Thursday, 04 November 2021

Billy Edd Wheeler

Billy Edward "Edd" Wheeler (born December 9, 1932, Boone County, West Virginia) is 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", "Anne", "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, 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.

Wheeler is 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 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.

This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - https://wn.com/Billy_Edd_Wheeler

Country Essentials, Billy Edd Wheeler

text lyrics

Country Essentials

They passed an ordinance in the town
They said we'd have to tear it down
That little old shack out back
So dear to me
Though the health department said
It's day was over and dead
It will stand forever in my memory
Don't let 'em tear that
Little brown building down
Don't let 'em tear that
Precious building down
Don't let 'em tear that
Little brown building down
For there's not another like it
In the country or the town
It was not so long ago that
I went tripping through the snow
Out to that house behind
My old hound dog
Where I'd sit me down to rest
Like a snowbird on his nest
And read the Sears and Roebuck catalog
I would hum a happy tune
Peeping through the quarter moon
As my daddy's kin had done before
It was in that quiet spot
Daily cares could be forgot
It gave the same relief
To rich and poor
Don't let 'em tear that
Little brown building down
Don't let 'em tear that
Precious building down
Don't let 'em tear that
Little brown building down
For there's not another like it
In the country or the town
Now it was not a castle fair
But I could dream my future there
And build my castles to
The yellow jacket's drone
I could orbit around the sun
Fight with General Washington
Or be a King upon a golden throne
It wasn't fancy built at all
It had newspapers on the wall
It was air conditioned
In the wintertime
It was just a humble hut
But it's door was never shut
And a man could get inside
Without a dime
Don't let 'em tear that
Little brown building down
Don't let 'em tear that
Precious building down
Don't let 'em tear that
Little brown building down
For there's not another like it
In the country or the town

Latest News for: billy edd wheeler

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Singer Judy Collins recalls Leonard Cohen, and talks new podcast, album and tour

Daily Breeze 17 Aug 2021

First of all, I went back to the Dylan song, ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll,’ which I hadn’t done for years, and also a couple of wonderful Tom Paxton songs and Billy Edd Wheeler songs.”.

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Around town: Local musicians cast in ‘Yacht Stops’ reality series

Mountain Xpress 25 May 2021

Swannanoa-based country music legend Billy Edd Wheeler can now add “published novelist” to his resumé ... A native of West Virginia, Wheeler wrote such songs as “Jackson” (made popular by Johnny Cash and June Carter) and “Coward of the County” (covered by Kenny Rogers), and holds degrees from Berea College and Warren Wilson College.

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Trixie Mattel and Orville Peck collaborate on classic country duet Jackson

Guitar.com 04 May 2021

Masked singer and guitarist Orville Peck has teamed with Trixie Mattel for a version of the classic country duet, Jackson ... While Jackson was written in 1963 by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber, it became most famous in 1967 thanks to two versions ... ....

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Listen to Orville Peck and Trixie Mattel’s cover of Johnny and June Carter Cash’s ‘Jackson’

NME 02 May 2021

Orville Peck has teamed up with Trixie Mattel for a cover of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash’s ‘Jackson’ – listen to it below. READ MORE. Orville Peck ... Originally written by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber, ‘Jackson’ was first recorded in 1963 by Wheeler himself. However, it is best known for two 1967 versions ... .

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Folk activist Judy Collins revisits her first live album

The Citizens' Voice 10 Feb 2021

She was not yet writing her own songs and instead interpreting tunes from the likes of Bob Dylan and Billy Edd Wheeler with her shimmering soprano. Collins performed three Wheeler songs — “Winter Sky,” “Red-Winged Blackbird” and “Coal Tattoo” — and three from Tom Paxton — “The ...

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Past is present as social activist Judy Collins revisits her first live album

The Berkshire Eagle 09 Feb 2021

Collins was a rising star in the world of folk music when she recorded the concert, which would become the album “The Judy Collins Concert.” She was not yet writing her own songs and instead interpreting tunes from the likes of Bob Dylan and Billy Edd Wheeler with her shimmering soprano.

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The Rev. Thomas Martin Leonard Wade

Messenger-Inquirer 04 Feb 2021

The Rev. Thomas Martin Leonard Wade died Feb. 2, 2021. He was 86 years old. He was preceded in death by his parents, Thomas Vandiver Hill Wade and Clydia Sara Ann Sharp Wade ... Single. Historical ... The Council worked with country musicians such as Kris Kristofferson, Archie Campbell and Tom’s college roommate, Billy Edd Wheeler, who recorded radio spots ... .

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Black Mountain Center for the Arts Takes Shape

Biltmore Beacon 20 Aug 2020

Together with a team that included board chair Wendy Craig, Billy Edd Wheeler, Will Kennedy, Sara Marcia Rafter, Per Reich, Tom Tracy and many others, this powerful group spread out among the community and made their pitch to gather the support and funds necessary to create the Arts Center.

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Singer/Songwriter Alex Harvey dies at 73

DailyTrib 06 Apr 2020

News. Singer/Songwriter Alex Harvey dies at 73. 35 mins ago by. Daniel Clifton ... He was 73 ... He developed his songwriting skills under the tutelage, and sometimes blunt, guidance of Billy Edd Wheeler, an award winning songwriter who wrote “Jackson” (made famous by Johnny Cash and June Carter) and “Coward of the County,” which became a movie.

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The 10 best Kenny Rogers songs

Finger Lakes Times 23 Mar 2020

Kenny Rogers may be best remembered for introducing a global pop audience to the homespun charms of country music. But his work as an ambassador didn't open just his listeners' ears ... (It's credited to Roger Bowling and Billy Edd Wheeler.) But Rogers' intimate vocal performance is a fine example of the empathy he found in interpretation. "Lady" (1980).

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Country music superstar Kenny Rogers dies at 81; his 10 best songs

The Daily Gazette 22 Mar 2020

Kenny Rogers, the three-time Grammy Award winner whose career spanned more than 60 years, died at his home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, on Friday night. He was 81 ... Born in Houston on Aug ... Brown Jr ... (It's credited to Roger Bowling and Billy Edd Wheeler.) But Rogers' intimate vocal performance is a fine example of the empathy he found in interpretation ... .

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This Day in Country: January 11

Norfolk Daily News 11 Jan 2020

January 11th. On this day. 1936 -�Born on this day in Garrard County, Kentucky, was Jody Payne best known as a longtime guitarist in Willie Nelson's band, The Family. Payne died on Aug 10th 2013 ... Written in 1963 by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber, Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood also scored a hit with the song ... .

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OTHER VOICES: Anti-cruelty laws should protect hunting animals, too

The Maryville Daily Times 13 Dec 2019

Appalachian songwriter, poet laureate and performer Billy Edd Wheeler mentioned hunting dogs in his noteworthy early 1960s tribute to the backyard privy, “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back,” in which he sang. ... That hound dog Wheeler referred to was one of what we still see ...

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Editorial Roundup: Tennessee

Dothan Eagle 11 Dec 2019

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46th Celebration of Traditional Music at Berea College set for this weekend

The Sentinel Echo 10 Oct 2019

— Noted musician and songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler, a Berea College alumnus, “is bringin’ it home” at this year’s Celebration of Traditional Music (CTM) with tales of "Memories Through Songs" featuring traditional Appalachian folk music.