LifeNotes: Music Man Doug Gilmore Passes

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doug gilmore

Doug Gilmore

Doug Gilmore — who made his mark as a songwriter, TV producer and artist manager — passed away in Nashville on April 3 at the age of 78.

He was associated with such singer-songwriters as Mickey Newbury, Roger Miller, Delaney Bramlett, Leon Russell and Sonny Curtis. Gilmore co-wrote such country hits as “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye” (Jerry Lee Lewis) and “What Am I Gonna Do About You” (Reba McEntire).

Douglas Carl Gilmore was born in Wichita, Kan., in 1936. He played football at Vanderbilt University and was on the team that won the Gator Bowl in 1955. He graduated in 1958.
After college, he signed a management deal with Roger Miller. When Miller moved to the West Coast in 1963, Gilmore accompanied him. As a songwriter, Doug Gilmore began collaborating with Miller’s drummer and Crickets veteran J.I. Allison.

In 1968, Gilmore collaborated with Mickey Newbury on “She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye.” Jerry Lee Lewis had a big country hit with the song the following year, and it has been recorded by dozens of others, including Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Milsap, Don Gibson, Hank Snow, Del Shannon, Charlie Louvin, Lonnie Mack, Brook Benton, Ed Bruce, Jack Greene and Swamp Dogg.

Meanwhile, in California, Gilmore produced music for The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour (CBS, 1971-77), as well as for the solo TV shows of both Sonny (ABC, 1974) and Cher (CBS, 1975-76).

In 1973-74, NBC aired Dean Martin Presents Music Country as a weekly series. Doug Gilmore produced 19 one-hour episodes of this, which featured country artists performing their hits on location in scenic spots around the nation. Charlie Rich, Tanya Tucker, Jerry Reed, Mac Davis, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Johnny Rodriguez, Tammy Wynette, Conway Twitty, Tom T. Hall and Lynn Anderson were among those he showcased.

As a music director and producer, Gilmore also worked with John Denver during the 1970s. He reportedly also collaborated with noted soundtrack and musical-comedy composer Meredith Willson and with songwriters including Bobby Russell, Grant Boatwright, Billy Burnette, Bobby Lee Springfield, Larry Henley, Billy Ray Reynolds and Randy Sharp.

In 1987, Reba McEntire had a No. 1 hit with “What Am I Gonna Do About You,” which Gilmore co-wrote with Jim Allison and Bob Simon. He co-wrote several songs with John Brannen for the latter’s debut Mercury Records LP, 1988’s Mystery Street. Mickey Gilley had a 1986 top-10 hit with his co-written “Doo Wah Days.”

Dude Mowrey (1991) and Daron Norwood (1994) both charted with Gilmore’s co-written “Cowboys Don’t Cry.” Ray Stevens charted with his “Where the Sun Don’t Shine” in 1982. Other Gilmore songs were recorded by Johnny Paycheck, The Crickets, Tom Jones, Fleetwood Mac, Waylon Jennings and Lee Hazelwood, among others. He has a total of 192 titles registered with BMI.

In later years, Gilmore and his co-writer Gary Vincent produced various blues festivals in Clarksdale, Miss. He also worked with actor Morgan Freeman on a 2008 blues documentary broadcast.

Doug Gilmore is survived by Winifred Holcomb, brother James, aunt Juanita, daughter Kellye and by sons Charlie Holcomb, Calvin Houghland and Mason Houghland, as well as his cousins.

The family will receive friends at Harpeth Hills Funeral Home on Tuesday, April 14. Visitation begins at 2:30 p.m. with a celebration of his life beginning at 4:00 p.m. The building is at 9090 Highway 100, Nashville, TN 37221.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Doug Gilmore’s name may be made to New Leash on Life, 507 Jim Draper Blvd., Lebanon, TN 37087.

 

 

LifeNotes: Marty Stuart’s Father, John Richard Stuart, Dies

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Marty Stuart and father John Stuart

Marty Stuart and father John Richard Stuart

Country entertainer Marty Stuart‘s father, John Richard Stuart, of Smyrna, Tenn., died Thursday, April 9. He was 83.

Stuart was born April 5, 1932 to Levi Lincoln and Eddie Lee Stuart of Arlington, Miss. John Stuart married Hilda Annette Johnson in 1952. They have two children, Marty (born 1958) and Jennifer (born 1960). The family has lived in Middle Tennessee since 1974.

