Born 90 Years Ago in Texas, the Songwriter Who Crafted 60s Pop Hits Before Giving Garth Brooks One of His Signature Songs

September 17, 2026, 10:35am

On this day (September 17), in 1936, Dewayne Blackwell was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. His songwriting career began in the 1950s. By the end of the decade, the Fleetwoods gave him his first major hit with “Mr. Blue,” a crossover smash. He continued penning pop hits for the next two decades. Then, in the early 1980s, he relocated to Nashville, where he began writing country songs. He penned several hits in Music City, but none were as big as Garth Brooks’ 1990 signature hit “Friends in Low Places.”

Blackwell’s family was among the countless families who fled Texas and Oklahoma for California during the Dust Bowl. As a child, he worked with his parents and siblings as an itinerant crop picker. Later, he dropped out of high school and moved to Alaska, where he worked as a stevedore and longshoreman. He began writing songs in his downtime.

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He returned to California before the end of the 1950s and began performing with his family’s band. That didn’t last long, though. They disbanded when Blackwell’s brother, Ron, died in a motorcycle accident. By then, he was already a successful songwriter.

Dewayne Blackwell’s Long Career

Dewayne Blackwell scored his first major hit in 1959. The Fleetwoods reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 on the R&B chart with “Mr. Blue.” Later that year, David MacBeth took it to No. 18 in the UK before Mike Preston took it to No. 12 on the same chart. Bobby Vee, Bobby Vinton, Johnny Crawford, Pat Boone, and Gary Lewis & the Playboys also cut the song over the next five years.

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Johnny Darrell, Billy Fury, and the Everly Brothers are among the other artists who charted with Blackwell’s songs in the US and UK, according to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Blackwell moved to Nashville in the early 1980s. There, his songs quickly started climbing the charts. In 1982, Marty Robbins took “Honktonk Man” to No. 10 on the country chart. The same year, David Frizzell scored a No. 1 single with “I’m Gonna Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home.”

While Dewayne Blackwell penned many hits, none was as successful as “Friends in Low Places.” Garth Brooks released it as the lead single from No Fences in August 1990. It spent four weeks at No. 1 and won Single of the Year at the ACM and CMA Awards that year. No Fences has since been certified 18x Platinum.