Nashville producer, songwriter, publisher, manager and record executive George Richey died more than three weeks ago, but the news was kept private for unknown reasons.

WSMV news and The Tennessean have confirmed that Richey died on July 31. The station stated that, at his request, he was buried without a public memorial or publicity. Posts on his Facebook page continued to appear after his death, causing some confusion and adding to the mystery.

To younger Nashvillians, Richey was best known as the fifth, final and longest lasting husband of Hall of Fame superstar Tammy Wynette. But during his long Nashville career, he had several other notable roles.

Born George Richardson on Nov. 30, 1935, he is a native of Promise Land, Arkansas. A gifted pianist and songwriter, Richey arrived in Nashville in the 1950s. His keyboard talent led to recording session work with Lefty Frizzell, Marty Robbins, Ernest Tubb, Tommy James, Kenny Rogers, Ringo Starr and many others.

George Richey first achieved prominence as a songwriter with his co-written “I’ll Share My World With You” for George Jones in 1969, followed by “A Woman Lives For Love” for Wanda Jackson, “Heavenly Sunshine” for Ferlin Husky and “Then He Touched Me” for Jean Shepard, all in 1970. Huskey followed up with Richey’s co-penned “Your Sweet Love Lifted Me” later that same year. Richey served brief executive stints with the early Nashville offices of the Capitol and United Artists labels, but thereafter concentrated on record production and songwriting.

He produced Jackson, Johnny Horton, Sonny James, Dick Curless, Billie Jo Spears, The Oak Ridge Boys, Merle Haggard, Claude King and several others. His 1970s composing successes included “Keep Me in Mind” (Lynn Anderson, 1973), “Good News” (Jody Miller, 1973), “Soul Song” (Joe Stampley, 1973), “You’ve Got Me,” (Connie Smith, 1973), “I’m Still Loving You” (Joe Stampley, 1974), “Take Me Home to Somewhere” (Joe Stampley, 1974) and “Every Word I Write” (Dottie West, 1977).

Richey co-wrote the George Jones classics “The Grand Tour” (1974) and “A Picture of Me (Without You)” (1972). He is even more strongly associated with the Wynette standards “Til I Can Make It On My Own” (1976) and “You and Me” (1976). He also co-wrote the Jones-Wynette duets “Southern California” (1977) and “We Loved it Away” (1974). In addition, Richey’s tunes were sung by Tanya Tucker, Claude King, Barbara Mandrell and other artists during the 1970s. Brother Paul Richey was also a Nashville songwriter of note.

After marrying Wynette in 1978, George Richey largely set aside his keyboard and composing work to manage her career. She died on April 6, 1998.

George Richey was 74 years old. He had been battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He is survived by his fourth wife, Sheila Slaughter Richey, whom he married in 2001. They have one daughter, Tatum. His first marriage, 1953-1969, was to the former Dorothy Ann Tippit. He is survived by his two children from that union, son Kelly and daughter Dierdre. His 1974-78 marriage to Sheila Hall produced no children.

George Richey is reportedly buried near Tammy Wynette in the mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park. The cemetery first confirmed his passing to MusicRow on Monday.

Read MusicRow’s first report of Richey’s passing.

E1 Records artist Deborah Allen and her video crew recently found themselves on the wrong side of Memphis. While in the Bluff City to debut her new release, “Amazing Graceland,” during Elvis Week, Allen was scouting locations for her new video when her team decided to take an interesting, but ultimately very wrong, turn.

Allen, her manager Raymond Hicks, and video director Mark Nicolosi took a service road under the old Memphis Arkansas Bridge for what looked like the perfect location for shooting a nostalgic delta scene. Quickly, the scene turned into a barrage of flashing blue lights and officers charging toward the team with weapons drawn shouting, “Stay in the car! Keep your hands on the dash! Keep your hands in sight and don’t move!”

Allen and crew had mistakenly driven into an area heavily protected by Homeland Security and authorities had been alerted. Turns out the entourage were risking a violation of the Patriot Act. After an interrogation and search, the officers realized that Allen was not a terrorist threat. Before departing, the officers listened to Allen’s new song and were invited to attend her September 10 performance at the Bartlett, Tennessee Performing Arts Center.

Allen’s tribute to the life and home of Elvis Presley, “Amazing Graceland”, is available on i-Tunes and can be heard by visiting www.deborahallen.com.

Dierks Bentley will host his fifth annual “Miles & Music for Kids” celebrity motorcycle ride and benefit concert on Oct. 17 in Nashville. For the concert at Riverfront Park, Bentley has recruited special guests Miranda Lambert and Jerrod Niemann, with more to be announced in coming weeks.

In only five years, the event has attracted over 30,000 fans and raised an impressive $1.2 million for children’s hospitals in Nashville, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta.

“Miles and Music is one of the greatest things we do all year,” says Bentley. “The Nashville community has been coming out year after year to support us…crazy to think we’ve been doing it for five years now. So many people contribute their time and money to make this a success…looking forward to making year #5 bigger and better than ever.”

This year, the hour-long motorcycle ride will kick off at a new location, Harley-Davidson of Columbia, and end at Riverfront Park in downtown Nashville for the concert.

Tickets for the family-friendly event go on sale on Fri., Aug. 20 through Ticketmaster. Tickets for the ride, concert and commemorative T-shirt are $50, or $20 for the concert only. Special VIP packages are also available.

Sponsored by Nationwide Insurance, all proceeds from the Nashville event will benefit the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital.

The Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) has named Don Green Executive Director of the Association. Green starts at the CCMA on Monday, August 23 and will be onsite at Country Music Week Edmonton, September 8-12. Current interim Executive Director, Sheila Hamilton will remain on staff through the Fall to ensure a flawless transition.

Green is currently the VP of Operations of Puretracks (division of Somerset Entertainment), a leading North American digital music provider and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McMaster University. Prior to Puretracks, Green gained extensive business and leadership experience at Bell Canada in a diverse range of senior management roles, including marketing, sales, public relations, and strategic planning.

“I look forward to working with all key CCMA stakeholders to deliver the mandate of the Association,” Green said. “It’s an honor to work within a genre that I have listened to and loved since my childhood.

“We took our time to find the ideal candidate for this role,” said Chair of the CCMA Board of Directors, Jackie Rae Greening. “Don has a lot to offer and we look forward to having him as leader of our growing Association.”

For more information about Country Music Week 2010, the Canadian Country Music Awards or the CCMA visit www.ccma.org.