Boudleaux Bryant
Induction Year: 1972
Birth Name: Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant
Birth Date: February 13, 1920
Place of Birth: Shellman, GA
Deceased: June 25, 1987
Place of Death: Knoxville, TN
Biography
"Unless one feels driven to compose and at the same time has all the instincts of a Mississippi riverboat gambler, he should never seek songwriting as a profession. Unless you know in your heart that you're great, feel in your bones that you're lucky and think in your soul that God just might let you get away with it, pick something more certain, like chasing the white whale or eradicating the common housefly. We didn't have the benefit of such sage advice. Now it's too late to back up. We made it. Sometimes it pays to be ignorant."
(Boudleaux--on advice to someone who wants to make it as a songwriter)
Former Occupations: | Education: |
Images
Discography / Career Highlights
Career Milestones:
1937-1938 - Played on radio station WSB in Atlanta
early 1940s - Started working as a Western swing fiddler; met Felice when she joined the band
1946 - first published song, "Genevieve"
1948 - first publishing/recording contract with Acuff-Rose Publishing Company
1948 - first major cut, "Country Boy", recorded by Little Jimmie Dickens on Columbia Records
1949 - "Country Boy" became first #1
1949 - performed together on "The Coffee Clutch" radio show on station WBAY in Green Bay, WI
1950 - moved to Nashville
mid 1950s - began writing for the Everly Brothers
1957 - provided the Everlys with two #1 pop and country hits, "Bye Bye Love" and "Wake Up Little Susie"
1979 - recorded their own album for an English company
1982 - "Rocky Top" adopted as a state song of Tennessee
1987 - musical "Gander's Gap" premiers in Gatlinburg
Awards:
1986 - National Songwriters Hall of Fame
1982 - Georgia Music Hall of Fame induction
1985 - Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame induction
1986 - National Academy of Popular Music\Songwriters' Hall of Fame induction
1991 - Country Music Hall of Fame induction
1991 - Nashville Arts Foundation\Living Legend Award (Felice)
Catalog Highlights
"All I Have to Do is Dream" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Everly Brothers, Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Nancy Montgomery, Richard Chamberlain, Andy Gibb & Victoria Principal, Osborne Brothers
"Bye Bye Love" - Artists: Everly Brothers, Simon & Garfunkel, Webb Pierce, Del Reeves, Jimmy Rogers, Lacy J. Dalton
"Wake Up Little Susie" - Artists: Everly Brothers, Simon & Garfunkel
"Country Boy" - Artists: Little Jimmy Dickens, Ricky Skaggs
"Hey Joe" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Carl Smith, Frankie Laine, Kitty Wells
"Bird Dog" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Everly Brothers, Bellamy Brothers
"Rocky Top" - Artists: Osborne Brothers, Buck Owens, Lynn Anderson
"Raining in My Heart" - Artists: Buddy Holly, Leo Sayer, Ray Price, Hank Williams Jr., Jo-el Sonnier, Kitty Kallen, Dean Martin
"Let's Think About Living"
Writer: Boudleaux Bryant
Artists: Bob Luman, Trini Lopez
"I've Been Thinking" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Eddie Arnold
"Richest Man (in the World)" - Artists: Eddy Arnold
"Love Hurts" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Roy Orbison, Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris, Nazareth, Jennifer Warnes
"Devoted to You" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Every Brothers, Carly Simon & James Taylor, Felice Bryant
"Come Live With Me" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Roy Clark, Ray Charles, Boudleaux & Felice Bryant
"Take Me As I Am (or Let Me Go)" - Artists: Ray Price, Bobby Bare, Bob Dylan, Mack White, Osborne Brothers, Little Jimmy Dickens
"Take a Message to Mary" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Everly Brothers, Don Cherry
"Penny Arcade" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant - Artists: Christie Lane, Cyrkle
"Mexico" - Artists: Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, Bob Moore
"Sleepless Nights" - Artists: The Judds, Everly Brothers, Jerry Byrd, Jimmy Rogers, Emmylou Harris
"A Hole In My Pocket" - Artists: Little Jimmy Dickens, Ricky Van Shelton
"She Wears My Ring" - Artists: Ray Price, Solomon King, The Wanderers, Jimmy Belly
"I Can Hear Kentucky Calling Me" - Artists: Steve Wariner, Chet Atkins, Billie Jo Spears, Boudleaux Bryant
"Midnight" - Writer: Boudleaux Bryant, Chet Atkins - Artists:Ray Charles, Red Foley
"Fall Away" - Artists: Tex Ritter
"Before the Ring On Your Finger Turns Green" - Artists: Dottie West
"Have a Good Time" - Artists: Tony Bennett, Jimmy Rogers, Sue Thompson, Peggy March, Boudleaux Bryant, Ruth Brown, Billy Eckstein
"Out Behind the Barn" - Artists: Little Jimmy Dickens
"Willie Can" - Artists: Alma Cogan, Mitch Miller
"We Could" - Artists: Jim Reeves, Al Martino, Billie Jo Spears & Carey Duncan, Osborne Brothers, Jimmy Dickens, Charley Pride, Felice Bryant
Comments:
Boudleaux was a trained classical violist (began studying when he was 5); from 1937-1938 he played for a season with the Atlanta Philharmonic
Boudleaux received 37 BMI performance awards and 8 one million performance awards
Considered to be the first writers to come to Nashville to make their living solely as songwriters
Songs that have sold more than a million copies each: "Bye, Bye Love," "Wake Up Little Susie," "Devoted to You," "Hey Joe" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream"
Recorded as "Bud and Betty Bryant" on MGM Records
Boudleaux and Felice were married on 09/05/1945
