melody Masters.

Mosie Lister became one of the founding members of The Statesmen Quartet in Atlanta in 1948. But he soon realized he wanted to get off the touring circuit to concentrate on his songwriting. So Jake Hess, Hovie Lister (no relation) and Jim Wetherington went forward as the nucleus of what became one of the most popular Southern-gospel quartets in history.

The songwriter/arranger maintained his ties to the group. He was soon providing The Statesmen with some of their most popular songs. He formed Mosie Lister Publications in 1953, and began placing his songs with many other gospel acts of the day.

Mosie Lister’s catchy compositions helped to define the entire Southern-gospel movement. In his history of the style, author James R. Goff Jr. wrote that Lister was, “by far the most influential gospel songwriter of the 1950s…. Perhaps more than any other songwriter of the era, Lister enjoyed the overwhelming respect of his peers.”

The Statesmen recorded his “Then I Met the Master,” “I’ll Leave it all Behind,” “Sunday Meetin’ Time,” “I’ve Found a New Friend,” “If to Gain the World,” “Oh What a Friend He Is to Me,” “The Gentle Stranger” and many others.

“He Knows Just What I Need,” Lister’s favorite of the songs he wrote, was recorded by The Statesmen, as well as by James Abbington, The Old Friends Quartet, The Blackwood Brothers, Faron Young and Bill Gaither. The Statesmen also recorded “I’m Bound for the Kingdom,” which was later released by Webb Pierce, Red Foley and Jimmie Davis.

The LeFevre Trio popularized his “I’m Feeling Fine.” The Blackwoods, The Cathedral Quartet, The Jordanaires, Paul Williams & The Victory Trio, J.D. Sumner & The Stamps, The Singing Gospelaires, The Blue Ridge Quartet, The Gaithers, The Talleys, The Hoppers and more spread Lister’s songs throughout Southern-gospel culture.

Gospel Singing World proclaimed in 1955, “it would be hard to find a known quartet not singing one of Mosie’s compositions among their best loved numbers.”

In 1960, Elvis Presley chose the songwriter’s 1953 composition “His Hand in Mine” as the title tune of his first gospel album. The disc earned a Platinum Record award and is regarded as one of the singer’s finest. Presley included Lister’s “Where No One Stands Alone” on his three million-selling 1967 collection How Great Thou Art, which won a Grammy Award.

mosie lister2“Where No One Stands Alone,” written in 1955, has also been recorded by Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Bill Anderson, Alison Krauss & The Cox Family, The Browns, Porter Wagoner, Ferlin Husky, Jean Shepard, George Hamilton IV, The Osborne Brothers, Jack Greene, The Louvin Brothers, Asleep at the Wheel, B.J. Thomas, Dottie West, Don Gibson, Jan Howard, Hank Snow and dozens of others.

“’Til the Storm Passes By,” written by Lister in 1958, was recorded by The Statler Brothers, The Gaither Vocal Band, The Inspirations, Vestal Goodman and Greater Vision, among others.

Lister’s 1956 song “How Long Has it Been” has been popularized by George Beverly Shea, Jim Reeves, Faron Young, Skeeter Davis, Jimmy Dean, The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Del Reeves, The Homeland Quartet and more.

Other key titles in Mosie Lister’s 700-song catalog include “Happy Rhythm” (1953), “Goodbye, World, Goodbye” (1956), “I’ve Been Changed” (1959), “The King and I” (1954) and “While Ages Roll” (1970).

In 1975, he was ordained as a Baptist minister. He published his autobiography/memoir, The Song Goes On, in 2012.

Mosie Lister was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1976. He was one of the Hall’s first living inductees. In 1997, he became a member of the Southern Gospel Music Association’s Hall of Fame, whose museum is at Dollywood.

He is survived by his wife Martha Jean, twin daughters Brenda and Barbara, stepdaughter Vicki Booth, sister Margery Dillashaw and seven grandchildren.

The visitation will be held 4-8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16, at Williamson Memorial Funeral Home. He will be buried at Williamson Memorial Gardens.

A “Homegoing Celebration” Concert will take place at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at the People’s Church, 828 Murfreesboro Rd., Franklin, TN.

LifeNotes: The Crickets Member Joe B. Mauldin Dies

Buddy Holly and The Crickets in 1957 (top to bottom: Allison, Holly and Mauldin)

Buddy Holly and The Crickets in 1957 (top to bottom: Allison, Holly and Mauldin)

Nashville lost one of its Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame members over the weekend when Joe B. Mauldin of The Crickets passed away on Saturday morning, Feb. 7.

