Joseph Marion Allison (October 3, 1924 – August 2, 2002) was an American songwriter, radio and television personality, record producer, and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

business executive. Allison won five BMI performance awards for hit singles he wrote and a 2 million performance award for writing "

He'll Have to Go "He'll Have to Go" is an American country and pop hit recorded on October 15, 1959, by Jim Reeves. The song, released in the fall of 1959, went on to become a hit in both genres early in 1960. Background The song is about a man who's talking by t ...

". He co-founded the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre. The objectives of the organization are to guide and enha ...

. CMT called him "one of the most influential figures in the rise of modern country music."

Early life

Joe Allison was born in

McKinney, Texas McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas. The U.S. Census Bureau lis ...

in 1924. He attended East Van Zandt elementary school in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

, followed by McKinney Texas Junior High and high school in

Denison, Texas Denison is a city in Grayson County, Texas, United States. It is south of the Texas–Oklahoma border. The population was 22,682 at the 2010 census. Denison is part of the Texoma region and is one of two principal cities in the Sherman–Deni ...

. He graduated high school in 1939 and attended junior college in

Tishomingo, Oklahoma Tishomingo is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Johnston County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 3,034 at the 2010 census, a decline of 4.1 percent from the figure of 3,162 in 2000. It was the first capital of the Chick ...

Career

Allison got his start in the music industry as a music radio announcer for KPLT in

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...

. In 1944, he worked at KMAC in

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

. He became an associate of

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...

's, serving as emcee for Ritter's Canadian and American tour in 1945. The next year, he wrote "

When You Leave, Don't Slam the Door "When You Leave, Don't Slam the Door" is a country music song written by Joe Allison, performed by Tex Ritter, and released on the Capitol label (catalog no. 296). In October 1946, it reached No. 3 on the Billboard folk chart. It was also ranked ...

" for Ritter, which became Allison's first number one hit. In 1949, Allison moved to Nashville, where he worked for

WMAK WMAK (1570 AM) is an American country radio station licensed to serve Lobelville, Tennessee, with studios in downtown Linden, Tennessee. Currently acting as a full-time simulcast of co-owned WOPC, the station's broadcast license is held b ...

. By that time, he had already appeared on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a div ...

. In 1953, he got a job with

KXLA KXLA (channel 44) is an ethnic independent television station licensed to Rancho Palos Verdes, California, United States, serving the Los Angeles area. The station is owned by Rancho Palos Verdes Broadcasters, Inc., whose president and majority ...

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

, taking over for

Tennessee Ernie Ford Ernest Jennings Ford (February 13, 1919 – October 17, 1991), known professionally as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American singer and television host who enjoyed success in the country and western, pop, and gospel musical genres. Noted for h ...

. That same year, he co-founded the Country Music Disc Jockeys Association. He traveled between Nashville and Pasadena, writing songs and working on radio and television. In Nashville, he appeared regularly at WSM and

WSIX WSIX can refer to: * WSIX-FM, a radio station (97.9 FM) licensed to serve Nashville, Tennessee. *WKRN-TV WKRN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Nexstar Media Gr ...

. He wrote two hit singles during this decade: "

Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young" was Faron Young's first number-one song and his fifth consecutive top ten hit. It spent three weeks at the top of the ''Billboard'' country music chart in 1955. Background "This was a tune I detested", Young said. ...

" by

Faron Young Faron Young (February 25, 1932 – December 10, 1996) was an American country music producer, musician, and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s. Hits including "If You Ain't Lovin' (You Ain't Livin')" and "Live Fast, Love Hard, Di ...

