Curtis Potter, noted in Texas country music circles as a “singer’s singer,” has died at age 75.

Best known as the longtime frontman of Hank Thompson’s acclaimed Brazos Valley Boys, Potter passed away in Abilene, Texas, on Saturday, Jan. 23. He had congestive heart failure, complicated by pneumonia.

The Brazos Valley Boys won Billboard’s Touring Band of the Year award 14 times. Potter, a bass player and vocalist, joined the group in 1959 and remained with it for the next 13 years.

He also had an extensive résumé as a solo artist and record maker.

Born in 1940, Potter was given his own radio and TV show in Abilene on KRBC at age 16. As a youngster, he also performed in the road shows of Slim Willet and Bill Fox.

He began his recording career on Dot Records with 1969’s “You Comb Her Hair.” In 1973, Capitol Records issued Potter’s “Walkin’ Talkin’ Breathin’ Case of Sorrow.” This was followed by his Texas Dance Hall LP recorded with fellow Lone Star State singers Darrell McCall and Ray Sanders.

Potter was signed to Hillside Records in 1978. This resulted in his only two charted singles, 1979’s “Fraulein” and 1980’s duet with McCall, “San Antonio Medley.” He also recorded two albums for Hillside.

In 1984, Potter helped to form Step One Records in Nashville. This became country music’s largest independent label, releasing discs by Gene Watson, Ray Price, Kitty Wells, Hank Thompson and Clinton Gregory, as well as Potter.

He and Willie Nelson recorded the Six Hours at the Pedernales album for Step One in 1995. It yielded the video favorite “Turn Me Loose and Let Me Swing.”

In 2005, Potter signed with Heart of Texas Records. He recorded five solo albums for the company, including his tribute to Ray Price, Songs of the Cherokee Cowboy. Its title tune was another duet with Nelson. He also has two trio albums on Heart of Texas, recorded with Tony Booth and Darrell McCall. He is a member of the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame and the Western Swing Hall of Fame.

Potter had heart surgery in 2006, but resumed performing in dance halls, honky-tonks and concert halls. He last performed in Brady, Texas, on New Year’s Eve.

His funeral service and burial took place on Tuesday, Jan. 26. Curtis Potter is survived by his wife Pat, sons James and Shane, daughters Sharlotte and Rozlyn, eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren.

The family requests memorial contributions to the Heart of Texas Country Music Museum, 1701 South Bridge St., Brady, Texas 76825.

Nashville acoustic-guitar great Pete Huttlinger has died at age 54.

He recorded more than 15 albums, toured and recorded with John Denver and won awards for his fleet-fingered playing. His instructional DVDs and guitar workshops taught many fellow musicians.

Huttlinger was the husband of Music Row publicist Erin Morris, the son-in-law of noted country music journalist Ed Morris and the brother-in-law of song publisher Jason Morris..

Pete Huttlinger was born in 1961 in Washington, D.C. He was a 1984 graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music. He won the National Fingerpick Guitar championship in 2000.

In addition to touring and recording with Denver, Huttlinger backed LeAnn Rimes and John Oates. He has been heard on records by Faith Hill, Jimmy Buffett and The Nashville Chamber Orchestra, among others.

He had a congenital heart defect, and this shadowed his career. Huttlinger had a stroke in 2010 that paralyzed his right arm and rendered him unable to speak. He fought his way back to health and launched a second career as a public speaker. His presentation was titled “Don’t Just Live: Live Well.”

Huttlinger walked the 2012 Music City Marathon with a bag containing a battery pack for his heart pump. He and his wife co-authored the 2015 book, Joined at the Heart: A Story of Love, Guitars, Resilience and Marigolds.

The guitarist suffered another stroke on Jan. 11. He died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on Jan. 15.

He is survived by wife Erin Morris Huttlinger, stepchildren Sean Della Croce and James Della Croce, brother Frank Huttlinger and sister Theresa Vigour.

A memorial service will be scheduled later.

Gospel Music Hall of Fame member Joe Moscheo was known to thousands of music industry folks due to his membership in The Imperials and his long tenure as an executive at BMI. Moscheo, 78, passed away around 10 p.m. on Monday night, Jan. 11, reported The Imperials on a Facebook posting. He was a musician, a manager, an executive, a producer, a songwriter and an author.

