When I was 15, I was convinced I was either a punk or a goth or a metal head...anything but a country boy…I would listen to anything provided it wasn't country music. I would take the occasional side trip into
some Hank Williams (senior, of course) but for the most part I rejected all
things Nashville. I guess, a big thing
was being surrounded by it…Country Music Hall of Fame, the Ryman and the Grand
Ole Opry were all with-in fifteen minutes of my house, yet I considered myself
completely separated from it all.
Looking back on it now I realize how silly that was but at
the time I couldn’t be swayed otherwise and so much of my youth was spent
denying my regional music roots. As I
have grown older, I have come to appreciate (almost) everything Nashville
represents. I am proud that a good portion of the birth of popular music took
place here and that when many a singer/songwriter has a dream they don’t look
to the north or to the west coast but pack up everything they have and move to
Nashville in hopes of being the next big thing.
I have also embraced the artists that at one point I would’ve
hate…everyone from Faron Young to Steve Earle to Miranda Lambert find a regular
place in my music queue and I love them all.
So recently I have started making an effort to see as many
of the famous country singers/songwriters who have left this mortal coils graves
as possible…I will, from time to time, post pictures from these trips and a
little information and a music video about for the artists that I visit.
Birth: 15 September 1903
Death: 23 November 1992
Age at Death: 89 years, 2 months and 8 days old
Age at Death: 89 years, 2 months and 8 days old
Interment: Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter, co-owner of famed Nashville Publishing Company Acuff-Rose
Name: Fred Rose
Birth: 24 August 1898
Death: 1 December 1954
Age at Death: 57 years, 3 months and 7 days old
Age at Death: 57 years, 3 months and 7 days old
Interment: Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Occupation: Songwriter, co-owner of famed Nashville Publishing Company Acuff-Rose
Name: Jimmy Martin
Birth: 10 August 1927
Death: 14 May 2005
Age at Death: 77 years, 9 months and 5 days old
Age at Death: 77 years, 9 months and 5 days old
Interment: Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Name: Hank Snow
Birth: 9 May 1914
Death: 20 December 1999
Age at Death: 85 years, 7 months and 11 days old
Age at Death: 85 years, 7 months and 11 days old
Interment: Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter
Birth: 8 October 1932
Death: 29 July 1988
Age at Death: 55 years, 9 months and 21 days old
Age at Death: 55 years, 9 months and 21 days old
Interment: Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Occupation: Record Producer, Steel Guitar Player
Name: Billy Walker
Birth: 14 January 1929
Death: 21 May 2006
Age at Death: 77 years, 4 months and 8 days old
Age at Death: 77 years, 4 months and 8 days old
Interment: Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter
Name:Vern Gosdin
Birth: 5 August 1934
Death: 28 April 2009
Age at Death: 74 years, 8 months and 24 days old
Age at Death: 74 years, 8 months and 24 days old
Interment: Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter, nicknamed "The Voice"
Name: Keith Whitley
Birth: 1 July 1954
Death: 9 May 1989
Age at Death: 34 years, 10 months and 8 days old
Age at Death: 34 years, 10 months and 8 days old
Interment: Spring Hill Cemetery, Nashville, TN
Occupation: Singer, Songwriter
