WEBVTT - Episode 3: Chasing that neon rainbow 0:00:03.279 --> 0:00:05.800 Previously on Murder on Music Row. 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:10.000 He was so just such an open person. Never met 0:00:10.039 --> 0:00:10.840 a stranger. 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:13.119 I don't know what made him go to Nashville. I 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:14.760 think he'd just like the Belmont College. 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.160 I don't think they ever really recovered from Kevin Shine. 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:20.360 And especially the way that he died. 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:22.680 We knew that Kevin would do the right thing. 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.120 I do think most of the radio guys at that 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:26.960 point were on the up and up. But I know 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:28.000 some of them were not. 0:00:28.280 --> 0:00:32.880 I didn't want them to think that they could manipulate me. 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:33.760 And I walked. 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:37.040 In front and opened the door and sat down and 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.000 started to close the door. And I thought I caught 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:41.040 something moving out of the corner of my eye, and 0:00:41.040 --> 0:00:42.919 I looked up and the guy standing over me, and 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.040 I just saw his arms straight out, and I saw 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:47.640 a gun. And I said, oh my God, this guy's 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:49.080 got a gun. And I threw my arms up to 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.280 cover my head. And that's when he shot. And they said, 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.040 Kevin did like a barrel roll out into the street, 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.520 running back up 16th Avenue. And all I heard was 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:58.560 shots after that. 0:01:06.630 --> 0:01:14.470 And old Hank wouldn't have a chance on today's radio 0:01:14.470 --> 0:01:23.590 since they committed murder down on Music Row. 0:01:25.069 --> 0:01:29.030 Nashville cops loved the Longhorn, a local bar where they 0:01:29.030 --> 0:01:32.870 could unwind after a long shift. All these years later, 0:01:32.870 --> 0:01:35.869 it's called The Row. I actually had lunch there the 0:01:35.870 --> 0:01:38.790 other day. It's just off West End in Midtown. Larry 0:01:38.790 --> 0:01:40.790 Cordle used to hang there, too. He said there was 0:01:40.790 --> 0:01:43.630 a bartender at the Longhorn named Susie, and she was 0:01:43.630 --> 0:01:46.910 a real pistol. He said the place was always full 0:01:46.910 --> 0:01:50.510 of songwriters and cops. After he finished writing and recording 0:01:50.510 --> 0:01:53.750 Murder on Music Row, Cordle went to the Longhorn one 0:01:53.750 --> 0:01:56.310 night and asked if any cop at the bar had 0:01:56.310 --> 0:02:01.050 some crime scene tape. Ape. Bingo. His writing partner, Larry Shell, 0:02:01.090 --> 0:02:04.170 wrapped up the demo with yellow police tape and drove 0:02:04.210 --> 0:02:07.450 a copy of Murder on Music Row to the Wkdf 0:02:07.450 --> 0:02:12.489 radio station, Music City 103 on your FM dial. Shell 0:02:12.490 --> 0:02:15.250 wanted to hand the song to the morning drive time 0:02:15.250 --> 0:02:18.250 personality Carl P Mayfield. 0:02:18.290 --> 0:02:21.450 Larry makes up a gaudy package and takes it to 0:02:21.490 --> 0:02:25.049 the guy. Carl P Mayfield. Carl P Mayfield. Carl P 0:02:25.050 --> 0:02:28.570 is not there. But we left it in his. Larry 0:02:28.570 --> 0:02:30.290 did I guess in his inbox. 