Larry Butler
Encyclopedia
Larry Butler is a country music
producer
/songwriter
. From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, he worked with Kenny Rogers
. Many of his albums with Rogers went either gold or platinum and accumulated many millions of sales around the world. These albums include Kenny Rogers (1976), The Gambler (1978), Gideon (1980) and I Prefer The Moonlight (1987). Rogers and Butler maintain a friendship outside of showbusiness. Butler also produced Rogers' 1993 album If Only My Heart Had A Voice. He also participated in Rogers 2006 retrospective DVD The Journey.
Larry Butler is the first and only Nashville producer to win the coveted Grammy Award for Producer of the year. He won this prestigious award in competition with elite producers such as Quincy Jones and others from all genre's of music.
Orchestra; at age ten he sang with Red Foley
and before he was old enough to drive he had hosted his own radio show and co-hosted a live TV show in his market. He eventually joined a Florida band, Jerry Woodward and the Esquires. While on a trip to Nashville he met a noted publisher/producer, Buddy Killen
of Tree International. In 1963, with Killen's encouragement, Larry moved to Nashville with only a few dollars in his pocket. Soon his unique style of piano playing supported such hits as "Hello Darlin" by Conway Twitty
and "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro
. Larry was in high demand as a Nashville session player and backed up Nashville celebrities such as Johnny Cash
, Roger Miller
, George Jones
, Tammy Wynette
, Loretta Lynn
, Dolly Parton
, Bobby Goldsboro
, Jerry Lee Lewis
, Charlie Rich
, Lynn Anderson
and more.
Moving to Memphis in the late 1960s Larry hooked-up with Chips Moman
. As The Gentry's they hit the pop charts with "Keep On Dancin'" and "Every Day I Have To Cry Some". During that same period of time Larry co-wrote the Poppies hit single "Lullaby Of Love". He was signed as a solo artist and served as Bobby Goldsboro's pianist and music director.
Larry returned to Nashville to join Capitol Records
as an in-house producer. The very first single he produced, "Seven Lonely Days", became a Billboard Top-20 Country single for Jean Shepard
in 1969. Moving on to CBS Records
at the urging of legendary producer Billy Sherrill
, Larry worked closely with Johnny Cash producing some "the man in black's" biggest hits. So successful was the partnership that Larry became Cash's producer, pianist, musical director and studio manager.
In 1973 Larry Butler made one of his most significant career moves by joining United Artists Records as head of the label's Nashville division. His leadership and vision brought in such acts as Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle
, Dottie West
and The Kendalls
and established the label as one of the most successful and respected in Nashville.
Eventually Larry left UA and started his own independent company, Larry Butler Productions. His acts included
Unquestionably, Larry's biggest success was producing Kenny Rogers. It was Larry who converted Kenny to Country Music and their magical studio collaboration yielded many of Kenny's greatest hits including,
Larry was also behind teaming Kenny and Dottie West to record the duets "Everytime Two Fools Collide" and "'Til I Make It On My Own". Larry also worked with Kenny and Kim Carnes on their smash hit "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer
".
1980 brought Larry to the spotlight again with his Grammy for Producer of the Year and solidified his reputation as a hit maker but Larry was still underrated as a song writer. Larry teamed again with Chips Moman and penned the number 1 hit "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song". Topping the charts for both Pop and Country, the song became one of B. J. Thomas
' greatest career hits. It was a BMI 3 million performance song and earned Larry Butler his second Grammy for Song of the Year. Tammy Wynette cut Larry's "Only The Strong Will Survive" while Billie Joe Spears cut " Standing Tall" which was also released by Lorrie Morgan
in 1996. Larry writing credits include songs for Tree, United Artists music, April Blackwood, Great Cumberland, EMI and, most recently, his own Larry Butler Music.
1984 was the year Larry formed his music company, Larry Butler Music Group, Inc. He signed writers Mickey Newbury
, Dean Dillon
and Julie Didier. CBS Songs administered his catalog. Larry's new group quickly produced a string of hits for George Strait including "The Chair", "Ocean Front Property" and "It Aint Cool". LBMG produced songs for Keith Whitley
, Eddie Raven, Kenny Rogers, Vern Gosdin
, and Larry wrote "Wonder What You'll Do When I'm Gone" for Waylon Jennings
, putting the company on the map. During a period of two short years LBMG had produced eight Top Ten cuts and numerous Top Forty chart records.
