CMT News

A memorial service will be held Sunday (June 27) in Augusta, Ga., for Larry Jon Wilson, a prominent figure in the Nashville songwriting community during the 1970s. He died Monday (June 21) at age 69 while visiting family in Roanoke, Va. The Georgia native was already 30 before he began writing songs. After moving to Nashville, he became friends with several noted songwriters, including Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle. Music publisher Bob Beckham signed him to Nashville-based Combine Music in 1975, and Wilson released his first album, New Beginnings, on Monument Records in 1975. He recorded three more albums for Monument -- Let Me Sing My Songs (1976), Loose Change (1977) and The Sojourner (1979) -- before becoming fed up with the music industry. Although he continued to perform, he did not record another album until a self-titled project that was released in 2008.