0:02:30.610 --> 0:02:36.169 They waited and nothing. Then one day about a week 0:02:36.169 --> 0:02:39.290 later really early Caudle's phone rang. 0:02:39.570 --> 0:02:42.210 And Kim Fox is friend of mine. She's from New 0:02:42.250 --> 0:02:44.570 York and she's a great songwriter and calls me at 0:02:44.570 --> 0:02:47.049 6:00 in the morning and says, My God, they're playing 0:02:47.050 --> 0:02:50.370 that song. They played it 2 or 3 times already. 0:02:50.810 --> 0:02:52.610 Cordle was in disbelief. 0:02:52.930 --> 0:02:54.730 I don't listen to a lot of music, but I 0:02:54.730 --> 0:02:56.760 went and turned the radio on. Son of a of 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:00.360 a gun. So Carl tells me later that he played 0:03:00.360 --> 0:03:01.639 it every 30 minutes. 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:16.320 Something was starting to happen. This is Murder on Music Row, 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:19.680 an investigative podcast. I'm Keith Sharon. I work for The 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:24.120 Tennessean in Nashville. On March 9th, 1989, a young man 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.480 named Kevin Hughes was shot twice in the head in 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.840 the middle of Music Row. In August of 2022, my 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.359 editor handed me a flash drive full of police files, 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:40.120 interrogation reports, coroner notes, crime scene photos and drawings, phone 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:45.040 records and internal memos between Nashville police, the FBI and 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.880 law enforcement officials in other states. Somewhere along the way, 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.880 I began to feel like it was our responsibility to 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:55.280 tell the story that two bullets stopped Kevin Hughes from 0:03:55.550 --> 0:04:23.670 telling this is episode three. Chasing that neon rainbow. In 0:04:23.670 --> 0:04:28.430 whispered conversations around Music City. Some people believed they knew 0:04:28.430 --> 0:04:31.630 who fired the gun that killed Kevin Hughes and why 0:04:31.630 --> 0:04:35.670 they did it. But here's the thing the more people knew, 0:04:35.830 --> 0:04:38.790 the more reason they had to be afraid. Independent music 0:04:38.790 --> 0:04:42.550 promoter Bill Wentz kept some firepower behind the door of 0:04:42.550 --> 0:04:43.390 his office. 0:04:43.589 --> 0:04:46.229 But after the murder, I had a shotgun here, a 0:04:46.270 --> 0:04:48.909 12 gauge, and I lived out here where I live now. 0:04:48.990 --> 0:04:51.750 I think everybody was pretty, pretty afraid of what went on. 0:04:52.029 --> 0:04:55.730 That fear drove some people underground. They didn't tell everything 0:04:55.730 --> 0:04:58.690 they knew to police in the early days of the investigation. 0:04:59.370 --> 0:05:03.050 Bill Wentz was not one of those people. He knew 0:05:03.089 --> 0:05:06.570 Kevin Hughes. He played piano at Kevin's memorial service on 0:05:06.570 --> 0:05:11.890 Music Row on March 14th, 1989, five days after the murder. 0:05:12.170 --> 0:05:15.570 Detective Bill Pridemore went to Bill Wentz's office. The one 0:05:15.570 --> 0:05:16.810 with the shotgun. 0:05:16.930 --> 0:05:19.090 I told him everything I knew. You know, I was 0:05:19.089 --> 0:05:21.650 well versed in on Music Row, and I would be 0:05:21.650 --> 0:05:24.930 down there at lunch every other day or so. And 0:05:24.930 --> 0:05:27.969 I just, I knew. I mean, at this date, I 0:05:27.970 --> 0:05:29.409 can't tell you, but I just knew. 0:05:29.650 --> 0:05:32.969 The case bothered Wentz. Long after the police left his 0:05:33.050 --> 0:05:37.729 office in an alcohol inspired haze, Wentz called the guy 0:05:37.730 --> 0:05:40.729 he thought was the killer. The guy wasn't home. 0:05:41.050 --> 0:05:42.810 I mean, it was really stupid back then. I drank 0:05:42.850 --> 0:05:45.570 a little bit and I mean, it just. I left 0:05:45.570 --> 0:05:48.690 a message on his voicemail, something I didn't know. Anybody 0:05:48.690 --> 0:05:50.770 could trace anything back then or. I don't know if 0:05:50.770 --> 0:05:55.440 they could, but I really, uh, thought it was 100%. 