James King, a Grammy-nominated bluegrass artist signed to Rounder Records, died Thursday afternoon (May 19), according to a spokesperson from the label. He was 57 years old.

Affectionately known as “The Bluegrass Storyteller,” King was well-known in the bluegrass community for starting to cry (along with the audience) when he sang sad songs. His 2013 album, Three Chords and the Truth, was nominated for a Grammy for best bluegrass album. The project gave a bluegrass arrangement to weepers like “Chiseled in Stone” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”

King was also a recovering alcoholic who suffered complications from a prolonged battle with cirrhosis of the liver. He died peacefully, surrounded by family and close friends, including his longtime girlfriend, Becky Rhodes; his brothers Andy and Jason, and sister-in-law Leticia; his aunts Debbie Moxley and Nadine Isley; and friends Junior and Susan Sisk, Dudley and Sally Connell, Harry and Louise Rhodes, and Charlie Snelling.

Born in Martinsville, Virginia on September 9, 1958, and raised in Carroll County, King grew up immersed in bluegrass. Both his father and his uncle were professional bluegrass musicians, and during his formative years, King was surrounded by music.

Following a stint in the Marine Corps, King decided to follow family tradition, and launched his musical career. He was signed to Rounder Records in 1992, where he released a series of critically acclaimed and award-winning albums, including his last recording for the label, Three Chords and the Truth.

Among his many achievements, King was a 12-time Bluegrass Music Award Winner, and in 1997, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) voted the James King Band the Emerging Artist of the Year.

In 2014, King was inducted into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame. Alison Krauss sent along the following remarks, which were read at the ceremony: “Nine years ago, my father and I heard a man singing in a jam session between two campers in Maryland when it was pitch black outside. Our jaws hung open, and then we had to search the festival site to retrieve the top of my head. The voice we heard was magnificent. It was so powerful, emotive, haunting, and one of a kind. It was you, singing ‘Cry, Cry, Darlin.’ We had the opportunity to speak with you, and found your spirit and generosity shared the same qualities. I’m so happy you are receiving this award. How proud the state of Virginia must be to be able to claim you as their own, and to give this award to someone whose voice has taken so many of us back to another time when life had such a beautiful, simple dream attached to it. Congratulations James King. FANTASTIC!!!”

Rounder Records co-founder Ken Irwin signed King in 1992, and produced a number of his recordings for the label. Irwin reflects, “James had an uncanny ability to wring the emotion out of every song he sang, and he was one of the most intuitive singers in all of bluegrass. He sang from and to the heart, and had the rare gift of being able to make audiences feel, no matter what it was he was singing about. He was a born storyteller, and loved to tell stories before, during, and after songs.” He continues, “His love of singing and entertaining came through in everything he did, and those qualities made him one of the most popular and beloved artists on the bluegrass circuit. James’ big voice was only matched by his outsize personality. He was my friend, and I will miss him.”

King was predeceased by his daughter Shelby Ann, who died in 2012. Funeral arrangements will be announced shortly.

Emilio Navaira, a Tejano superstar who crossed over into country music in the 1990s, died Monday, May 16. He was 53.

Emilio was born in San Antonio, Texas, on Aug. 23, 1962. His singles for Capitol Nashville included “It’s Not the End of the World,” which reached No. 27 on the country singles chart in 1995.

Although he charted five more singles for the label, none of them entered the Top 40. However he maintained a major presence in Tejano music for the remainder of his career.

Lamentamos el fallecimiento del cantante Emilio Navaira Q.E.P.D. (1962 – 2016) pic.twitter.com/djZXoalM0l

— Emilio Navaira (@EmilioNavaira) May 17, 2016

 

Navaira’s son, Diego Navaira, is a member of the Warner Music Nashville group The Last Bandoleros.

Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy, stated, “Possessing one of the greatest voices in the history of Tejano music, Emilio Navaira was an icon in the genre. Both a Grammy and a Latin Grammy Award winner, he showcased his strong Texas roots in everything he did. From his relentless touring schedule to his impressive lyrics and signature sound, Emilio was beloved by many, and helped to shape an entire genre of music. Our creative community has lost a uniquely gifted talent, and our deepest condolences go out to his family, friends, and all those who had the privilege and honor of working with him. He will be missed.”

Guy Clark, a Grammy-winning recording artist, songwriter’s songwriter and mentor to a generation of Nashville artists, died on Tuesday (May 17). He was 74.

A 2004 inductee into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Guy Clark’s standards include “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” “Heartbroke,” “Texas 1947,” “She’s Crazy for Leavin,’” “L.A. Freeway,” “Oklahoma Borderline” and “Baby I’m Yours.”

