Country Music Loses Songwriter Don Wayne

Country artist/songwriter Don Wayne has passed away at the age of 78 following a battle with cancer. Wayne had written for numerous country music artists and is best known for his song “Country Bumpkin,” which won CMA and ACM “Song Of The Year” in 1974.

In an interview with Wayne, "I think "Country Bumpkin" is by far my best song and it will always be special cause "it" came along and picked me up at a very low point in my songwriting career. I love all my songs but I also feel a special affection for those recorded by the heroes I idolized as a youngster, among those are "Don't Water Down the Bad News" by Ernest Tubb, "What in Her World Did I Do" by Eddy Arnold and "MacArthurs Hand" by Tex Ritter."

In 1978, Mr. Wayne was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Mr. Wayne went on to serve as president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and he remained devoted to songwriting throughout his life. His songs were recorded by numerous artists, including Country Music Hall of Famers Bill Anderson, Jean Shepard, Eddy Arnold and Ernest Tubb.

“You could sit in a room to write a song with him, but he wouldn’t sit,” said friend and co-writer Glenn Warren. “He would pace back and forth, like there was no one else in the room, and what he was doing was working out the line exactly the way he wanted it to go. Don was a perfectionist. Nothing was good enough unless he thought it was great.”