Joe 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 popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

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 co-founded the

Country Music Association The Country Music Association (CMA) is an American trade association with the stated aim of promoting and developing country music throughout the world. Founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee, it originally consisted of 233 members and was the f ...

. 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, United States. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano, Texas, Plano and Frisco, Texas, Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about ...

in 1924. He attended East Van Zandt elementary school in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

, followed by McKinney Texas Junior High and high school in

Denison, Texas Denison is a city in Grayson County, Texas, United States, south of the Texas–Oklahoma border. Its population was 24,479 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 22,682 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Denison is pa ...

. 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 3,101 as of the 2020 census, an increase of 2.2% over the population of 3,034 reported at the 2010 census. It was the fir ...

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 San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

. He became an associate of

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

'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" for Ritter, which became Allison's first number one hit. In 1949, Allison moved to Nashville, where he worked for WMAK. By that time, he had already appeared on the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...

. In 1953, he got a job with KXLA in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 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 commerci ...

, taking over for Tennessee Ernie Ford. 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. He wrote two hit singles during this decade: " Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young" by

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

(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 coastal city in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is the list of United States cities by population, 44th-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 451,307 as of 2022. A charter ci ...

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 Alvin Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous rev ...

. One of his first artists at Liberty was

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

. 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 "Bob" Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American 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 Spade C ...

' comeback. That same year, he wrote

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. One of the earliest pioneers and practitioners of the Nashville sound, he played a central role in the sonic development of country music in th ...

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

He'll Have to Stay "He'll Have to Stay" is a song written by Audrey Allison, Charles Grean, and Joe Allison and performed by Jeanne Black. The song is an answer song to Jim Reeves' 1959 hit "He'll Have to Go". It was produced by Ken Nelson. It reached #4 on the ...

" with Charles Grean, 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 United States Armed Forces provides to soldiers stationed or assigned overseas, and is headquartered at Fort Meade in Maryland. AFN comprises two sub ...

, 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 its early years, Dot sp ...

. 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, musician, and television presenter. He is best known for having hosted '' Hee Haw'', a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark wa ...

. In the 1970s he was head of

Paramount Music Paramount Music is an American record label. It serves as the in-house label for film and television music across all divisions of Paramount Pictures. Soundtracks See also * List of record labels * Paramount Records (1969) * Famous Music F ...

and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

' country divisions. At Paramount, he signed Joe Stampley and Tommy Overstreet. At Capitol, he worked with Red Steagall 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 Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

, 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 many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syst ...

in 2002 and his remains were interred in the Woodlawn Memorial Park. 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 amass ...

References

External links

*
Interview with Joe Allison
from the

Joy Allison
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

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