0:05:55.480 --> 0:05:57.680 He was involved, but I had no proof or anything. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:05:59.760 What did you say on that voicemail? 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.360 I can't remember. I probably. We know you did it. 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.040 Or some some stupid thing. 0:06:05.720 --> 0:06:08.720 We know you did it. Or some stupid thing. Here's 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:12.640 the problem. The story Bill Wentz told wasn't based on 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:15.480 hard evidence. It was based on what he believed in 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:20.520 his heart from his experience. No matter how accurate it seemed, 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.120 Pridemore had no way of knowing if Bill Wentz was 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:27.000 right or a million miles off. Pridemore couldn't make an 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:33.800 arrest just because a promoter had a hunch. Sammie Sadler 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:39.440 was born in Memphis August 23rd, 1966. It wasn't long 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:43.000 before his family moved to Texas, where his father's from. 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.839 Jerry Sadler had a painting business that did very well. 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.760 He was able to buy a 56 acre ranch and 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.950 raise quarter horses that raced all over Texas, Oklahoma and 0:06:52.950 --> 0:06:56.470 New Mexico. Sammy went to Leonard High School, played on 0:06:56.470 --> 0:06:59.910 the baseball team. He often says in interviews, he was 0:06:59.910 --> 0:07:02.830 so good. If he hadn't been bitten by the music bug, 0:07:02.990 --> 0:07:06.150 he could have played professional baseball. I couldn't find any 0:07:06.150 --> 0:07:09.429 references to Sammy's high school baseball career in the regional 0:07:09.430 --> 0:07:12.550 newspapers I scanned. He was also in the marching band, 0:07:12.590 --> 0:07:15.310 playing symbols for about a week until he quit. His 0:07:15.310 --> 0:07:18.670 dream was much bigger than symbols in the marching band. 0:07:19.390 --> 0:07:21.590 Sammy had been singing along with the radio since he 0:07:21.590 --> 0:07:27.030 was three years old. Elvis songs. Johnny Cash. As a teenager, 0:07:27.190 --> 0:07:29.590 he had a couple of singing gigs with a band 0:07:29.590 --> 0:07:33.710 called Perfect Stranger. He sang at the Louisiana Hayride while 0:07:33.710 --> 0:07:36.550 he was still in high school. Like so many other 0:07:36.550 --> 0:07:40.190 country music crazed kids, he had to get to Nashville 0:07:40.670 --> 0:07:44.990 in November of 1984, just after Sammy had turned 18. 0:07:45.270 --> 0:07:49.030 Jerry and his wife Juanita brought their son to Music City. 0:07:49.510 --> 0:07:52.450 The plan was for Juanita to live with Sammy until 0:07:52.450 --> 0:07:55.650 he got on his feet. Jerry rented a limousine on 0:07:55.690 --> 0:07:58.930 that first night, and they drove with all the possibilities 0:07:58.930 --> 0:08:03.050 of Nashville's stardom floating in the cold night air. The 0:08:03.050 --> 0:08:06.770 limo driver, Ronnie Cummings, helped Sammy make a demo tape, 0:08:07.010 --> 0:08:10.610 which Jerry Sadler paid for, and the demo tape became 0:08:10.610 --> 0:08:14.610 Sammy's calling card. The limo driver also introduced Sammy to 0:08:14.650 --> 0:08:17.530 a couple of independent record producers. To put all this 0:08:17.570 --> 0:08:21.090 in context, this was the month Ronald Reagan was re-elected 0:08:21.090 --> 0:08:24.730 as president of the United States. The movie Nightmare on 0:08:24.730 --> 0:08:28.490 Elm Street premiered. The number one country song was Willie 0:08:28.490 --> 0:08:32.210 Nelson's City of New Orleans. Kevin Hughes, the kid who 0:08:32.210 --> 0:08:35.210 would later die on Music Row, was a business student 0:08:35.210 --> 0:08:38.810 at Belmont College. Hanging out at Tower Records and making 0:08:38.809 --> 0:08:44.850 index cards of his favorite music. In the early 1980s, 0:08:44.850 --> 0:08:47.570 country music was in a bit of a tizzy since 0:08:47.570 --> 0:08:50.720 June 6th, 1980, when the when the movie Urban Cowboy 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:54.440 hit America like a bucking bull. Country music was becoming 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:59.559 more mainstream. Record labels were chasing pop music dollars. Editorial comment. 