Born in Georgia 89 Years Ago Today, the Songwriter Behind Waylon Jennings’ Biggest Hit and Other Country Classics

On this day (June 12) in 1937, Lincoln Wayne Moman was born in LaGrange, Georgia. Better known as Chips Moman, he was a songwriter, musician, and producer who left an indelible mark on the music world. He co-wrote “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love),” which became a six-week No. 1 for Waylon Jennings. He also produced hit albums for Elvis Presley, Tammy Wynette, The Highwaymen, and more.

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Moman spent the early years of his career playing in a handful of bands. Then, in the 1960s, he relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, where he began working for what would become Stax Records. There, he served as a recording engineer and producer. He worked with acts like the Triumphs and Carla Thomas. In 1964, he left Stax to open American Sound Studio.

He spent the rest of the decade overseeing sessions for a long list of artists, including the Box Tops, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Wilson Pickett. Then, in the early 1970s, he moved to Nashville, and his songwriting career took flight.

Chips Moman Wrote Classics

According to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Chips Moman scored his first hits as a songwriter in the early 1960s. He was behind pop and R&B hits recorded by Troy Shondell (“This Time”), The Mar-Keys (“Last Night”), among others. After opening his Memphis studio, he began writing songs with Dan Penn. James Carr’s “The Dark End of the Street” and Barbara Mandrell’s hit “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” are among their joint efforts.

In the early 1970s, he moved to Nashville, and his songwriting career truly took off. In 1976, he won Best Country Song at the Grammy Awards for “(Hey, Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song,” which was a massive hit for B.J. Thomas. The next year, he co-wrote “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” with Bobby Emmons. It was a massive hit for Waylon Jennings, spending six weeks at No. 1 on the country chart and landing at No. 25 on the pop chart. The same year, Jennings gave the duo another No. 1 with his rendition of “The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don’t Want to Get Over You).”

In 1992, George Strait took “So Much Like My Dad,” another Moman-Emmons co-write, to No. 1.

Other artists to cut songs penned or co-penned by Moman include Gram Parsons, Willie Nelson, Gary Stewart, Brenda Lee, Jessi Colter, the Ventures, and Kenny Rogers.

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