John Stuart served in the Army from 1953-1955. Throughout his life, he worked as a brick mason and factory supervisor for Chromalox and Whirlpool companies.

He is survived by his wife Hilda of Smyrna, Tenn.; his daughter Jennifer of Smyrna, Tenn.; his son Marty and his wife Connie of Hendersonville, Tenn., and brother Ralph of Arlington, Miss.

Services are set for Tuesday, April 14 at 2 p.m., at Old Pearl Valley Baptist Church in Arlington, Miss.

LifeNotes: Ballet Maven Jane Fabian Passes

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Jane Fabian

Jane Fabian

Jane Fabian, a key figure in the classical dance world in Nashville for more than 40 years, passed away on April 6 at age 74.

A Nashville native, Fabian was a founder of Nashville Ballet, was President of its Board in 1981-85 and then served as the Company Manager and Administrator of the School of Nashville Ballet. From 1993 to 2001, she was Managing Director of Nashville Ballet.

When she retired from the organization’s administrative leadership, she was appointed a lifetime member of its board of directors. Fabian was also quite active in the alumni association of Leadership Nashville.

Born in 1940, she attended Parmer School, Harpeth Hall and Hollins University before earning her degree from Vanderbilt in 1963. She began ballet training with Albertine Maxwell in Nashville in 1944. She later studied at the School of American Ballet in New York City.

She performed with the Nashville dance troupe Les Ballets Intime, then taught at both The Dancer’s Studio and the School of Nashville Ballet between 1976 and 1991.

In addition to her work with Nashville Ballet, Jane Miller Fabian served on the boards of the McNeilly Day Home, the Junior League, the YWCA, the Association for Nonprofit Organizations and the Tennessee Association of Dance. She was also on the Advisory Committee of the Governor’s School for the Arts.

She was a 1994 graduate of Leadership Nashville. In her leisure, the charmingly unpretentious Fabian was a big fan of The Atlanta Braves and of country music.

She is survived by sons Michael M. Fabian of Roswell, GA and Robert N. Fabian Jr. of Reno, NV. Her Nashville memorial service will be at St. George’s Episcopal Church, 4715 Harding Rd. at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21.

In lieu of flowers, gifts in Jane Fabian’s honor may be made to Nashville Ballet.

LifeNotes: R.I.P. Nashville R&B Vet Audrey Bryant

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Audrey Jean Bryant-Watkins

Audrey Jean Bryant-Watkins

Vintage Nashville singer Audrey Bryant passed away last week at age 76. Bryant died on April 7. Her funeral service was private and for immediate family only.

One of her r&b performances was featured on the CD Night Train to Nashville, which won the 2005 Grammy Award as Best Historical Album. The record accompanied an acclaimed exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame about the history of Nashville’s r&b and soul-music scene. It saluted Bryant, among others. The exhibit’s full title was “Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970.”

Audrey Bryant first came to Nashville’s attention in the 1950s when she began appearing on local television. According to the liner notes of the Grammy-winning CD, she pantomimed records by Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Etta James and the like on WSIX-TV. This was as a cast member on local DJ Noel Ball’s Bop Hop teen TV show, beginning in 1954.

“I believe I was the first black female to be a cast member on Nashville television – maybe in the whole state of Tennessee,” Bryant recalled.

Her prominence and talent were such that Chet Atkins reportedly scouted her to record country music on Music Row. She declined, she said. Still, producer Red Wortham recruited mainstream Nashville musicians — including piano-playing Country Music Hall of Fame member Hargus “Pig” Robbins — to back her in the studio in 1959.

One result was the rockabilly-flavored “Let’s Trade a Little” on Do-Re-Mi Records. This is the track that appeared on the Grammy-winning Night Train to Nashville 47 years later. Her vintage recording of “Good, Good Love’ was reissued on 2001s Nashville Rock ‘N’ Roll.

She was Audrey Jean Bryant-Watkins at the time of her death.

She is survived by husband James P. Watkins, daughter Jamye K.Watkins-Jenkins, three grandsons and one great-grandson.

