Eddie Setser, one of Music City’s top songwriters of the 1980s, died last week in Kentucky at age 77.

Setser is perhaps best known for co-writing the Willie Nelson/Ray Charles duet hit “Seven Spanish Angels.” This 1985 No. 1 smash has also been recorded by rocker Bryan Adams, country’s George Canyon and Stoney LaRue, the bluegrass band Dry Branch Fire Squad, Tex-Mex artist Stephanie Urbina Jones and The Voice contestant Adam Wakefield among many others.

The song’s renown spread overseas. It has been recorded by Dutch, Czechoslovakian, Norwegian, Estonian, French, Yugoslavian, Australian, Finnish, Jamaican and Swedish artists.

Eddie Setser was born in Kentucky, but his family moved to Cincinnati when he was 10 years old. He picked up the guitar at age 12 and started playing in Ohio nightclubs when he was 18.

Soul star James Brown discovered him and arranged for Setser’s band, The Dapps, to record for King Records in Cincinnati. The group eventually played the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem and appeared on the national Merv Griffin TV show.

Singer-songwriter Troy Seals took Setser under his wing, urged him to move to Nashville in 1974 and tutored him as a songwriter. Setser’s first notable success on Music Row was the 1978 Con Hunley hit “Weekend Friend.”

But his career really took off in the following decade with the 1982 Gary Morris hit “Don’t Look Back.” Setser also co-wrote Morris’s hits “Why Lady Why” (1984) and “Anything Goes” (1986).

The songwriter’s other big country hits included The Bellamy Brothers’ “Forget About Me” (1984), Reba McEntire’s “Let the Music Lift You Up” (1987), The Oak Ridge Boys’ “Beyond Those Years” (1989) and John Schneider’s “Country Girls” (1985) and “Love You Ain’t Seen the Last of Me” (1987).

His reputation extended beyond country music. Setser co-wrote Eric Clapton’s 1983 pop hit “I’ve Got a Rock & Roll Heart.” His songs were also sung by Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Greg Guidry, Etta James, The 4 Tops, Rita Coolidge, Isaac Hayes and Delbert McClinton.

Among the other top country stars who sang his songs were Charley Pride (“Down on the Farm,” 1985), Mark Gray (“It Ain’t Real,” 1982), John Anderson (“Country ‘Til I Die,” 1994), John Berry (“If I Had Any Pride Left At All,” 1995) and Faith Hill (“But I Will,” 1994).

His works were recorded by such Country Music Hall of Fame members as Don Williams, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Brenda Lee, Merle Haggard, Glen Campbell, Randy Travis, Waylon Jennings, Alabama and Johnny Cash.

Eddie Setser was a native of Corbin, Kentucky. After he retired in 1996, he returned to Corbin, where he passed away on Monday, Jan. 27. His graveside funeral service was held in Lily, Kentucky on Jan. 29.

Florida Georgia Line. Photo: Robby Klein.

Florida Georgia Line has teamed with Irving and Jeffrey Azoff’s Full Stop Management, sources have confirmed to MusicRow Magazine.

The news follows Friday’s (Jan. 31) announcement that the duo had exited their longtime management home with Big Loud’s Seth England and Kevin “Chief” Zaruk.

“It has been an incredible journey with our Big Loud family and we are so thankful for the last nine years. Together we’ve grown more than we could have ever imagined due to what we all bring to the table. As we continue to evolve, so do our needs and our team. Although bittersweet, we and Big Loud are excited to support and encourage each other as we enter the next chapter of our careers, and welcome a new family into our world with open arms. We will continue to dream big and push ourselves to be the best we can be in all facets of life. We are just getting started,” said FGL’s Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley in a statement announcing their exit from Big Loud.

The duo has the best-selling country single of all time, with the 11x Multi-Platinum single “Cruise,” and reached genre-crossing success with their 8x Multi-Platinum single “Meant To Be” with Bebe Rexha.

The BMLG Records artists released their fourth studio album Can’t Say I Ain’t Country last year, which yielded their No. 1 hit, the Platinum-certified “Simple.” The album has been certified Gold by the RIAA.

The duo’s 2012 debut album Here’s To The Good Times is certified 2x Multi-Platinum, while their albums Anything Goes (2014) and Dig Your Roots (2016) have both been certified Platinum. The duo is currently in the studio working on their fifth project.

Among the duo’s creative initiatives are their own festival, FGL Fest, their alcohol line Old Camp Peach Pecan Whiskey, the restaurant/performance venue FGL House, music publishing company Tree Vibez Music, work space meet+greet, and label Round Here Records.

Payton Smith. Photo: Haley Crow/MusicRow

Whether utilizing his burnished, mature tenor voice or nimbly drawing out a nuanced melody or percussion from his trusted guitar, 19-year-old Payton Smith is already adept at drawing the listener into a song, and into a feeling.

Smith played every guitar part on each track of his recently released, self-titled EP from Big Machine Records.

During a recent visit to the MusicRow offices, Smith picked out rhythms and poured out melodies, immersing himself in performing original songs such as “Creek Don’t Rise,” and the retro sound of “’92.”

“My momma played a lot of ‘90s country music and I love the feel of ‘90s country and I wanted to capture that Brooks & Dunn vibe and rhythm,” Smith said of the song.

Payton Smith with MusicRow Magazine’s Sherod Robertson. Photo: Haley Crow/MusicRow

He vividly recalls being all of five years old, and being inspired when he saw Keith Urban performing on the CMA Awards.

“That’s a young age to know what you want to do but I remember loving music. I remember watching him get onstage and he did this thing where he tuned his guitar and he made it look so cool,” he said.

“I had this toy guitar at the time and I must have spent the next two weeks just torturing my guitar trying to do what he did. It affected me just seeing how much energy he puts into a song. When I started writing I wanted to write with that live energy approach to a song, so that’s how we approached this song,” before segueing into another of his own self-crafted hits, “Like I Knew You Would,” which is set to be his next release.

Much like Urban, Smith finds inspiration from a range of sounds—with Smith’s songs evoking a blend of country and John Mayer-esque pop and R&B guitar work. Smith first visited Nashville when he was 14, and made the move to Nashville with his family two years ago.

“The first time I came to Nashville was on family vacation, I wanted to play at the Bluebird Café because I had been writing songs, but it was Labor Day weekend so the open mic night happened to be closed that night. I went down to the lobby of the hotel we were staying at, and there were about 20 or 30 people and one of them happened to be a session player in town. That session player introduced me to Buddy Cannon. He’s always been about the song and he really taught me that it all comes back to the song.”

Another Nashville performance led to his current deal with Big Machine Label Group. Big Machine Label Group founder/CEO Scott Borchetta happened upon Smith shredding during a performance at CMA Music Festival, which led to a meeting and later an offer to join the Big Machine roster.

“I remember getting that call while I was driving down Old Franklin Road and I just pulled the car over and started crying,” Smith recalls.

He is in the studio with fellow Louisiana native James Stroud working on music for his upcoming project. He will also soon join Chris Young’s headlining tour.

“Chris has been such a great supporter of my music. We were just looking at buses this morning, so it’s surreal to be out on a bus this year. It’s my first time going out and playing in front of big crowds and amphitheaters, but I’m so excited.”

Payton Smith with MusicRow staffers. Photo: Erin Burr