In 2005, the Americana Music Association presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting. A star-studded tribute album titled This One’s for Him won the AMA’s Album of the Year honor in 2011. He earned a 2014 Grammy Award for Best Folk Album with his collection My Favorite Picture of You.

Guy Clark was born in 1941 in the West Texas town of Monahans and raised near the state’s Gulf Coast. He began his performing career on the Houston folk scene of the 1960s, singing traditional material alongside K.T. Oslin, Jerry Jeff Walker and Townes Van Zandt. Throughout his life, he identified himself as a folk singer.

By 1967, he was composing original material. He headed for San Francisco to sing in clubs and work as a guitar restorer. Back in Houston, he worked as the art director for a TV station. Next came a stint in L.A., again working as both a musician and a guitar maker.

His publishing company had an office in Nashville. Encouraged by that, he moved to Music City in 1971. Guy married painter Susanna Talley Wallis in 1972.

Inspired by her husband and his friends, Susanna Clark (1939-2012) began writing songs, too. In fact, she broke through before Guy with “I’ll Be Your San Antone Rose” (Dottsy, 1975), “Easy From Now On” (Emmylou Harris, 1978; Carlene Cater, 1990; Miranda Lambert, 2007) and “Come From the Heart” (Kathy Mattea, 1989).

The paintings on the jackets of such albums as Willie Nelson’s Stardust, Harris’s Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, Nanci Griffith’s Dust Bowl Symphony and her husband’s Old No. 1 are Susanna’s.

She was also a great host. The Clarks’ Nashville home became a headquarters for other left-of-center tunesmiths. This scene was captured in the documentary film Heartworn Highways. Shot in 1975, it was released to acclaim in 1981.

Guy Clark was at the vanguard of such artists moving to Nashville. In his wake, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, David Olney, Richard Dobson, Dave Loggins, David Allan Coe, Mickey Newbury, Emmylou Harris, Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, Billy Joe Shaver, Nanci Griffith and many more made the pilgrimage to Music City. Clark released his debut LP, Old No. 1, on RCA in 1975.

It included “L.A. Freeway,” which was popularized by Jerry Jeff Walker, Spanky & Our Gang and others. The album’s “Texas 1947” became a hit single for Johnny Cash, and its “Desperados Waiting for a Train” was covered by many, including Rita Coolidge, Tom Rush and the country supergroup The Highwaymen. Cash later covered “Let Him Roll,” yet another classic song from this extraordinary debut disc.

Clark’s sophomore LP was 1976’s Texas Cookin.’ It included such fan favorites as “Broken Hearted People,” “The Last Gunfighter Ballad” and the title tune. Cash covered “The Last Gunfighter Ballad” in 1977.

Guy Clark’s tall, rangy good looks and tough/tender onstage manner added to the appeal of his striking songs. Boozy charm, a deadpan sense of humor and plain old charisma made him widely popular on the country/folk touring circuit.

He moved to Warner Bros. Records and issued the LP Guy Clark in 1978. It included the first version of “Fools For Each Other.” That song became a yet another hit for the widely respected tunesmith. Lynn Anderson and Ed Bruce sang a duet version of the song in 1986.

Clark issued The South Coast of Texas in 1981. This was his biggest breakthrough yet. Produced by Crowell, the collection included “New Cut Road,” which became a hit for Bobby Bare. Ricky Skaggs went to the top of the charts with “Heartbroke.” Clark had a minor hit with the LP’s “The Partner Nobody Chose.” Crowell later hit No. 1 with this album’s “She’s Crazy for Leavin.’”

Like his wife, Guy Clark was an accomplished visual artist. He was also a carpenter who could build anything with wood. In his youth, he had built boats in Texas. As an adult, he became a master craftsman of guitars.

This was reflected on his 1982 LP Better Days. John Conlee scored a major hit with its “The Carpenter.” Asleep at the Wheel issued “Blowin’ Like a Bandit” as a single. Clark got radio airplay with “Homegrown Tomatoes.” But his highest regarded song on the collection was his salute to fatherhood, “The Randall Knife.”

In 1986, Vince Gill had a hit with “Oklahoma Borderline,” which he co-wrote with Clark and Crowell. Two years later, Steve Wariner scored with “Baby I’m Yours.” Pirates of the Mississippi had a single with Clark’s “Too Much” in 1992.

Among the many who have recorded his songs are Harris, Earle, Dobson, Lovett, Griffith, Don Williams, George Strait, Lacy J. Dalton, Mark Chesnutt, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Everly Brothers, John Denver, Billy Dean, Hal Ketchum, Charley Pride, T. Graham Brown, Tammy Wynette, Patty Loveless, Crystal Gayle, Alan Jackson and Waylon Jennings.