LifeNotes: Grammy-Winning Picker Tut Taylor Passes

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Tut Taylor

Tut Taylor. Photo: Chris Murphy

Dobro master Tut Taylor has died in North Carolina at age 91.

The former Nashvillian recorded with John Hartford, Leon Russell, Brother Oswald, Norman Blake, Porter Wagoner and others. He made solo albums for Rounder, World Pacific, Takoma and United Artists. His CD with Jerry Douglas, The Great Dobro Sessions, won a 1995 Grammy Award as Best Bluegrass Album.

Taylor was known as a “musician’s musician.” Legendary in bluegrass circles, he also played mandolin, guitar and banjo.

He was born in Georgia in 1923. Inspired by hearing “Bashful” Brother Oswald in Roy Acuff’s Smokey Mountain Boys band, Taylor began playing Dobro at age 14. Early in his career, he performed in The Folkswingers alongside Glen Campbell and members of The Dillards and The Dixie Gentlemen bands. He moved to Nashville in the late 1960s.

In 1970, Taylor co-founded the GTR instrument shop in Music City. This institution became the still-thriving Gruhn Guitars.

Taylor co-founded the long-running Nashville bluegrass nightclub The Old Time Pickin’ Parlor in 1971. He also ran Tut Taylor’s General Store in Nashville beginning around 1979. He produced records by Mark O’Connor, Jerry Douglas, Norman Blake, Brother Oswald and others.

Tut Taylor died Thursday morning, April 8, at the Wilkes Regional Medical Center in North Carolina. He is survived by four sons, three daughters, 16 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. His visitation is today, April 9, from 7-9 p.m. at Miller Funeral Service in Wilkesboro, N.C.

LifeNotes: Singer-Songwriter Sandy Mason Passes

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Sandy Mason T

Sandy Mason Theoret

Nashville singer-songwriter Sandy Mason died in Ormond Beach, Fla., on Wednesday afternoon, April 1.

She is best known for writing the 1979 Crystal Gayle hit “When I Dream” and for co-writing the Garth Brooks 1998 No. 1 smash “Two Pina Coladas.” She was 71 years old.

Sandy Mason Theoret was a native of Birdsville, PA, a town near Tarentum northwest of Pittsburgh. She was a child performer on Pittsburgh radio and TV. By the time she was in her teens, she excelled as a pianist, comic, singer, guitarist and ventriloquist. She became an alumnus of The Pittsburgh Playhouse, Western Pennsylvania’s top venue for training stage performers.

By the age of 20 in 1963, Mason was in New York recording for Roulette Records and working as a ventriloquist at a club called The Boulevard Room. During her 1963-64 booking at The Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago, she revamped her act from ventriloquist to singer. Returning to Pittsburgh, she landed her own local television show in 1965.

She first attracted attention in Nashville by being signed to Hickory Records in 1966. Her Hickory single “There You Go” appeared on the country charts in 1967. She subsequently released singles for Epic, Mercury and JMI in the early 1970s.

Her songwriting career took off in the late 1970s. After Gayle sang Mason’s “When I Dream,” the song was recorded by more than 70 other artists. Mason’s “Only Love” was popularized by Don Williams, Roger Cook and John Prine, the latter two of whom were her co-writers on the song. Another perennial favorite was “All I Want to Do in Life,” which was recorded by George Jones, Jack Clement, Gayle and Marianne Faithfull. Mason co-wrote it with Allen Reynolds, her most frequent collaborator.

Debby Boone and Paul Anka both recorded her “I’d Even Let You Go.” Pat Alger co-wrote and recorded “You’ll Come Back to Me.” Petula Clark recorded Mason’s “Feel the Love Go Round.” Johnny Cash recorded “After All.”

Others who recorded her songs include Lynn Anderson, Eddy Arnold, Roger Whittaker, Nanci Griffith, Julie Andrews, Floyd Cramer, Tompall Glaser, Mac Davis, Willie Nelson, George Hamilton IV, Trisha Yearwood, Helen Reddy and several European and Japanese artists.

Sandy Mason sang backup on records by Cash, as well as Gayle, Prine, Brooks and others. Her own recording career resumed with the 1982 LP Only Love.

She co-wrote “Two Pina Coladas” with Shawn Camp and Benita Hill. It became her biggest hit and again led to recording her own albums. There Goes That Song Again (2001), Romance (2003), Angels in Disguise (2004) and Out There and In Here (2008) captured her distinctive performing style.

