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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCHESNUT, Jerry(b Jerry Donald Chesnut, 7 May 1931, Loyall KY; d 15 December 2018, Brentwood TN) One of the most successful country songwriters of all time. He served in the Air Force in the late 1940s, then worked day jobs while trying to make it in music; while recovering from a back injury he began studying the mechanics of hit songs, and finally had his first hit in 1967: 'A Dime At A Time', co-written with Dottie Wilson, was recorded by Del Reeves for a top 40 country hit, about a man spending his last two dollars playing the juke box. He expressed the heartaches of working-class people; described as a blue-collar songwriter, he came by that naturally, saying 'When you're from Harlan County, there's no way to go but up.' His songs were recorded and covered by over 100 artists, including at least 30 members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, along with Southern soul singers like Brook Benton and Arthur Alexander, and two Elvises, Presley and Costello. The hits included 'Looking At The World through A Windscreen', co-written with Mike Hoyer, about a trucker looking forward to getting home (another hit for Reeves, '68); 'A Good Year For The Roses', about heartache (George Jones '70); 'Owney', about a factory worker with a nasty boss (Johnny Cash '72); 'Holding On To Nothin' ' (Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton '68), 'Another Place Another Time (no. 4 for Jerry Lee Lewis '68, nominated for a Grammy, revived '88 for a no. 5 by Don Williams), 'It’s Four in the Morning' (no. 1 for Faron Young '72), 'They Don’t Make ’Em Like Daddy' (top 10 for Loretta Lynn '74), and many, many more. Billboard named him Country Songwriter of the Year '72. He retired from songwriting in 1980; when Elvis Costello covered 'A Good Day For The Roses' on an album eleven years after its first hit, Chesnut had never heard of him; when the money started coming in he said, 'Punk rock? That may be what I am!' |