Guy Clark was a meticulous song craftsman, choosing his phrases carefully. He seldom settled for the easy couple – instead he’d labor for weeks to paint the precise word portrait of a time, person or place.

This is why his albums appeared with less frequency in his later career. He issued the Grammy-nominated Old Friends in 1988. Boats to Build followed in 1992. Dublin Blues was a highlight in 1995. Then came Keepers in 1997, Cold Dog Soup in 1999 and The Dark in 2002.

Clark was honored with a residency at the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006. At the time, Brad Paisley was singing Clark’s “Out in the Parking Lot” and Jimmy Buffett was performing “Boats to Build.”

Also by that time, Guy Clark was thought of as a songwriting mentor. The universally respected troubadour was considered to be a master wordsmith among his songwriting peers. The rich detail and expressive imagery of his creations were models for a generation of country/folk/Americana creators.

Guy Clark’s most recent CDs have been on Dualtone Records. They include Workbench Songs (2006), Some Days the Song Writes You (2009) and Songs and Stories (2011).

The title tune of Kenny Chesney’s 2010 album Hemingway’s Whiskey was co-written by Clark, as was the title tune of Ashley Monroe’s Like a Rose debut collection in 2012.

In late 2011, an all-star collection saluted his artistic prowess. The double-CD This One’s for Him tribute album featured Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Kevin Welch, Suzy Bogguss, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Radney Foster, Kris Kristofferson, Vince Gill and others singing his works.

The tribute album was organized by Tamara Saviano, who had become his publicist. She has also been working on a biography of the song poet for the past few years. It is due this fall.

Guy Clark’s next solo CD appeared two years later. His 2013 album was titled My Favorite Picture of You. It came out following the 2012 death of his wife, Susanna Clark, and won its creator a Grammy Award.

Since then, he had been in increasingly frail health. He went into nursing-home care in the spring of 2016. Guy Clark is survived by his son, guitarist Travis Clark and daughter-in-law Krista McMurtry Clark; grandchildren Dylan and Ellie Clark; sisters Caroline Clark Dugan and Jan Clark; manager and friend Keith Case; caretaker and sweetheart Joy Brogdon; nieces, nephews and many, many dear friends, colleagues and fans.

Guitar icon and longtime Nashville-area resident Lonnie Mack passed away on Thursday, April 21, in Smithville, Tennessee. He was 74 years old.

He was initially a rockabilly instrumentalist with such 1963 hits as “Memphis” and “Wham!” Later in his career, he was also widely respected as a blue-eyed soul singer.

Born Lonnie McIntosh in 1941, he came of age in rural Indiana. He listened to both the Grand Ole Opry and R&B radio as a boy and began playing guitar at age 7. His family formed a bluegrass band.

Mack dropped out of school at age 13, obtained a fake I.D. and started playing in the roadhouses of Cincinnati, Ohio. His first records were country performances on small local labels. Mack’s early hits were on the Cincinnati label Fraternity Records.

He also recorded as a session musician. Mack’s distinctive guitar sound achieved its twang from him hitting the whammy bar of his Gibson Flying V. He influenced virtually every rock guitarist who followed him — Eric Clapton, Duane Allman, Jeff Beck, Ted Nugent, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Keith Richards, Jimmy Page and Mike Bloomfield among many others.

His emotional singing combined elements of both country and soul music. In 1968, he signed with Elektra Records in Los Angeles. His albums for the label mixed blues, country and rock elements. He also continued to work as a studio sideman, notably on The Doors LP Morrison Hotel.

Mack was hired by Elektra in A&R. But he became frustrated with corporate life and resigned. He moved to rural Kentucky.

In the 1970s, he leaned more toward country sounds. His 1971 LP The Hills of Indiana was a particular highlight. He relocated to Texas and reemerged in the 1980s as a blues-rock artist. He began collaborating with Stevie Ray Vaughan, who produced the Lonnie Mack comeback LP Strike Like Lightning on Alligator Records.

In 1988 Lonnie Mack landed at Epic Records, for whom he recorded the rockabilly album Roadhouses and Dance Halls. He guested on Saturday Night Live in 1989.

He retired to Middle Tennessee in the 1990s, but occasionally toured Europe and performed at benefit concerts and special events in the U.S.

Lonnie Mack died of natural causes at Centennial Medical Center in Smithville. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

The Nashville music business has lost Bob Tubert, a man who made his mark in many areas of the industry. Tubert died at age 90 on April 10, according to the Hendersonville Funeral Home.