Larry currently resides in Pensacola, Florida, and continues to produce new talent.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, he worked with Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
. Many of his albums with Rogers went either gold or platinum and accumulated many millions of sales around the world. These albums include Kenny Rogers (1976), The Gambler (1978), Gideon (1980) and I Prefer The Moonlight (1987). Rogers and Butler maintain a friendship outside of showbusiness. Butler also produced Rogers' 1993 album If Only My Heart Had A Voice. He also participated in Rogers 2006 retrospective DVD The Journey.
Larry Butler is the first and only Nashville producer to win the coveted Grammy Award for Producer of the year. He won this prestigious award in competition with elite producers such as Quincy Jones and others from all genre's of music.
Career
Larry began his career at the age of six with the Harry JamesHarry James
Henry Haag “Harry” James was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.-Biography:He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a...
Orchestra; at age ten he sang with Red Foley
Red Foley
Clyde Julian Foley , better known as Red Foley, was an American singer, musician, and radio and TV personality who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II....
and before he was old enough to drive he had hosted his own radio show and co-hosted a live TV show in his market. He eventually joined a Florida band, Jerry Woodward and the Esquires. While on a trip to Nashville he met a noted publisher/producer, Buddy Killen
Buddy Killen
William Doyce “Buddy” Killen was a record producer and music publisher, and a former owner of Trinity Broadcasting Network, and the largest country music publishing business, before he sold it in 1989...
of Tree International. In 1963, with Killen's encouragement, Larry moved to Nashville with only a few dollars in his pocket. Soon his unique style of piano playing supported such hits as "Hello Darlin" by Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...
and "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro
Bobby Goldsboro
Bobby Goldsboro is an American country and pop singer-songwriter. He had a string of Pop and Country hits during the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature #1 classic "Honey," which sold well over one million copies in the United States.-Early life:Goldsboro was born in Marianna, Florida...
. Larry was in high demand as a Nashville session player and backed up Nashville celebrities such as Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
, George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
, Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....
, Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn
Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
, Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
, Bobby Goldsboro
Bobby Goldsboro
Bobby Goldsboro is an American country and pop singer-songwriter. He had a string of Pop and Country hits during the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature #1 classic "Honey," which sold well over one million copies in the United States.-Early life:Goldsboro was born in Marianna, Florida...
, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
, Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich
Charles Rich was an American country music singer and musician. A Grammy Award winner, his eclectic-style of music was often hard to classify in a single genre, playing in the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, and gospel genres.In the latter part of his life, Rich acquired the nickname The Silver...
, Lynn Anderson
Lynn Anderson
Lynn Rene Anderson is an American country music singer and equestrian known for a string of hits throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, most notably her Grammy Award-winning, worldwide mega-hit, " Rose Garden." Helped by her regular exposure on national television, Anderson was one of the most...
and more.
Moving to Memphis in the late 1960s Larry hooked-up with Chips Moman
Chips Moman
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...
. As The Gentry's they hit the pop charts with "Keep On Dancin'" and "Every Day I Have To Cry Some". During that same period of time Larry co-wrote the Poppies hit single "Lullaby Of Love". He was signed as a solo artist and served as Bobby Goldsboro's pianist and music director.
Larry returned to Nashville to join Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
as an in-house producer. The very first single he produced, "Seven Lonely Days", became a Billboard Top-20 Country single for Jean Shepard
Jean Shepard
Ollie Imogene Shepard , better known as Jean Shepard, is an American honky tonk singer-songwriter who was a pioneer for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which reached the #1 spot...
in 1969. Moving on to CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
at the urging of legendary producer Billy Sherrill
Billy Sherrill
Billy Sherrill is a record producer and arranger who is most famous for his association with a number of country artists, most notably Tammy Wynette...
, Larry worked closely with Johnny Cash producing some "the man in black's" biggest hits. So successful was the partnership that Larry became Cash's producer, pianist, musical director and studio manager.
In 1973 Larry Butler made one of his most significant career moves by joining United Artists Records as head of the label's Nashville division. His leadership and vision brought in such acts as Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer best known for her 1977 country-pop hit, "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". An award-winning singer, she accumulated 18 number one country hits during the 1970s and 1980s...
, Dottie West
Dottie West
Dottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists...
and The Kendalls
The Kendalls
The Kendalls was an American country music duo, consisting of Royce Kendall and his daughter Jeannie Kendall . Between the 1960s and 1990s, they released sixteen albums on various labels, including five on Mercury Records...
and established the label as one of the most successful and respected in Nashville.