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.679 It wasn't even a good movie. John Travolta and Debra 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:06.080 Winger tried, but come on. All that drama over riding 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.000 a mechanical bull in a bar. At least the soundtrack 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.920 was good. Looking for Love by Johnny Lee. Love the 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.640 World Away by Kenny Rogers. Look What You've Done to 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:19.440 Me by Boz Scaggs. Those songs, however, were a little 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:23.040 too soft, a little too pop for some traditional country 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.320 music fans, like the Larry's who wrote Murder on Music Row, 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:32.560 Eddie Rabbitt, Juice Newton, Sheena Easton and Marie Osmond. All 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:35.880 pop stars had number one country hits in the early 0:09:35.880 --> 0:09:37.640 and mid 1980s. 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:42.400 I mean, it went from Conway Twitty, which was half 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.920 pop ish, but it went from things right before Conway 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:50.350 to Conway, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, they were on the radio. 0:09:50.390 --> 0:09:55.470 Those were the drive time artists. And then it went 0:09:55.470 --> 0:10:02.070 to Barbara mandrell and, uh, Milsap and all things very 0:10:02.070 --> 0:10:03.870 pop for the time. 0:10:04.309 --> 0:10:08.429 That's Trey Bruce, the genius songwriter. This guy wrote look, heart, 0:10:08.470 --> 0:10:11.870 No Hands and three other number one hits for Randy Travis. 0:10:12.150 --> 0:10:16.750 He's written songs with Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Leann Rimes, 0:10:16.750 --> 0:10:20.030 Trace Atkins, Reba mcEntire, and Carrie Underwood. 0:10:20.550 --> 0:10:23.830 And then, with Barbara mandrell and Kenny Rogers, it became 0:10:23.870 --> 0:10:26.630 Pop Goes the Country. There was even a TV show 0:10:28.150 --> 0:10:32.230 and that was looked on as ruining country music. And 0:10:32.230 --> 0:10:35.429 then when the rock stuff started coming in to country music, 0:10:35.429 --> 0:10:38.550 that ruined what we called country music before that. We've 0:10:38.590 --> 0:10:44.750 gone through that, that evolution several times, and it's still happening. 0:10:44.790 --> 0:10:48.370 I mean, it just should country be by country. It 0:10:48.370 --> 0:10:52.849 really depends on what decade you call country. And before 0:10:52.850 --> 0:10:57.530 now there wasn't bandwidth, but now you have 90s country 0:10:57.809 --> 0:11:01.490 internet radio and you have Spotify pages for all that. 0:11:01.530 --> 0:11:06.209 So right now Nashville's got a lot of hamburgers. Nobody's 0:11:06.210 --> 0:11:07.810 forcing you to eat McDonald's. 0:11:07.970 --> 0:11:11.290 Bruce teamed up with Scott Hendricks. If you don't know Scott, 0:11:11.370 --> 0:11:14.690 he worked on his grandparents farm driving a tractor in Oklahoma. 