Wayland Holyfield, writer of hit country songs, 82
Wayland Holyfield, a hit-making songwriter who arrived in Nashville after quitting an advertising job and soon had country music’s stars recording his odes to cheating hearts, second chances and good buddies — among them the barroom anthem “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer” — died May 6 at his home in Nashville. He was 82.
The death was confirmed by John Carland, a longtime friend, but no specific cause was noted.
Many of the more than 100 titles in Holyfield’s catalogue, either as co-writer or solo, became staples of the Nashville songbook since the 1970s. Holyfield’s credit appears on more than 40 top-10 country hits on the Billboard charts — including 14 that reached No. 1, such as “Could I Have This Dance” (co-written with Bob House), which was recorded by Anne Murray and used in the 1980 movie “Urban Cowboy” starring John Travolta.
In January 1993 in Washington, the Arkansas-born Holyfield performed his 1986 song “Arkansas (You Run Deep In Me)” at the presidential inauguration ceremonies for another native son, Bill Clinton. (The song had been adopted as one of the state’s official songs in 1987.)
Headed to Nashville
Wayland Delano Holyfield was born in Mallettown, Ark., on March 15, 1942, and grew up in Little Rock. His father worked at a state hospital as head of the painting and maintenance crew, and his mother was a homemaker.
Holyfield taught himself piano using his sister’s sheet music, mostly Broadway hits and American classics. He also started taking violin lessons.
Holyfield and his wife, Nancy, rolled into the country music capital in 1972 in a Ryder moving van.
For Holyfield, it all came together rather quickly. He teamed up with another upand-coming songwriter, Bob McDill. They were bouncing around ideas for a song celebrating the small-town South that Holyfield knew from Arkansas. Looking for inspiration, they wandered over to a Nashville drinking spot called the Bamboo Club.
The 1973 hit “Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer” — first recorded by Johnny Russell — flowed out of the scenes they witnessed.
Two years later, Holyfield’s first song to reach the top of the Billboard country chart was the love song “You’re My Best Friend,” performed by Don Williams. From there, many of country music’s biggest names looked to put their mark on Holyfield’s songs in 1977: Crystal Gayle singing “I’ll Do It All Over Again,” which Holyfield co-wrote with McDill; and Charley Pride recording “I’ll Be Leaving Alone,” co-written with Dickey Lee.
Williams had a string of hits of songs by Holyfield, including “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend” in 1977. The actor Telly Savalas (star of TV’s “Kojak”) also recorded a version that found a fan base in West Germany, and the song is still widely performed by bands from Berlin to Dublin with its memorable opening lines: “Coffee black, cigarettes/Start this day like all the rest.”
On the Nashville scene, the list of performers who covered Holyfield’s songs stretched across decades: Waylon Jennings in 1974 (“The One I Sing My Love Songs To”); Tammy Wynette in 1978 (“The One Song I Never Could Write”); Randy Travis in 1988 (“The Blues In Black and White”). With McDill, he co-wrote Ronnie Milsap’s 1979 chart-topper “Nobody Likes Sad Songs.”