Eventually Larry left UA and started his own independent company, Larry Butler Productions. His acts included
- Charlie Rich ("You're Gonna Love yourself In The Morning")
- Mac DavisMac DavisMac Davis is a country music singer, songwriter, and actor originally from Lubbock, Texas who has enjoyed much crossover success...
("It's Hard To Be Humble") - Debbie Boone (Are You On The Road To Loving Me Again")
- Billie Jo SpearsBillie Jo SpearsBillie Jo Spears is an American country music singer. She reached the top-10 of the Country music charts five times between 1969 and 1977, her biggest hit being "Blanket on the Ground", which, in 1975, became her only number one...
("Blanket On The Ground") - Don McLeanDon McLeanDonald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
("Crying") - John DenverJohn DenverHenry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
("Some Days Are Diamonds").
Unquestionably, Larry's biggest success was producing Kenny Rogers. It was Larry who converted Kenny to Country Music and their magical studio collaboration yielded many of Kenny's greatest hits including,
- Lucille
- She Believes In Me
- The Gambler
- Love Or Something Like It
- You Decorated My Life
- Coward Of The County.
Larry was also behind teaming Kenny and Dottie West to record the duets "Everytime Two Fools Collide" and "'Til I Make It On My Own". Larry also worked with Kenny and Kim Carnes on their smash hit "Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer
Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer
"Don't Fall in Love with a Dreamer" is the title of a song written by David Ellingson and Kim Carnes and recorded by Kenny Rogers and Carnes as a duet. It was released in March 1980 as the first single from Rogers' album Gideon. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and #1...
".
1980 brought Larry to the spotlight again with his Grammy for Producer of the Year and solidified his reputation as a hit maker but Larry was still underrated as a song writer. Larry teamed again with Chips Moman and penned the number 1 hit "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song". Topping the charts for both Pop and Country, the song became one of B. J. Thomas
B. J. Thomas
Billy Joe "B. J." Thomas is an American popular singer known for his chart-topping hits in the 1960s and 1970s—appearing on the pop, adult contemporary, country and Hot 100 charts.-Career:...
' greatest career hits. It was a BMI 3 million performance song and earned Larry Butler his second Grammy for Song of the Year. Tammy Wynette cut Larry's "Only The Strong Will Survive" while Billie Joe Spears cut " Standing Tall" which was also released by Lorrie Morgan
Lorrie Morgan
In 1996 Morgan married Jon Randall, a singer/songwriter now credited with writing the 2004 Brad Paisley/Alison Krauss hit "Whiskey Lullaby"; they divorced three years later in 1999....
in 1996. Larry writing credits include songs for Tree, United Artists music, April Blackwood, Great Cumberland, EMI and, most recently, his own Larry Butler Music.
1984 was the year Larry formed his music company, Larry Butler Music Group, Inc. He signed writers Mickey Newbury
Mickey Newbury
Mickey Newbury was an American songwriter, a critically acclaimed recording artist, and a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.-Biography:...
, Dean Dillon
Dean Dillon
Dean Dillon is an American country music artist. Between 1982 and 1993, Dillon recorded six studio albums on various labels, and charted several singles on the Billboard country charts. Although he has not charted since 1993, Dillon has continued to write several hit songs for other artists, most...
and Julie Didier. CBS Songs administered his catalog. Larry's new group quickly produced a string of hits for George Strait including "The Chair", "Ocean Front Property" and "It Aint Cool". LBMG produced songs for Keith Whitley
Keith Whitley
Jackie Keith Whitley , known professionally as Keith Whitley, was an American country music singer. Whitley's brief career in mainstream country music lasted from 1984 until his death in 1989, but he continues to influence an entire generation of singers and songwriters...
, Eddie Raven, Kenny Rogers, Vern Gosdin
Vern Gosdin
Vern Gosdin was an American country music singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his...
, and Larry wrote "Wonder What You'll Do When I'm Gone" for Waylon Jennings
Waylon Jennings
Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. Jennings began playing at eight. He began performing at twelve, on KVOW radio. Jennings formed a band The Texas Longhorns. Jennings worked as a D.J on KVOW, KDAV and KLLL...
, putting the company on the map. During a period of two short years LBMG had produced eight Top Ten cuts and numerous Top Forty chart records.
Larry currently resides in Pensacola, Florida, and continues to produce new talent.