[Update]: Sellars Funeral Home in Mt. Juliet, Tenn. will host a visitation on Wednesday (Nov. 13) 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., with a brief graveside service following. Family asks that donations be sent to Alive Hospice in lieu of flowers.
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Legendary Nashville music publisher Bob Beckham has passed away at age 86.
Beckham discovered singer-songwriter Tony Joe White, among others. He mentored generations of songwriters during his tenure as the head of Combine Music, 1964-1989. Among the composers whose lives he touched are Kris Kristofferson, Larry Gatlin, Bob DiPiero, John Scott Sherrill, Dennis Linde (who became his son-in-law), Dolly Parton, Bob Morrison, Jerry Reed, Billy Swan, Chris Gantry and Johnny MacRae. He also launched the careers of such industry figures as Woody Bomar and Blake Chancey.
His influence was such that in 2008 he was given the very first Mentor Award by the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Nashville Entertainment Association presented him with its Master Award in 1988.
Born Robert Joseph Beckham in Statford, OK, he began entertaining audiences at age 8. He also appeared in several films as a juvenile actor. Following a stint in the army as a paratrooper, he worked as a pop singer.
He signed with Decca Records in Nashville and made the pop charts in 1959-60 with “Just as Much as Ever,” “Crazy Arms” and “Mais Oui.” On the road, he was an opening act for pop superstar Brenda Lee.
When his singing career waned, producer Owen Bradley suggested that Beckham try song publishing. Beckham became the Nashville song plugger for the Atlanta-based Lowery Music in 1961. He next worked for Shelby Singleton Music.
Fred Foster hired Beckham to run Combine Music in 1964. Founded in 1958, it was initially the publishing division of Monument Records. Beckham became president of Combine in 1966.
By the 1970s, Combine was one of Music Row’s major publishing houses. It was notable in that it worked in genres ranging from Arthur Alexander’s r&b songs to Thomas Cain’s gospel works, in addition to pop and country copyrights. He was also shrewd in placing Combine’s copyrights as ad jingles.
After leaving Combine, Bob Beckham founded HoriPro Entertainment in Nashville in 1990. This is a division of Japan’s Taiyo Music, which is that nation’s largest publishing business. Beckham retired in 2006.
He was a master raconteur who kept listeners spellbound during happy-hour sojourns at Maude’s Courtyard, Valentino’s Restaurant and other local watering holes.
Bob Beckham died Monday morning, Nov. 11, at Summit Hospital in Hermitage, TN. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.

Restless Heart member Dave Innis is mourning the loss of his mother, Betty Innis.
“Always the teacher, Mom taught me to play the piano at age six and instilled in me a deep appreciation for music” says Innis. “She was a faithful supporter of the band and loved to dance with Dad to ‘I’ll Still Be Loving You.’ She was a wonderful mother and a lovely person.”
Betty Eltha Innis died Oct. 9, 2013 at Swedish Medical Center in Denver after suffering a stroke and brief illness. Betty was born on May 10, 1930 in Dodge City, Kan. to Leonard and Eltha Brown of Meade, Kan. She is survived by her husband of 61 years, E. Eugene Innis of Woodland Park, Colo.; two sons, Steve of Dallas, Texas, and David of Franklin, Tenn.; her daughters-in-law, Nancy and Adrienne; two grandchildren, Isom and Isabella, of Los Angeles; brother Philip Brown and sister-in-law, Linda Kaye Brown of Meade; and a sister-in-law, Mary Archer of Houston.
On Oct. 22, Betty will be placed to rest in the Meade, Kan. Graceland Cemetery with a graveside service.