Sandy Mason’s music was never easily classified. Roger Cook described her songs as being “between The Beatles and George Gershwin.” Her amusing, self-deprecating, pixie-like musical personality frequently charmed audiences at The Bluebird Cafe, Douglas Corner and other local venues.

Sandy Mason left Nashville after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several weeks ago. She reportedly declined aggressive chemo therapy, opting to let the disease take its course as she reposed in Florida.

No funeral arrangements have been announced.

LifeNotes: Actor-Singer J. Karen Thomas Passes

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J Karen Thomas

J. Karen Thomas

Nashville jazz chanteuse, songwriter, radio personality and film, stage and television actor J. Karen Thomas has died at age 50.

She passed away on Thursday morning, March 26. Thomas had been diagnosed with multiple myeloma in January and had been undergoing treatment since then.

She was known to many for her role as “Audrey Carlisle,” the wife of “Mayor Coleman Carlisle” (Robert Wisdom) during the first season of the ABC-TV series Nashville (2012).

J. Karen Thomas was a vital member of Music City’s theatrical community. She was in the Nashville Repertory Theatre’s 2014 production of the musical Company. In 2013, she won the Circle Award as Best Supporting Actress for portraying “Shug Avery” in The Color Purple Musical.

The local jazz community mourns her passing as well. Thomas’s recordings include Love Just Happens (2013) and J. Karen Live! (2014). She received jazz radio airplay with her 2014 holiday song “Three Words at Christmas.” She has also sung with the Nashville swing band The Time Jumpers.

Thomas was a Nashville native who graduated from Maplewood High and the University of Memphis. Following some theater work in Atlanta, she moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and established herself as an actor with more than 40 guest-starring television roles. Her credits include Criminal Minds, ER, Drop Dead Diva, Ellen, Judging Amy, Charmed, The Jamie Foxx Show, Savannah, That’s Life, Chicago Hope and Army Wives. Her film work included parts in Mutiny (1999), The Tempest (2001), Written in Blood (2002) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003), Woman Thou Art Loosed (2004, a mini series) and Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007).

As a singer, she performed at the Cannes Film Festival, on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and at Disney Sea in Tokyo.

While on the West Coast she met her life partner, fellow actor Colette Divine. They moved back to Thomas’s home town six years ago. Since then, Thomas has acted opposite the late Robin Williams in the film Boulevard and opposite Ashley Judd in The Identical. Both of these features were screened at the Nashville Film Festival. She and Divine both appeared in the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?

Thomas was also a former disc jockey for Nashville’s Y-107.

She was an active community volunteer. Among the organizations she supported were TreePeople, GLAAD, the Nashville Film Festival, the Belcourt Theatre, Artists for a World without HIV, Plug In America and various Screen Actors Guild (SAG) initiatives.

She is survived by her life partner Colette Divine, by brothers Frank and George and by nephews and nieces.

Thomas’s medical bills are substantial. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are appreciated at www.gofundme.com/jkareneternallove.

A celebration of her life and tribute/benefit concert will be held on Friday, April 17 at 7 p.m. On Saturday, April 18, at 1:45 p.m. there will be an AKA Ivy Beyond the Wall Ceremony, followed by a 2 p.m. memorial service. All of these events will be at the Center for Spiritual Living, 6705 Charlotte Pike, Nashville 37209.

Celebration Of Life Planned For Studio Owner Asa Albert Jolson

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candle lifenotes11A celebration of life has been planned for Asa Albert Jolson, former owner of Al Jolson Enterprises and Masterlink Studio, who passed away March 4 in Nashville, Tenn., after a two month bout with pneumonia. He was 67.

The celebration of life is planned in Nashville for April 7 from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. at the old Masterlink Studio Tracking Room 114 17th Ave South.

Known to family and friends as “Jolie,” he moved to Nashville in the 1980s, where he studied sound engineering at Belmont University.

Jolson created Al Jolson Enterprises and shortly thereafter opened a recording studio and music publishing business. In 1988, he purchased Masterlink Studio on Nashville’s Music Row.

Jolson expanded his recording business duplicating audio cassettes and later compact discs. After he retired, he sold his company in 2012.

