John Thomas Slate had a multifaceted music career in Nashville, making his mark as a songwriter, publisher, producer and manager for more than 40 years.

He passed away on Friday, July 24 at age 77, following a battle with cancer.

As a songwriter, Johnny Slate was known for such BMI award-winning songs as “Better Love Next Time” (Dr. Hook, 1979) and “Blaze of Glory” (Kenny Rogers, 1982), plus the Razzy Bailey hits “Friends” (1981), “I Keep Coming Back” (1981), “Loving Up a Storm” (1980) and “Tonight She’s Gonna Love Me (Like There Was No Tomorrow)” (1979).

He also cowrote the Joe Diffie hit “Next Thing Smokin’” (1992), The Younger Brothers’ “Nothing But the Radio On” (1982), Joe Sun’s “Shotgun Rider” (1980) and Eddy Arnold’s “Don’t Look Now (But We Just Fell in Love)” (1981).

The Razzy Bailey singles “What Time Do You Have to Be Back to Heaven” (1978), “I Ain’t Got No Business Doing Business Today” (1979) and “Everytime You Cross My Mind (You Break My Heart)” (1982) were also cowritten by Johnny Slate.

His songs were recorded by Johnny Cash, Ringo Starr, George Jones, Delbert McClinton, Tammy Wynette, Tom Jones, John Denver, Sammy Davis Jr., Exile, Loretta Lynn, Millie Jackson, Roger Miller and Charlie Rich, among others.

Slate was born in Clarksville, Tenn. After coming to Nashville, he wrote for Pamper, Green Grass, House of Gold and several other publishers before forming his own Out of Slate Music.

He was the professional manager at Tree International. He opened the Warner Bros. publishing office and served as its director. He and songwriter Larry Henley formed the Windchime and Sandstorm publishing companies, responsible for the 1978 Player pop hit “This Time I’m in it for Love.”

He created and became president of Affiliated Publishers Inc. (API) with Danny Morrison and Tony Harley. The company’s writers included Drew Womack, Joe Diffie, Kerry Kurt Phillips, Steve Pippin, Sonny LeMaire, Ken Spooner, Jerry Laseter and Wyatt Easterling. The company’s copyrights included Tim McGraw’s “I Like It, I Love It” (1995) and Diffie’s “Pickup Man” (1994).

As a producer, he created albums for Henley, Diffie, Sons of the Desert, Ron Williams and Fallenrock, among others.

As a manager, he opened a company called IMAGE Mgmt. He and his partners there managed Diffie, Tim McGraw, Ty Herndon, Sons of the Desert and several independent-label artists.

Johnny Slate was also an author. With his cowriter and cousin Danny Morrison, he published Song Writing From the Inside Out with Applewood Books.

He is survived by children Stacey, Stephen, Stephanie, Jenny and David, by 11 grandchildren, one great-grandchild and by sister Dorothy Holeman.

A memorial service for Johnny Slate will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, August 3 at Hendersonville First United Methodist Church. The family will receive friends from 2:00 p.m. until the time of the service and immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to MusiCares.

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Wayne Carson passed away on the morning of July 20, following a long illness.

Noted for such compositions as “The Letter,” “Always on My Mind” and “No Love at All,” Carson was also a recording artist and a song publisher. He died in hospice care at age 73.

Born Wayne Carson Thompson in Denver, CO, he was the son of country performers Odie and Olivia Thompson. Their stage names were Shorty and Sue. After stints on the radio in Nebraska and Colorado, they moved to Springfield, Mo. to join the staff at KWTO.

Shorty became a member of The Tall Timber Boys on The Ozark Jubilee radio and TV program in Springfield. Inspired by Merle Travis, Wayne began playing guitar at age 14. As a youngster, he performed on the offshoot show Junior Jubilee alongside Brenda Lee.

He initially moved to Nashville in 1962, but returned to Springfield to write songs for Jubilee producer Si Siman’s publishing company. Wayne Carson’s first success as a songwriter was with the No. 1 Eddy Arnold hit of 1966, “Somebody Like Me.”

He became an even bigger success with 1967’s “The Letter,” an international No. 1 hit for The Box Tops. The song was revived in 1970 by Joe Cocker, has been recorded by more than 20 others and can currently be heard on the soundtrack of the Minions movie.

Carson also wrote The Box Tops hits “Neon Rainbow” (1968) and “Soul Deep” (1969). Other early successes in the pop field were “Do It Again, a Little Bit Slower” by Jon & Robin and The In Crowd (1967), “Nine Pound Steel” by Joe Simon (1967), “Cussin’ Cryin’ and Carryin’ On” by Ike & Tina Turner (1967) and “Keep On” by Bruce Channel (1968).

In Nashville, Waylon Jennings had hits with Carson’s “Something’s Wrong in California” (1969) and “(Don’t Let the Sun Set on You in) Tulsa” (1971). Mel Tillis took the songwriter’s “Who’s Julie” into the country top-10 in 1969.

“No Love at All” became another often-recorded Wayne Carson song. Lynn Anderson took it up the country charts in 1970, then B.J. Thomas made it an even bigger pop hit the following year. It has also been recorded by Glen Campbell, Willie Nelson, Dottie West and others.

His co-written “Always on My Mind” began its journey to becoming a standard when Brenda Lee introduced it in 1972. Elvis Presley recorded it the following year. Then Willie Nelson’s version of the song became a smash hit in 1982, when it won Song of the Year honors from the Grammy Awards, the CMA, the NSAI and other organizations. It has since been recorded by dozens of others, including Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Anne Murray and Scotty McCreery. The Pet Shop Boys had a No. 1 hit in the U.K. with it in 1988.

Wayne Carson co-wrote a string of honky-tonk country classics in the 1970s. They include Conway Twitty’s “I See the Want-To in Your Eyes” (1974), Johnny Paycheck’s “Slide Off Your Satin Sheets” (1977) and Moe Bandy’s “Barstool Mountain” (1979). Gary Stewart’s “Drinkin’ Thing’ (1974), “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” (1975) and “Whiskey Trip” (1978) were all Carson songs.

By this time, Wayne Carson was an established recording artist, himself. He made the country charts three times during the 1970s. During his career, he released records on the Decca, Monument, Elektra, Private Stock, EMH and MGM labels. He has also recorded for his own record company. His Life Lines LP was issued by Monument in 1972.

In 1979, Ray Price introduced the songwriter’s ballad “That’s the Only Way to Say Good Morning.” In 1982, Conway Twitty scored a No. 1 hit with Carson’s “The Clown.” Others who recorded his songs in Nashville include Gene Watson, T.G. Sheppard, Randy Travis, Shelby Lynne, Michael Johnson, Sammi Smith, Alabama, Billie Jo Spears, Tony Joe White, Vern Gosdin and Wade Hayes.

Wayne Carson was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1997. He went into semi-retirement, but occasionally continued to write songs. Dan Auerbach of the rock group The Black Keys recorded his “I Want Some More” on his 2009 solo album.

The Country Music Hall of Fame saluted Wayne Carson by featuring him in its Poets and Prophets songwriter series in 2011.

More than 75 million records have been sold by artists singing his songs.

Wayne Carson is survived by his wife Wyndi Harp and son Christian Head.

A celebration of life service was held at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2015 at The Pavilion at Harpeth Hills Funeral Home, 9090 Hwy 100, Nashville, (615) 646-9292. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Southern Cross Boston Terrier Rescue at www.southerncrossbtr.com.