He was a record producer, a TV scriptwriter, a hit songwriter, an author, a music publisher and a talent spotter. Tubert won the 1978 CMA Founding President’s Award for his years of service to the organization.

In addition, he was a founding member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), and helped to establish Belmont University’s music business program.

Born in 1925, Robert F. Tubert was raised in Massachusetts in the 1930s , knowing nothing of Nashville or country music. He attended Arizona State University in Flagstaff on a basketball scholarship. This is where he first heard country records.

He completed his education in Missouri. This turned out to be advantageous, because after graduation, he was hired by the Ozark Jubilee organization in Springfield.

In 1955, The Ozark Jubilee was launched as one of America’s first network country TV series. Tubert became its scriptwriter and sometime director. Airing on ABC, the show was variously titled Ozark Jubilee (1955-57), Country Music Jubilee (1957-58), Jubilee USA (1958-60) and Five Star Jubilee (1961).

A parallel network program in 1956 was Junior Jubilee. In addition, there was a nationally-distributed radio show, which Tubert also worked on.

Ozark Jubilee regulars included host Red Foley, plus Porter Wagoner, Brenda Lee, Jean Shepard, Sonny James, The Browns, Webb Pierce, Eddy Arnold and Jim Reeves, all of whom later became members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Tubert promoted the idea that Springfield, Missouri, the home of the shows, could become the headquarters of country music. He was embittered that Jubilee executives did not share his vision.

When the shows ended, Bob Tubert migrated to the city that did become country music’s headquarters, Nashville. Inspired by this community, he began writing songs.

His first success was “When You Loved Me,” a No. 8 adult-contemporary hit for Brenda Lee in 1964. The following year, he succeeded on the country charts by co-writing the No. 1 Sonny James hit “You’re the Only World I Know.” Tubert also co-wrote the big 1965 Sonny James hit, “I’ll Keep Holding On.”

In 1967, Tubert’s “Gardenias in Her Hair” was a Top 10 hit for Marty Robbins, and “Here Comes Heaven” did the same for Eddy Arnold in 1968. He also wrote songs that were recorded by Stonewall Jackson, Dolly Parton, Jerry Lee Lewis, Kitty Wells, Dave Dudley, Faron Young, Dottie West, Connie Smith, Ray Stevens, Cal Smith, Jim Ed Brown, Marie Osmond, Roy Clark , Grandpa Jones, Billy Walker, David Houston and more in the 1960s and 1970s.

But Tubert never considered himself to be a strictly “country” creator. He wrote songs for Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs (“Ring Dang Doo”). The Letterman (“Our Winter Love”), Lou Rawls (“My Ancestors”), Bobby Vinton (“Satin Pillow”), Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown (“Please Don’t Hurt Me”), Steve Alaimo, Taj Mahal, Sandy Posey, Jimmy Cliff, Perry Como, Anita Bryant, Jackie Wilson, Ketty Lester, Ann-Margret and other pop and R&B stars.

Tubert also became a Music Row publishing executive. In the 1960s, he ran Earl Barton Music, Regent Music and Vintage Music. Between 1970 and 1983, he was the professional manager for Excellorec. Headquartered at Woodland Sound in East Nashville, this company controlled the copyrights of the blues and gospel music created for such imprints as Excello, Nashboro and Ernie’s Record Mart.

At some point, Tubert was also a newsman for United Press International (UPI). He wrote liner notes for albums by Jerry Reed, Chet Atkins, The Anita Kerr Singers, Charlie Rich and others. He was a founding member of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), and helped to establish Belmont University’s music business program.

As a record producer, he guided the sounds of his discovery Lana Chapel, as well as Davey Buhl, Russ Russell and Dale Turner. He also wrote and produced major-label records for his pop-singer wife, Demetriss Tapp.

In the 1980s, he discovered Shelby Lynne. He got her on TNN’s Nashville Now and sent her tapes to producer Billy Sherrill, who signed her to Epic Records. She later won a Grammy Award.

In later years, Tubert returned to show scripting and television work. He wrote benefit shows for NARAS and the CMA and produced cable-TV specials about the music of Merle Haggard, Porter Wagoner and others. He also wrote material for the annual CMA Awards telecasts.

In 2012, he published his autobiography, Echoes and Reflections: My Life With the Stars. The book was an expose of the back stabbing, dishonesty, and shady deals that Tubert perceived in the music business. In the book, he also gave positive credit where credit was due.

He is survived by his wife, Demetriss Tapp Tubert, children Devin and Shara and three grandchildren.

Visitation will be from noon to 1 p.m. on April 23 with a celebration of life to follow. Hendersonville Funeral Home is at 353 E. Main Street in Hendersonville.