Bob McDill
| Bob McDill | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Robert Lee McDill |
| Born | April 4, 1944 |
| Origin | Walden, Texas, USA |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupations | Songwriter |
| Years active | 1967–2000 |
| Associated acts | Alan Jackson Waylon Jennings Don Williams Juice Newton |
Robert Lee "Bob" McDill (born April 4, 1944 in Walden, Texas[1]) is an American country music songwriter. Active from the 1960s until 2000, he has written several songs for country music artists, including more than thirty Number One hits.[1] In addition, McDill has received several Songwriter of the Year awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated and the Nashville Songwriters Association International.[2]
[edit] Biography
Born Robert Lee McDill in Walden, Texas, McDill began writing songs while still a child. Eventually, he learned to play the guitar, and soon took up singing gospel with his family.[1] He then went on to play in several local bands throughout high school. He then attended Lamar University, graduating in 1966;[3] after graduating, he enlisted in the United States Navy for two years. While in the Navy, he received songwriting advice from songwriter and record producer Allen Reynolds, who helped McDill land his first cut as a songwriter — "The Happy Man", recorded in 1967 by Perry Como.[3] One year later, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs provided McDill with his second cut when they recorded his "Black Sheep".[1])
After his stint in the Navy, McDill moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he planned to pursue a full-time career as a songwriter. By 1970, he and Reynolds had moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where the two found work at Jack Music, a publishing company owned by Jack Clement.[3] Although he had initially tried to write rock and pop songs, McDill soon shifted his focus to country music after hearing George Jones' song "A Good Year for the Roses".[3]
McDill's first cut for a country artist was "Catfish John", recorded in 1972 by Johnny Russell.[1] For the next thirty years afterward, McDill wrote one song a week, with artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Anne Murray, Don Williams, Waylon Jennings, and Mickey Gilley recording his songs. Bobby Bare recorded an entire album of Bob McDill songs in 1977; the album was titled "Me and McDill". In the early 1980s, Grammy-winning country-pop singer Juice Newton released four McDill songs: "I'm Dancing As Fast As I Can", "Shot Full of Love", "Runaway Hearts" and "Falling in Love"; the songs appeared on Gold and Platinum certified albums. The Kendalls covered McDill's "Just Like Real People", taking the song to the top ten on the country singles charts in 1980. McDill also co-wrote a song called "Someone Like You" with co-writer Dickey Lee. This song can be heard on Emmylou Harris' album Profile II. McDill continued to write songs into the 1990s, including "Gone Country" by Alan Jackson; "All the Good Ones Are Gone" by Pam Tillis (which received a Grammy Award nomination in 1998[1]), and "Why Didn't I Think of That" by Doug Stone. McDill retired from songwriting in 2000.
Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul's travelogue "A Turn in the South" written in 1989 features a section about Bob McDill. The often acerbic Naipaul describes McDill's song writing in a thoughtful portrait and liberally quotes from McDill's song "Good Ole Boy's Like Me".
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f Hogan, Ed. "Bob McDill biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p103798/biography. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- ^ "Bob McDill". Nashville Songwriters Foundation. Archived from the original on 2008-04-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20080403104752/http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/fame/mcdill.html. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
- ^ a b c d Tackett, Travis (2008-02-13). "Bob McDill next honoree as "Poet and Prophet" at the Country Music Hall of Fame". Bluegrass Journal. http://www.bluegrassjournal.com/2008/02/13/bob-mcdill-poet-and-prophet/. Retrieved 2008-04-12.
