Songwriter Boudleaux Bryant Dies at 67

Boudleaux Bryant, who with his wife wrote the hit songs “Bye, Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie” and the bluegrass standard “Rocky Top,” has died of cancer at the age of 67.

Bryant died Thursday night at a hospital here.

He and his wife, Felice, 61, were inducted last year into the prestigious National Songwriters Hall of Fame. Together, they wrote more than 1,500 songs, including “All I Have to Do Is Dream,” “Raining in My Heart,” “Love Hurts,” “Devoted to You” and “Come Live With Me.”

Of the 27 songs they wrote for the Everly Brothers, 12 became hits. Their works also were recorded by such divergent groups as the Grateful Dead and the Carter Family.

The Bryants composed “Rocky Top” in the 1960s. After it was recorded by the Osborne Brothers, the fast-paced anthem became one of the most-performed songs in the history of bluegrass music. It was voted one of several unofficial Tennessee state songs in 1982.

Guitarist-producer Chet Atkins, a close associate of the Bryants since 1951, said Bryant “changed the direction of music all over the world through his songs for the Everly Brothers.”

Bryant studied classical violin as a child and played one season with the Atlanta Philharmonic. Atkins said Bryant got his unusual first name because his father’s life was saved during World War I by a Frenchman named Boudleaux.

Bryant met Felice Scaduto while playing pop music in Milwaukee in 1945. They married after a brief courtship.

The couple started writing songs together when Bryant set his wife’s poetry to music. Their first major success was Jimmy Dickens’ 1948 recording of “Country Boy.”

Other entertainers who recorded their songs included Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Simon and Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughn, Buddy Holly and Ray Charles.