Mauldin was 74 years old and had been battling cancer. In addition to being a 2012 inductee into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, he and his fellow Crickets were also installed in the Music City Walk of Fame in 2007 and in the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2008.

Joe B. Mauldin was the bass player in The Crickets. The group was the accompaniment for the legendary Buddy Holly in the 1950s, then went on to have a five-decade career on its own.

Born Joseph Benson Mauldin Jr. on July 8, 1940, he grew up in West Texas alongside Holly and the other members of the group. He joined The Crickets in 1957. Holly, Mauldin, drummer J.I. Allison and rhythm guitarist Nikki Sullivan scored their first hit as The Cricket with “That’’ll Be the Day” later that year. For the next two years, the group released a steady stream of hits. The records were sometimes billed as “Buddy Holly” and sometimes as “The Crickets.” Among the most successful were “Peggy Sue” (1957), “Oh Boy” (1957), “Maybe Baby” (1958), “Rave On” (1958) and “Think It Over” (1958).

Even songs that were not initially hits became immortal in the pop-music pantheon – “Everyday” (1957), “It’s So Easy” (1958), “Love’s Made a Fool of You” (1958), “Not Fade Away” (1957) and “Well All Right” (1958), to name a few. Mauldin co-wrote the group’s “Last Night,” “Well All Right” and “I’m Gonna Love You Too.” Holly died on Feb. 3, 1959 in a plane crash that also claimed the lives of The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson) and Richie Valens. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Sonny Curtis, who had been a member of the band before its hit-making days, rejoined the group.

Following Holly’s death, The Crickets toured as the opening act for The Everly Brothers and also backed the duo in concert. The band began issuing LPs on its own in 1960.

Mauldin served in the U.S. Army in 1964-66, then became an engineer at the famed Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles. Allison and Curtis kept The Crickets name alive, and Mauldin periodically performed with them. There were numerous personnel changes over the years — Earl Sinks, Jerry Naylor, Glen D. Hardin, David Box and Gordon Payne were members at various times — but by 1976, Allison and Mauldin were the group constants.

The group appeared at the Buddy Holly Week festival in England in 1977 and toured as the opening act for country superstar Waylon Jennings in the 1970s. Mauldin, Allison and Curtis all relocated to Nashville during the 1980s.

Paul McCartney produced the group in 1988 (The Beatles had named themselves in honor of The Crickets). Nanci Griffith took the group on the road with her in the 1990s and appeared with The Crickets on her 1997 album Blue Roses From the Moon.

Griffith and Jennings both appeared on the 2004 CD The Crickets and Their Buddies, as did Eric Clapton, Phil Everly, Bobby Vee, Rodney Crowell, Graham Nash, John Prine and Johnny Rivers.

Mauldin also performed on the Crickets albums Double Exposure (2003), Still in Style (1992), T-Shirt (1988), Back in Style (1975), Bobby Vee Meets The Crickets (1962), Something Old Something New (1963) and In Style with The Crickets (1960).

In addition, he played bass on records by Dale Hawkins, Jimmy Bowen and Mike Berry. Mauldin continued to tour with The Crickets until 2013, when the band retired.

Joe B. Mauldin is survived by his wife Jane and daughters Melody Stephenson and Jennifer Mauldin.

[Updated]: LifeNotes: Bob Meador, Husband of Jo Walker-Meador, Dies

Pictured (L-R): David McCormick, Jo Walker-Meador and Bob Meador at the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony. Photo: David McCormick

Pictured (L-R): David McCormick, Jo Walker-Meador and Bob Meador at the Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony. Photo: David McCormick

[Updated, Feb. 5]: Services have been set for Bob Meador. A public visitation will be held Saturday, Feb. 7 from 4-6 p.m. at Woodlawn-Roesch-Patton Funeral Home & Memorial Park, located at 660 Thompson Lane in Nashville. On Monday, Feb. 9, a public visitation will be held at 10 a.m., with a memorial service beginning at 12 noon at Christ Presbyterian Church, located at 2323 Old Hickory Blvd. in Nashville.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Pearl Point (formerly the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation).

• • •

[Original post]: Bob Meador, husband of music industry executive Jo Walker-Meador, died Wednesday, Feb. 4, at age 88.

Meador had two children, Rob and Karen, from a previous marriage. He had been battling leukemia.

Bob and Jo were married 33 years ago.

