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Larry Bastian, Celebrated Country Songwriter, Dead at 90

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Larry Bastian, the man behind Garth Brooks hits such as “Unanswered Prayers” and “Rodeo,” died on Sunday, April 6. He was 90 years old.

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“If one looks down the list of music’s greatest writers of all time, I couldn’t imagine the list being complete without the name of Larry Bastian,” Brooks wrote in the liner notes for 1994’s The Hits.

Bastian was born into a farming family in California’s rich San Joaquin Valley. After college, he spent 15 years as a biologist in the Department of Agriculture for Kern and Tulare Counties. However, music was always a part of his life. At the urging of country artists like Garth Brooks and Buck Owens, Bastian decided to pursue a songwriting career in the early ’70s.

“Who’s Who” Of Country Music Recorded Larry Bastian’s Songs

Larry Bastian’s first success came in 1980, when Janie Fricke recorded “This Ain’t Tennessee and He Ain’t You.” While the song never became a commercial hit, many artists, including Tom Jones, recorded a version.

The next year, Bastian notched his first Top 40 hit with Sammi Smith’s version of “Sometimes I Cry When I’m Alone.” In 1988, Conway Twitty reached the Top 10 with “Saturday Night Special,” written by Bastian and Dewayne Blackwell.

A few years later, the songwriter kicked off a string of hits with country superstar Garth Brooks, including 1990’s “Unanswered Prayers.” Brooks, who co-wrote the song with Bastian and Pat Alger, reflected on the writing process in the liner notes of The Hits.

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“Pat Alger and I worked on this song quite a long time without a hook, without the line. We passed it by Larry Bastian and it was as if it was meant to be,” Brooks recalled. “Larry, his wife Myrna and I were taking a walk down 18th Avenue, and he looked at me and said, ‘Oh, that’s simple. This song should be called ‘Unanswered Prayers’ because some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.’”

Featured image courtesy of Porterville Unified School District via X/Twitter

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