Moscheo was born to Italian immigrants in Albany, New York in 1937. He first went on the road in 1960 when he joined the gospel group The Harmoneers. Within a year, he had moved on to perform with The Prophets. In the fall of 1964, he joined The Imperials as a singer, keyboard player and arranger. He also wrote several songs for the group.

This version of The Imperials regularly performed with Elvis Presley in Las Vegas in 1969-72. Between 1966 and 1971, The Imperials also appeared on a number of Presley’s recordings. Moscheo revisited this phase of his career in his 2007 book The Gospel Side of Elvis. He also produced the PBS TV documentary He Touched Me: The Gospel Music of Elvis Presley. It became a DVD in 2002.

The Imperials also backed such entertainers as Jimmy Dean, Pat Boone, Roy Clark and Carol Channing. The group won the first of its many awards from the Gospel Music Association in 1969. In 1972, The Imperials became gospel’s first interracial group.

In 1978, Moscheo left his performing career behind and was hired by BMI. He was the organization’s Vice President of Special Projects for the next 16 years. In 1982 and 1983 he served two terms as the President of the Nashville chapter of the Recording Academy. In the mid-1990s, Moscheo formed his own management company. He worked with BeBe & CeCe Winans, Michael English, Wynonna and others.

He was hired by First Union Bank in June 1996 to establish its Entertainment Division. Moscheo retired from First Union in 2003. He became a consultant to the music company MCS America and assumed its presidency in 2004. Moscheo was a member of the founding council of Leadership Music. He also served as both president and board member of the W.O. Smith Community Music School and of the Gospel Music Association.

He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2007. This was actually his second induction, for he was also voted into the Hall as a member of The Imperials in 1998.

He continued to make appearances relating to Elvis and The Imperials until his retirement in 2014. Moscheo suffered from a degenerative neurological disease. He was moved into an assisted living facility last year and a GiveForward account called the Joe Moscheo Fund was set up for his care. He underwent emergency surgery and was hospitalized in late December.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

Pop-country performer and former Music Row song publisher Troy Shondell has died at age 76.

Best known for his 1961 torchy teen ballad “This Time (We’re Really Breaking Up),” Shondell passed away on Jan. 7 at a nursing facility in Picayune, Mississippi. The Associated Press reports that he died of complications related to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The singer was born Gary Wayne Schelton and raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. His father was a professional musician. Shondell was playing trumpet by age 4 and eventually became proficient on piano, organ and saxophone, as well.

He began writing songs at age 14. One of his early tunes, “A Prayer and a Juke Box” was a pop single by Little Anthony & The Imperials in 1959. At his peak, Troy Shondell was said to have written 400 songs a year.

His recording career began in 1958 with “My Hero,” released as by “Gary Shelton.” Singles such as “The Trance” and “Goodbye Little Darlin’” ensued under his better-known billing. He had a regional hit in the Midwest with the rockabilly tune “Kissin’ at the Drive-In” in 1960.

Written by Chips Moman, “This Time (We’re Really Breaking Up)” was a 1961 hit in both the U.S. and the U.K. and sold a million copies.

Shondell’s follow-up pop singles in 1961-62 included “Tears From an Angel,” written by Jackie DeShannon, his self-penned “Island in the Sky” and the Phil Spector-produced “Na-Ne-No.” His final pop single of note was 1969’s “Let’s Go All the Way.”

Shondell wrote “Still Loving You” in the wake of his father’s premature 1960 death from a heart attack. The song was recorded by country star Bob Luman and became a Top 10 country hit in 1973, earning Troy Shondell a BMI Award.

By then, the singer-songwriter had moved to Nashville and switched to country music. He signed with Acuff-Rose, then formed his own song publishing company. His debut Nashville single was 1969’s “Something’s Wrong in Indiana.” Also in 1969, he was hired as an assistant regional director in the Nashville office of ASCAP.

Returning to recording, he released the self-produced LP An Ordinary Man in 1978. Shondell made the country charts with his own version of “Still Loving You” (1979), plus John Sebastian’s “(Sittin’ Here) Lovin’ You” (1980) and his own “(I’m Looking For Some) New Blue Jeans” (1988).

In 1992, his song “The Wall” was chosen to represent the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. and was featured on Good Morning America.

In recent years, Troy Shondell had toured on the oldies circuit. In 2001, he formed a nostalgia package show with his peers Jimmy Clanton, Ronnie Dove and Ray Peterson, billed as The Masters of Rock ‘n’ Roll.