He was the son of the late Al Jolson & Erle Galbraith Jolson Krasna. Mr. Jolson is survived by a daughter, Katharine; one granddaughter, two sisters & one brother. He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn in Hollywood.

In lieu of flowers, a tax deductible donation can be made to:

Nashville Engineer Relief Fund
PO Box 128191
Nashville‎ Tn‎ 37212

LifeNotes: Al Bunetta Passes

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al bunetta

Al Bunetta, who spent more than 40 years guiding the careers of John Prine and the late Steve Goodman, passed away last night (March 22). Bunetta was recently diagnosed with cancer and admitted to Saint Thomas Hospital in Nashville, where he later died.

Bunetta was a lifelong entrepreneur, taking on the roles of artist manager, booking agent, record label head and producer. He started and ran his namesake management company, home to Prine and Goodman, and founded record companies with each of those artists. In 1981, Prine, Bunetta and Dan Einstein teamed for Oh Boy Records, one of the initial independent record labels and mail order businesses. With Goodman, he founded Red Pajamas Records.

In 1986, Bunetta won a Grammy for co-producing the Best Contemporary Folk Recording, A Tribute To Steve Goodman.

In 2006, Prine’s Fair & Square, released by Oh Boy, won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

BMI Award-winners Paul Overstreet and John Prine are the newest additions to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Overstreet and Prine, along with Hal Blair and Rodney Crowell, were inducted November 2 during annual ceremonies hosted by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation at Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel in Nashville.

Al Bunetta, John Prine and Dawn Bunetta celebrate Prine’s 2003 induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame at Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel in Nashville. Photo: BMI.com

The enduring label’s latest project is September 78, a recording of Prine’s 1978 Chicago concert, being offered on orange vinyl for Record Store Day (April 18, 2015).

Bunetta’s career began as a roadie in the late ‘60s. He joined Paul Anka’s management company, CMA, as an artist manager working with artists such as Bette Midler, Al Green and The Manhattan Transfer. When the company signed Prine and Goodman to management contracts in 1971, Bunetta became the manager for both.

As an active and respected member of the Music Row community, Bunetta served on the board of the W.O. Smith Music School, and was involved with NARAS, CMA and Leadership Music.

He enjoyed car collecting, farming and family time.

He was preceded in death by son Juri Bunetta, who passed away in 2011. Al Bunetta and wife Dawn Bunetta started the Juri Bunetta Friendship Foundation and Building Bridges Golf Tournament in his loving memory, to benefit organizations including Safe Haven Family Shelter.

Al Bunetta is survived by Dawn and many other loved ones.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Juri Bunetta Friendship Foundation.

LifeNotes: Classic Songwriter Don Robertson Passes

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Don Robertson

Don Robertson. Photo: donrobertson.com

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Don Robertson has passed away at age 92.

Robertson created classic songs for Elvis Presley, Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, Charley Pride and dozens of other stars. He died in California on March 16.

Among his standards are “I Really Don’t Want to Know,” “Born to Be with You,” “Please Help Me I’m Falling” and “I Don’t Hurt Anymore.” Robertson was also a successful recording artist.

He was born Donald Irwin Robertson in Peking, China on December 5, 1922. His physician father, who developed the first blood bank, was then the head of the Department of Medicine at Peking Union College.

His mother was a pianist and poet. She began giving Robertson piano lessons when he was 4 years old, and he was composing his first songs just three years later.

The family returned to the United States, and Don Robertson was raised in Chicago. By age 14, he was earning money as a piano player in local dance bands. During his college years at the University of Chicago, he landed a job as the musical arranger at radio station WGN for its singing trio The Brandt Sisters.

Even bigger stars were The Dinning Sisters at the rival radio powerhouse WLS and its “National Barn Dance.” In 1945, he travelled to Los Angeles as the accompanist and arranger for the Dinnings, who had signed with Capitol Records. (The sisters soon scored major hits for the company with 1947’s “My Adobe Hacienda” and 1948’s “Buttons and Bows.”)

He married the trio’s Lou Dinning. Robertson took a job as a rehearsal pianist at Capitol, worked as a nightclub artist and occasionally played on recording sessions. Both he and Lou Dinning soon had solo recording contracts at Capitol. They also recorded for the label as a duo.

