Another country great, Wilkin Died This Morning [Saturday, 28 Oct 2006]

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member and prominent Music Row song publisher Marijohn Wilkin died this morning at age 86

She was the co-writer of such classics as "The Long Black Veil" and "One Day at a Time." Johnny Cash, The Beatles, Patsy Cline, Rod Stewart and dozens of other greats have sung her songs. Wilkin is also credited with discovering Kris Kristofferson. She was an award- winning gospel recording artist as well.

In addition to co-founding the Nashville Songwriters Association, she was dubbed "The Den Mother of Music Row" because of the songwriters she helped along the way.

"She was a brilliant songwriter and an amazing person," said songwriter Bobby Braddock. "I think `The Long Black Veil' is one of the best country songs ever written. It was the ultimate great story song."

Says Patsy Bruce, a songwriter and community activist who serves on the state parole board, "What made her a great songwriter was she was a great observer of people and life. She could coin that phrase, as we used to say, as well as anybody I have ever known."

She was one of the first successful female songwriters in Nashville. "We never talked about that she was the `only' anything," Bruce said. "I thought about that the other day. She really was the only one, but I don't remember talking about it. I think she thought it was normal, so she gave me that beacon of light to believe it would be normal for me to do whatever it was I wanted to do.

"I'm reminded at a time like this of Alex Haley, when he said, `Every time an old person dies, it's like a library burning down,'" Bruce said. "With Marijohn, she was definitely that library. She saw things when she came to town and was the only female songwriter on up through `look at them now.'"

Last year, Wilkin learned that her 2003 triple-bypass heart operation had failed and that she was not a candidate for another procedure.

"It's okay," she said. "I have my faith. I am ready to go. Don't be sad for me."

Born Marijohn Melson in Kemp, Texas on July 14, 1920, she was the grandchild of a country fiddler who learned to play piano as a child. She attended Baylor and Hardin-Simmons universities. After graduation, she became a schoolteacher in Tulsa, Okla. There she began writing songs for her choir.

Her first husband had been killed in World War II. Her second marriage produced a son, John "Bucky" in 1946, but ended in divorce. By the age of 8 Bucky was a gifted guitarist who was spotted by a talent scout from The Ozark Jubilee network TV show.

After marrying Art Wilkin Jr., Marijohn and her family moved in 1955 to Springfield, MO, where The Ozark Jubilee was headquartered. Bucky performed on its spin-off show Junior Jubilee, while his mother worked in a Springfield piano bar.

Red Foley, Mitchell Torok, Wanda Jackson and other Jubilee stars began recording her songs. This led to interest from the developing music center of Nashville. She moved to Music City in 1958 and took a job as a "Happy Hour" piano player in the Voo Doo Room speakeasy in Printer's Alley.

[Note especially the following list of great songs Marijohn wrote or co-wrote] and the artists that recorded them.

She was signed as a staff songwriter by Jim Denny's Cedarwood Publishing company and scored her first major hit as a songwriter when she and John D. Loudermilk created "Waterloo" in 1959. Stonewall Jackson's recording of the song topped both country and pop charts.

On the same day she and Danny Dill composed "The Long Black Veil" in 1959, she was scheduled to pitch songs to Lefty Frizzell. He recorded it that night. The song has since become an evergreen, with recordings by Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, The Band, The Kingston Trio, Burl Ives and dozens of others.

"Grin and Bear It" (Jimmy C. Newman, 1959), "Fallen Star" (Webb Pierce, 1960), "P.T. 109" (Jimmy Dean, 1962), "Tra-le-la-le-la Triangle" (Patsy Cline, 1962), "Take Time" (Webb Pierce, 1962), "Old Showboat" (Stonewall Jackson, 1963) and other successes ensued. Her "Cut Across Shorty" was recorded by both rockabilly sensation Eddie Cochran and country superstar Carl Smith. The song was revived by rocker Rod Stewart in 1970 and again in 1993.

