Country Music Lost Another One Of It's Founding Pioneers - Page 2 of 2 - Country Sings

This is another sad day for Country Music… Another one of our strong pioneers have passed away…. get all the details here:

Songwriter, producer, two-time Grammy award winner and former Springfieldian Wayne Carson died.

Wayne Carson Head was pronounced dead 1:31 a.m. Monday, aged 72, confirmed his wife, Wyndi Harp Head, in a phone call to the News-Leader.

He had been suffering congestive heart failure, COPD, diabetes and gallstone issues, Harp said. A recent gallstone flare-up led to Carson being placed in hospice care for the past month.

“He had numerous health issues,” Harp said.

Though based outside Nashville, Carson had many ties to Springfield and the Ozarks. He last performed a show in Springfield in March 2006, according to a previous News-Leader article.

Nationally known country artists BJ Thomas and Jim Femino, as well as members of the Ozarks country-music community, shared condoleances across social media Monday morning.

Carson was proficient in country, but also rock and rhythm and blues. He played percussion, piano, guitar and bass in addition to songwriting and producing.

Perhaps Carson’s best-known songwriting credit is “Always On My Mind,” first released in 1972 and performed by Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, the Pet Shop Boys and about 300 other artists since that time.

Services are pending at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens, 9090 Highway 100, Nashville, said Shirley Hutchins, with Carson’s management team.