(1955) and " Teen-Age Crush" by Tommy Sands (1957), the latter cowritten with Joe's wife Audrey Allison. In 1957, he worked in Hollywood, where he hosted ''Country America'', a county-pop music show on ABC. Allison worked in radio and transitioned into music labels in the 1960s, while still writing songs. He started the decade off in 1960 with a job at KFOX in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

while starting the country music department at

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

. One of his first artists at Liberty was

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

. At Liberty, he also worked with

Hank Cochran Garland Perry "Hank" Cochran (August 2, 1935 – July 15, 2010) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Starting during the 1960s, Cochran was a prolific songwriter in the genre, including major hits by Patsy Cline, Ray Price, Eddy ...

and is credited with

Bob Wills James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although ...

comeback Comeback, The Comeback or Come Back may refer to: General * Comeback (publicity), a return to prominence by a well-known person * Comeback (retort), a witty response to an insult or criticism * Comeback (sports), an event where an athlete or team ...

. That same year, he wrote

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentlem ...

' hit "

" with his wife Audrey. They also wrote the answer song " He'll Have to Stay" with

Charles Grean Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

, which was a hit that same year for

Jeanne Black Gloria Jeanne Black (October 25, 1937 – October 23, 2014) was an American country music singer. Life and career Gloria Jeanne Black was born on October 25, 1937, in Pomona, California. She first gained wide exposure singing on Cliffie Stone ...

. In 1961, he started working at Central Songs, a publishing house based in Los Angeles. He also hosted a radio show on the

Armed Forces Radio Network The American Forces Network (AFN) is a government television and radio broadcast service the U.S. military provides to those stationed or assigned overseas. Headquartered at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, AFN's broadcast operations, which i ...

, which would be the longest running show on the network, and promoted the

(CMA), which he helped found. He was awarded the CMA's Founding President's Award for his work in 1964. He moved back to Nashville in the last half of the decade, where he managed the country department at

Dot Records Dot Records was an American record label founded by Randy Wood (record producer), Randy Wood and Gene Nobles that was active between 1950 and 1978. The original headquarters of Dot Records were in Gallatin, Tennessee. In 1956, the company moved ...

. He independently produced " The Tip of My Fingers" and " Yesterday When I Was Young" by

Roy Clark Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer and musician. He is best known for having hosted '' Hee Haw'', a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influe ...

. In the 1970s he was head of Paramount Music and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of not ...

' country divisions. At Paramount, he signed

Joe Stampley Joe Stampley (born June 6, 1943) is an American country music singer. He had success as the lead singer of a rock group, in a country duo with Moe Bandy and as a solo performer. Stampley has released over 20 albums and more than 60 singles in ...

and

Tommy Overstreet Thomas Cary Overstreet (September 10, 1937 – November 2, 2015) was an American country music singer. Often referred to as "T.O." by fans and radio disc jockeys, Overstreet had five top-five hit singles in the ''Billboard'' country charts an ...

. At Capitol, he worked with

Red Steagall Russell "Red" Steagall (born December 22, 1938) is an American actor, musician, poet, and stage performer, who focuses on American Western and country music genres. Early life and day jobs He was born in Gainesville, Texas, United States. He ...

and produced Tex Ritter's final album. He was awarded the Jim Reeves Award in 1970. In 1976, he was inducted into the Disc Jockey Hall of Fame and two years later, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Later life and legacy

Allison retired from the music industry in the late 1970s. He sold antiques and fine art until 1988, when he had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, and continued to serve on the board of various organizations in his later life. He died in Nashville of

lung disease The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side ...

in 2002 and his remains were interred in the

Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 660 Thompson Lane in Nashville, Tennessee. It is one of the largest cemeteries in Nashville. Among those interred or entombed in the cemetery, there are many prominent members of the country music ...

. Joe Allison is an inductee in the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has ama ...

References

External links

*
Interview with Joe Allison
from the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allison, Joe 1924 births 2002 deaths People from McKinney, Texas American country songwriters American male songwriters Radio personalities from Nashville, Tennessee Songwriters from Texas Record producers from Texas American music industry executives Members of the Country Music Association Record producers from Tennessee Songwriters from Tennessee American television hosts American Forces Network Capitol Records Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Deaths from lung disease Antiques dealers 20th-century male musicians