Aries X. Lincoln, who made his mark as a touring band member and songwriter in Country music, has died of liver cancer at age 76.
He is perhaps best known as the co-writer of “Goin’ Down Hill” with John Anderson. In 1983, this top-10 hit was the follow-up single to Anderson’s signature song “Swingin.’”
Lincoln was born Billy Lee Tubb in San Antonio, TX. His family moved to Nashville, and he attended Donelson High School. He is the brother of hit country songwriter Glenn Douglas Tubb, the cousin of Grand Ole Opry star Justin Tubb and the nephew of Country Music Hall of Fame member Ernest Tubb.
After performing in the rockabilly act The Tubb Brothers and recording as “Ronny Wade” for King Records, he became a regular in Nashville nightspots such as Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. He also recorded for Dot Records.
Lincoln toured as a sideman with Bob Luman, Roger Miller, Sheb Wooley, Hank Williams Jr., LeRoy Van Dyke, Sammi Smith, George Jones, Deborah Allen and others.
A bass player and guitarist, he joined the John Anderson Band in 1981 and remained with the group until 2000.
X. Lincoln, which was his legal billing, is survived by wife Connie, daughter Victoria Leigh Tubb, stepdaughter Lynda Joyce Kerney, grandsons Bryce Louis Planchard and Jesse Drew Planchard,  brother Glenn Douglas Tubb and sisters Betty Tubb Drozer, Loretta Tubb Jordan and Marietta Tubb Raiber, as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
A memorial jam session will be held at the AFM office, 11 Music Circle North, on Sunday, Oct. 13.

Ramblin’ Tommy Scott, billed as America’s last medicine-show performer, was buried on Friday, Oct. 4, in his hometown of Toccoa, Ga.
The 96-year-old Scott died on Sept. 30 as a result of injuries he sustained in an automobile accident on Aug. 10. He was a singer, songwriter, ventriloquist, comic, actor and show business entrepreneur.
He began his career on local radio in Georgia in 1933. When a medicine-show wagon stopped in Toccoa in 1936, Scott jumped aboard. It was a show that had been launched in 1890 by “Doc” M.F. Chamberlain. When Chamberlain retired, he turned the enterprise and its medicinal formulas over to Scott.
Using music and comedy, Scott sold the liniment Snake Oil, the tonic Vim Herb and the laxatives Herb-O-Lac and Man-O-Ree for decades.
Tommy Scott moved to North Carolina in 1938 to perform on WPTF radio in Raleigh. On WWVA in Wheeling, WV he was billed as“Rambling Scotty” when he fronted Charlie Monroe’s band The Kentucky Pardners. He moved to WSM and its Grand Ole Opry in 1940.
Back in Georgia, Scott became a country TV pioneer with the production of The Ramblin’ Tommy Scott Show in 1948. He later had the syndicated television series Smokey Mountain Jamboree.
In 1949, Scott starred in the movie Trail of the Hawk. Other films he appeared in include Mountain Capers, Hillbilly Harmony and Southern Hayride.
Tommy Scott recorded for such labels as King, Rich-R-Tone, Macy and Four Star. In the 1940s, he founded his own Katona Records company.
During his career, he wrote more than 500 songs, including the bluegrass favorite “You Are the Rainbow of My Dreams.” His most successful song was “Rosebuds and You.” It became a regional success for him in 1950, and was also recorded by George Morgan,The Willis Brothers and Red Sovine. Fiddler/singer Benny Martin had a country hit with the song when he revived it in 1963.
In the 1970s, Scott began billing himself as “Doc” and reemphasizing his medicine-show roots. He marketed a TV album and was featured by such national broadcasters as Walter Cronkite, Charles Kuralt, Ralph Emery, Oprah Winfrey and David Letterman. Scott made multiple appearances on The Today Show and Entertainment Tonight. He brought his show to Nashville’s Fan Fair celebration in 1977.
Over the years, “Doc Scott’s Last Real Old Time Medicine Show” featured such stars as Stringbean, Curley Seckler, Carolina Cotton, Johnny Mack Brown, Ray Whitley and Randall Franks. Franks directed a 2001 PBS special about Scott’s life titled Still Ramblin.’ He also co-wrote Scott’s 2007 autobiography Snake Oil, Superstars and Me.
Ramblin’ Tommy Scott is a member of the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame. He was pre-deceased by his wife and co-star Mary Frank “Frankie” Thomas Scott. He is survived by daughter Sandra Scott Whitworth, sister Cleo Scott Cheek, nephew Benny Cheek, granddaughter Pam Lawson and great-grandchildren Craig and Corey Lawson.