On this day (December 15) in 2018, songwriter Jerry Chesnut died in Nashville. He was 87 years old. After years of dedication and hard work, some of country music’s biggest artists began recording his songs and sending them up the charts.
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Chestnut grew up in Harlan County, Kentucky, where he regularly performed classic country songs in coal camps. Years later, he moved to Florida and regularly performed on local radio stations. At the same time, he began teaching himself to write songs. In 1958, Chesnut felt he was ready to move to Nashville and commit to being a professional songwriter.
According to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Chesnut didn’t find immediate success in Music City. Instead, he became a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman to put food on the table while he kept writing songs and hoping for a hit. After nearly a decade of climbing the corporate ladder, Del Reeves recorded Chesnut’s “A Dime at a Time” and sent it to No. 12 on the country chart in 1967.
That was just the beginning for Chesnut.
Jerry Chesnutt Wrote Multiple Hit Country Songs
After nearly a decade of refusing to give up, Jerry Chesnut’s songwriting career took off. His pen brought the country music world decades of hits.
The late 1960s brought Chesnut multiple hits. Jerry Lee Lewis took “Another Place, Another Time” to No. 4 on the country chart in 1968. Later that year, Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton recorded “Holding on to Nothing.” It peaked at No. 7. Del Reeves had multiple hits with Chesnut’s songs. His version of “Looking at the World Through a Windshield” was a top 5 hit in 1968. He also took “Good Time Charley’s” to No. 3 in 1969.
George Jones had a top 10 hit with “If Not for You” in 1969. The next year, he recorded “A Good Year for the Roses,” which went to No. 2 and became one of Jones’ most popular songs.
Faron Young had a huge hit with “It’s Four in the Morning.” The song went to the top of the country chart and reached No. 92 on the Hot 100 in 1972.
Jerry Chesnut also wrote “T-R-O-U-B-L-E,” which was a hit for Elvis Presley in 1975 and Travis Tritt in 1992.
Other major country stars who had hits with his songs included Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Tammy Wynette, Bill Anderson, and Mel Tillis.
The country music world would not have been the same if Chesnutt had given up on songwriting and pursued a career in sales.
Featured Image by David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images
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