As executive director of the Country Music Association (CMA) from 1962 to 1991, Jo Walker-Meador was influential in the growth of the country music industry during those years. One year before she took the helm at the CMA, full-time country radio stations numbered fewer than 100 nationwide. By 1995, there were nearly 2,400 country radio stations. She is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Funeral arrangements for Bob Meador are pending.

LifeNotes: Music Journalist Bill Littleton Dies

Bill Littleton

Bill Littleton

Veteran country music journalist Bill Littleton passed away last weekend in his home state of South Carolina. He was 75 years old.

Littleton died on Saturday, Jan. 17, at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center. He was a native of Greenwood, S.C. who spent 47 years in Nashville.

He is probably best known as the Nashville bureau chief of Performance magazine for more than 20 years. Littleton was also an actor, a singer-songwriter and a writer of fiction. He had character roles in such films as I Walk the Line (1970), co-starring Gregory Peck and Tuesday Weld; Payday (1973), starring Rip Torn; and Deadhead Miles (1973), co-starring Alan Arkan and Charles Durning.

Bill Littleton recorded several of his songs, occasionally performed in clubs and posted both audio and videos of his music online over the years. He notably accompanied Tom T. Hall on the journey that resulted in Hall’s 1971 LP In Search of a Song. Littleton wrote the album’s liner notes and his many snapshots of the trip were featured on its back jacket.

At the time of his death, Bill Littleton was residing in Boiling Springs, SC. He was predeceased by his parents, his sister and his wife, Connie Fuller Littleton. He is survived by sister Linda Griebno and several nieces and nephews. Celebration of life services are being planned for Boiling Springs as well as Nashville.

LifeNotes: Bluegrass Song Great Dixie Hall Passes

Pictured (L-R): Perry, Dixie Hall, and Jody Williams. Photo: Alan Mayor

Pictured (L-R): Perry Howard, Dixie Hall, and Jody Williams. Photo: Alan Mayor

Award-winning bluegrass songwriter and former top country-music journalist Dixie Hall has passed away at age 80.

The wife of Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Tom T. Hall died on Friday, January 15, following a long illness. She and her husband won Songwriter of the Year honors from SPBGMA (the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America) for 10 consecutive years. She also co-wrote songs with Jeanette Williams, Billy Smith and Country Music Hall of Fame member Maybelle Carter, among others.

Dixie Hall founded the record label Blue Circle Records, the publishing company Good Home Grown Music and a recording studio. In the 1960s, she was the editor of country music’s biggest periodical.
Born Iris Violet May Lawrence in a town near Manchester, England, she wrote poetry as a youngster. During the 1950s, she became a country-music fan and began working as an overseas representative for Tex Ritter, Starday Records and other Nashvillians.

She moved to Music City in 1961 and was adopted by the legendary Maybelle Carter. Iris Lawrence adopted “Dixie Dean” as her Nashville pen name. She and Carter co-wrote the Johnny Cash songs “A Letter From Home” and “Troublesome Waters.”

Bobby Cyrus with Tom T. and Dixie Hall. Photo: Bev Moser

Bobby Cyrus with Tom T. and Dixie Hall. Photo: Bev Moser

Also as “Dixie Dean,” she co-wrote the 1965 Dave Dudley hit “Truck Drivin’ Son-of-a-Gun.” Under this same byline, she wrote celebrity profiles for the Music City News fan magazine and eventually became its editor. She met Tom T. Hall at a BMI awards banquet in 1964. They married in 1968. For many years, she raised and trained award-winning basset hounds while her husband became a country superstar.

Dixie Hall reactivated her songwriting in the 1990s. Tom T. Hall wanted to retire, but she urged him to continue writing by becoming his collaborator. This is also when she established their record label, song-publishing company and recording studio, all headquartered at their Williamson County home, Fox Hollow.

She subsequently wrote or co-wrote more than 500 recorded bluegrass songs. They were sung by a who’s-who of the genre, including The Grascals, Special Consensus, Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice, Don Rigsby, Josh Williams, Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, James Monroe, Dale Ann Bradley, Chris Jones & The Night Drivers, Little Roy Lewis and Paul Williams.

She produced the all-female ensemble Daughters of Bluegrass. The group’s Pickin’ Like a Girl record was totally comprised of Dixie Hall songs and won an award from the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) in 2010.

Carlene Carter included Dixie’s co-written “Troublesome Waters” on her 2014 CD Carter Girl. Miranda Lambert placed Dixie’s co-written “All That’s Left” on her million-selling 2014 CMA Album of the Year winner Platinum.

Dixie Hall’s funeral will be private, according to The Tennessean. Tom T. Hall reportedly plans a celebration of his wife’s life and music at a later date.