Eddy Arnold Dies

Country music has lost one of its biggest hit-makers. Eddy Arnold died today, following a lengthy illness.

Eddy Arnold was known as “The Tennessee Plowboy.” thanks to plenty of time spent behind a mule on his family’s farm. In an archived interview with WPLN, Arnold credited his success to another childhood job-entertaining his blind grandfather on the porch with a guitar:

 

“My grandfather would say, “That’s good, son, that’s good.” It wasn’t good, but I kept trying and every time he’d tell me it was good I’d try a little harder.”

With his buttery smooth baritone, Eddy Arnold helped to pioneer what came to be called the “Nashville Sound”. He was Grand Ole Opry regular, a Hall of Fame Member, and the CMA’s very first “Entertainer of the Year. In all, Eddy Arnold performed for 60 years and sold 85 million records. He would have been 90 years old next week.

WPLN’s Craig Havighurst produced an obituary of Arnold for All Things Considered, which can be heard on the NPR website.