Don Robertson’s first big songwriting success was with his co-written “I Really Don’t Want to Know.” It became a No. 1 country hit for Eddy Arnold in 1954, as well as a simultaneous pop success for Les Paul & Mary Ford. Elvis Presley revived the song in 1971, and it has been recorded by nearly 200 others.

Hank Snow hit the top of the country charts with Robertson’s co-written “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” in 1954, with Dinah Washington scoring a No. 3 r&b smash with the same song that year. This song has also been recorded by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Rodney Crowell, Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Martina McBride, Dottie West, Hank Thompson and many other artists.

In 1955, both Frankie Laine and Les Paul & Mary Ford had pop hits with Robertson’s “Hummingbird.” In country music, Carl Smith had a top-10 hit in 1955 with the songwriter’s “You’re Free to Go.”

As an artist, Robertson had a top-10 pop hit with his Capitol Records disc of “The Happy Whistler” in 1956.

The Chordettes also scored a 1956 top-10 pop success with Robertson’s “Born to Be with You.” As one half of The Echoes (with Bonnie Guitar), Robertson re-recorded his tune in 1960. Then Sonny James revived it as a No. 1 country hit in 1968. Dion, Dave Edmunds, Bing Crosby, Anne Murray, Duane Eddy and The Browns are among the dozens who have subsequently recorded “Born to Be with You.”

Don Robertson with Waylon Jennings and Jack Clement

Don Robertson with Waylon Jennings and Jack Clement. Photo: Don Robertson Music Corporation

Other notable Don Robertson songs of the 1950s included “Go Back You Fool” (Faron Young, 1955), “Condemned Without Trial” (Eddy Arnold, 1953) and “I’m Counting on You” (Kitty Wells, 1957). In 1960, Della Reese brought Robertson’s “Not One Minute More” to pop fame. In the country field, Hank Locklin’s 1960 No. 1 hit “Please Help Me I’m Falling” crossed over to become a top-10 pop success as well. Skeeter Davis recorded its “answer” song, “I Can’t Help You (I’m Falling Too).” Janie Fricke revived the song as a country hit in 1978.

“Please Help Me I’m Falling” also brought Don Robertson’s distinctive piano style to prominence. He pioneered the “slip-note” style of playing that was later nationally popularized by Floyd Cramer.

In 1964, Bonanza TV star Lorne Greene recorded Robertson’s western-saga song “Ringo,” which became a No. 1 pop smash. Pop crooner Al Martino had a big hit with Robertson’s “I Love You More and More Every Day” in 1964, and this was revived on the country charts in 1973 by Sonny James.

In 1965, Don Robertson returned to solo recording with the RCA Nashville LP Heart on My Sleeve. It contained his own versions of some of the hits he’d written.

Elvis Presley scored with the songwriter’s “I’m Yours” that same year. During his career, Presley recorded 15 Don Robertson songs, many as soundtrack numbers for the superstar’s films.

During the 1960s, Hank Snow landed three more hits with Robertson songs — “I Stepped Over the Line” (1964), “The Queen of Draw Poker Town” (1965) and “Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)” (1963). (The star’s popular 1956 recording of “With This Ring I Thee Wed” is also a Robertson song.)

Don and Irene Robertson with Priscilla Presley at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1996. Photo: donrobertson.com

Don and Irene Robertson with Priscilla Presley
at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1996. Photo: donrobertson.com

Robertson co-wrote and played piano on Charley Pride’s 1967 hit “Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger.” He has also been the piano accompanist for Chet Atkins, Jessi Colter, Nat King Cole, Ann-Margret, John Prine, Jerry Wallace, Nancy Wilson and Presley, among others.

Don Robertson was placed in the Nashville Walkway of Stars in 1967 and inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.

Next, he wrote the 1979 Ray Price hit “There’s Always Me,” and resurfaced in 1982-83 as the co-writer of Billy Swan’s “With Their Kind of Money and Our Kind of Love,” “Your Picture Still Loves Me” and “Yes.”

Over the years, millions have heard Don Robertson playing his song “Pianjo” as “Gomer,” the animatronic bear opening the “Country Bear Jamboree” attraction at Disneyland and Disney World.

The songwriting legend has lived in Lake Sherwood, Calif., since 1960. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Irene, by their sons Bobby and Jim, by five grandchildren and by a great-granddaughter.