Billy Sherrill - Biography
By J Poet
Billy Sherrill is the producer most associated with the Countrypolitian sound, a genre of country music that adopted the lush gloss of pop – string sections, background choral singers and emphasis on piano over fiddle and pedal steel – that helped Nashville crossover to the pop mainstream. Sherrill only has a few albums out on his own as an artist, the most notable, or maybe notorious, being Classical Country (1967 Epic), 10 Buck Owens tunes arranged as if they were classical pieces, a forgotten kitsch masterpiece. But as a producer and songwriter, Sherrill is responsible for some of the greatest moments country music has produced including Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” and George Jone’s “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” He retired in the late 80s and was induced into the Alabama Musician’s Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Nashville Musician’s Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sherrill is one of the best country producers in the genre’s history, right up there with Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley. Sherrill was the son of an Alabama preacher and grew up playing piano at his father’s revival meetings. He picked up sax in his teens and stared an rock and R&B combo called The Fairlanes with his friend and fellow songwriter Rick Hall. They placed “Sweet and Innocent” with Roy Orbison, then relocated to the Muscle Shoals to start a publishing company – Florence Alabama Music Enterprises (FAME) – with Tom Stafford.
Sherrill moved to Nashville in 1960 and built a demo studio with a couple of friends. Sam Phillips was looking for a studio in Nashville and bought it. Sherrill ran the place for him and learned how to produce records. Epic Records hired Sherrill in 1963. More familiar with pop, rock and R&B, he added large string sections, expansive orchestration and pop background vocals to his records. People began calling him the Phil Specter of Country.
Sherrill often wrote or co-wrote songs to suit his style, and his hits over the years included David Houston’s Grammy winning “Almost Persuaded,” Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man,” Ronnie Milsap’s “I'm A Stand By My Woman Man,” Charlie Rich’s “My Elusive Dreams,” George Jones’s “What My Woman Can't Do,” and Johnny Paycheck’s “Outlaw's Prayer.” Sherrill has won the most awards in the history of BMI, with more than 50 number one hits and as a producer. In 1966 he met a former hairdresser and aspiring singer named Virginia Wynette. He suggested changing her name to Tammy Wynette and their first single together, “Apartment #9,” cracked the Top 10. They followed it with a string of blockbusters including “Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad,” “I Don’t Wanna Play House,” “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” and “Stand By Your Man” all collected on Tammy Wynette: Collector’s Edition (1998 Epic.)
Sherrill had a great ear and signed Barbara Mandrell, George Jones and Charlie Rich. He produced the songs that made Rich a superstar “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl,” which he co-wrote, and helmed his two platinum albums Behind Closed Doors (1973 Epic) and Very Special Love Songs (1974 Epic.) When Jones and Wynette married, cut a series of top selling duets including “We’re Gonna Hold On,” “Golden Ring,” “We’re Not the Jet Set” and “Two-Story House.”
Sherrill produced and wrote hits for Tanya Tucker, Joe Stampley, Johnny Paycheck, Marty Robbins, Ronnie Milsap, Johnny Cash, Moe Bandy, Johnny Rodriguez, Janie Fricke, David Allan Coe, Bob Luman and Kenny Rogers and Dottie West. In 1974, he took home his second songwriting Grammy for Charlie Rich’s #1 hit “A Very Special Love Song.” He produced Jones’s comeback album I Am What I Am (1980 Epic) with the hits “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “I’m Not Ready Yet,” and “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will),” and helmed Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue (1981 Warner) and Ray Charles’ Friendship (1984 Columbia) a #1 album of duets with Jones, Hank Williams Jr., Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.
In1980, Sherrill was Vice President/Executive Producer of Columbia’s Nashville operation, but left in 1985 to go independent. He left the business in the late 80s.
