Songwriter who penned tons of country music hits dies at 91

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Thu Sep 19, 2024, 08:38 AM - Edit history (2)

Entertainment
Songwriter who penned tons of country music hits dies at 91
Published: Sep. 18, 2024, 8:49 a.m.


Country singer-songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler died on Sept. 16, 2024, at age 91. Wheeler was honored in 2014 by the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville during Its Poets & Prophets Series.(Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Country Music Hall Of Fame And Museum)

By David Cifarelli | [e-mail]

Billy Edd Wheeler, a country music singer-songwriter who penned hits for stars like Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Elvis Presley and more, has died at age 91.

Wheeler — best known as the co-writer of “Jackson,” a duet made famous by Cash and June Carter — died at his home in Swannanoa, North Carolina on Monday, Sept. 16, WTRF-TV reported. Wheeler’s son confirmed the songwriter’s death on Facebook.

{snip}

Billy Edd Wheeler

Birth name: Billy Edward Wheeler
Born: December 9, 1932; Boone County, West Virginia, U.S.
Origin: Whitesville, West Virginia, U.S.
Died: September 16, 2024 (aged 91); Swannanoa, North Carolina, U.S.
Genres: Folk, Country
Occupation(s): Singer-songwriter, playwright
Instrument: Guitar
Years active: 1964–2012
Labels: Kapp, United Artists, RCA, Radio Cinema, NSD

Billy Edward "Edd" Wheeler (December 9, 1932 – September 16, 2024) was an American songwriter, performer, writer, and visual artist.

His songs include "Jackson" (Grammy award winner for Johnny Cash and June Carter) "The Reverend Mr. Black", "Desert Pete", "Ann", "High Flyin' Bird", "The Coming of the Roads", "It’s Midnight", "Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back", "Coal Tattoo", "Winter Sky", and "Coward of the County" (which inspired a 1981 television movie of the same name) and have been performed by over 160 artists including Judy Collins, Jefferson Airplane, Bobby Darin, Richie Havens, The Kingston Trio, Neil Young, Kenny Rogers, Hazel Dickens, Florence and the Machine, Kathy Mattea, Nancy Sinatra, and Elvis Presley. "Jackson" was also recorded by Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon for the movie Walk the Line. His song "Sassafras" was covered in the folk rock era by Modern Folk Quartet and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.

Wheeler was the author-composer of eight plays and musicals, a folk opera (Song of the Cumberland Gap), commissioned by the National Geographic Society, and three outdoor dramas: the long-running Hatfields & McCoys at Beckley, West Virginia, Young Abe Lincoln at Lincoln Amphitheatre, Lincoln City, Indiana, and Johnny Appleseed, at Mansfield, Ohio. He has authored six books of humor, four with Loyal Jones of Berea, Kentucky: Laughter in Appalachia, Hometown Humor USA, Curing the Cross-Eyed Mule, and More Laughter in Appalachia, and two as sole author: Outhouse Humor, and Real Country Humor / Jokes from Country Music Personalities. His first novel, Star of Appalachia, was published in January 2004, and his second, co-written with Ewel Cornett, Kudzu Covers Manhattan, in 2005. Song of a Woods Colt, a book of poetry, was published in 1969. Travis and Other Poems of the Swannanoa Valley (With Some Poems and Prayers by Dr. Henry W. Jensen) was published in 1977. He was the featured author in Appalachian Heritage magazine's 2008 winter issue, which included 16 of his original paintings. North Carolina’s Our State magazine featured him in its December 2007 issue. In 2018, Billy Edd published a book of memoirs entitled "Hotter Than A Pepper Sprout", a Hillybilly poet's journey from Appalachia to Yale to writing hits for Elvis, Johnny Cash & More.

{snip}

External links
• Billy Edd Wheeler, official web site

{snip}