Debbie Reynolds, The Fleetwoods, Johnny Ray, Goldie Hill, The Chordettes, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Brenda Lee, Mel Tillis, Cowboy Copas, The Osborne Brothers, Johnny Rivers, Billy Walker, Teresa Brewer, Johnny Horton, Rex Allen and dozens more recorded her songs in the 1960s. An average of one Marijohn Wilkin song was recorded every week during her Cedarwood career.

Signed as a singer by Columbia Records, Wilkin released Country & Western Songs That Sold a Million (1960) and The Ballads of the Blue and the Gray (1961) as her first two LPs. In 1967 she recorded The Soul of a Singer for Dot Records billed as "Romy Spain." She was also a prolific "demo" singer and formed The Marijohn Singers as a backup vocal group on Nashville recording sessions.

After another divorce, she married her fourth husband, record producer Clarence Selman. In 1967 they were founders of the Nashville Songwriters Association. The couple wrote several songs together before divorcing.

Wilkin's renown as a songwriter has generally outshone her status as one of Music Row's first businesswomen.

Following Jim Denny's death in 1963, she formed her own song- publishing firm, Buckhorn Music. Its first published song was the 1964 teen hit "G.T.O.," written and performed by son Bucky Wilkin under the billing "Ronny & the Daytonas."

Johnny Duncan and Ed Bruce were among the many songwriters she helped get a foothold in the music business. Kris Kristofferson was in the Army stationed in Germany with one of her distant cousins. So the aspiring songwriter sent some of his work to her at Buckhorn. She became the first to publish his songs, notably "For the Good Times." In 1970 it became a massive pop and country hit for Ray Price. Hundreds have since recorded it.

Bruce, who managed then-husband Ed Bruce at the time, recalls sitting with Wilkin once on the front porch of Wilkin's Brentwood home when Kristofferson landed a helicopter by her lake. "She was that connector, that person that was at the center of the business at that time. We met everybody through her that later on was important in our career and our life."

There always seemed to be food on the stove, and Wilkin was the first to share her good fortune with others. "She would invite us to dinner on Easter Sunday and made sure our children had Easter baskets," Bruce said. "She would make sure in one way or another there was candy at Halloween and whatever. We weren't exactly destitute, but there wasn't any extra money, I can assure you.

By the early 1970s, Buckhorn's business was booming, yet Wilkin was deeply troubled. Substance abuse, marital problems, the deaths of her mother and business partner Hubert Long, two suicide attempts and prolonged depression led to a spiritual reawakening. As a prayer, she wrote "One Day at a Time." After Kristofferson helped her finish it, the song became a hit for Marilyn Sellers in 1974.

"One Day at a Time" won a Dove Award from the Gospel Music Association in 1975. It became a No. 1 country hit for Cristy Lane in 1980 and has since been recorded more than 200 times.

This led to an outpouring of gospel songs, which she recorded on a series of LPs for the Myrrh and DaySpring labels in the 1970s. She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975.

Songs from her catalog have been consistently recorded. "I Just Don't Understand" had been a pop hit for Ann-Margret in 1961;Wilkin was pleasantly surprised when it appeared anew on The Beatles Live at the BBC CD of 1994. Mick Jagger and The Chieftains collaborated on a fresh version of "The Long Black Veil" in 1995. Porter Wagoner sang "I Thought of God" 40 years ago, then re-recorded it for his 2004 gospel CD.

After selling Buckhorn, Wilkin formed a new publishing company, 17th Avenue Music. It became profitable when its songs were recorded by LeAnn Rimes. In 2005, Wilkin was honored by the SOURCE organization as a pioneering Music Row businesswoman. This was her last notable public appearance.

Earlier this week, the songwriter requested that she be removed from life support systems and transferred from Vanderbilt Hospital to Alive Hospice at St. Thomas.

Wilkin is survived by her son John Buck Wilkin.

Source: http://www.hillbilly-music.com/news/story/index.php?id=6051