0:11:14.809 --> 0:11:18.970 Then he became a Nashville music producer with 75 top 0:11:18.970 --> 0:11:21.770 ten hits to his credit. He was the founder of 0:11:21.770 --> 0:11:26.730 the Big Tractor music publishing company. And Scott Hendricks became entangled, 0:11:26.730 --> 0:11:29.210 I guess you could say, with one of the witnesses 0:11:29.330 --> 0:11:30.730 of the murder on Music Row. 0:11:31.210 --> 0:11:35.250 I signed my deal in November of 89, and Scott 0:11:35.290 --> 0:11:39.010 Hendricks and I opened Big Tractor in 92. I was 0:11:39.010 --> 0:11:42.050 only at universal for three years. And when Scott and 0:11:42.050 --> 0:11:45.410 I opened our company, I remember going in the office 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.920 one night we were in the curb building there on 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:51.440 the corner, and, um, I said, hey, I'm going to 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:54.200 hear an artist named Faith Hill tonight. Gary Burr is 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:58.320 working with her. And he said, uh, I already passed 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:02.360 on her. Wow. I went to the show and I 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:04.760 thought she was great. Scott would sit in his office 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.960 and listen to songs all night. I mean, a slave 0:12:08.000 --> 0:12:11.160 to trying to find the best song. And I went 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.880 back after the show or the next morning and told Scott, man, 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:18.440 I don't know. I think there's something there. And, uh, 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:22.680 a few days later, Martha Sharp walked her down, you know, 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:26.040 3 or 4 buildings from Warner Brothers and introduced her 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:32.080 to Scott personally. And, um, everything changed fast in 1994. 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.520 Faith Hill divorced her husband, Daniel, who you heard from 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.360 in the first episode of this podcast. Faith then got 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:41.880 engaged to Scott Hendricks, but then she met Tim McGraw 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:45.059 in 1994 and married him in him in 1996 and 0:12:45.059 --> 0:12:47.740 became one of the biggest power couples in country music. 0:12:48.580 --> 0:12:51.059 Faith Hill became a star, but it took a lot 0:12:51.100 --> 0:12:55.220 of effort after singing to entertain prisoners at a Mississippi jail, 0:12:55.700 --> 0:12:59.620 singing demos in Nashville, auditioning to be a backup singer 0:12:59.620 --> 0:13:03.380 for Reba, not being selected, becoming a backup singer for 0:13:03.380 --> 0:13:06.620 Gary Burr, working a bunch of gigs with Burr in 0:13:06.620 --> 0:13:08.980 which he got his soul crushed by not attracting a 0:13:08.980 --> 0:13:13.100 record deal. Finally, Faith was discovered during a backup gig 0:13:13.100 --> 0:13:17.500 with Burr at the famous Bluebird Cafe. She got a deal. 0:13:18.059 --> 0:13:22.060 Burr did not. But don't worry about Gary Burr. He's 0:13:22.059 --> 0:13:25.460 had a long, great career as a performer and songwriter. 0:13:25.860 --> 0:13:28.860 Burr has more than 170 songs to his credit, with 0:13:28.860 --> 0:13:33.740 cuts by Reba mcEntire, Patty Loveless, Garth Brooks, and on 0:13:33.740 --> 0:13:38.020 and on and on. The Faith Hill story has inspired 0:13:38.020 --> 0:13:41.620 a million Nashville dreams. I tried several times to set 0:13:41.660 --> 0:13:43.970 up an interview to talk to her about the murder 0:13:43.970 --> 0:13:47.250 case and her career. I got a note from Faith's manager, 0:13:47.530 --> 0:13:52.010 Sandra Stillwagon. Quote. Faith is aware of the podcast as 0:13:52.010 --> 0:13:53.850 I let her know when I asked her about doing 0:13:53.850 --> 0:13:57.770 the interview. I appreciate your interest in speaking with Faith, 0:13:57.770 --> 0:14:05.450 but she isn't doing any interviews, unquote. Sammy Sadler's attempt 0:14:05.450 --> 0:14:08.090 to become a country star did not look like the 0:14:08.130 --> 0:14:12.290 same journey taken by Faith Hill or Garth Brooks. It 0:14:12.290 --> 0:14:16.690 did not involve open mic nights, playing corporate gigs, singing 0:14:16.690 --> 0:14:19.850 at birthday parties or bowling alleys. It didn't involve much 0:14:19.850 --> 0:14:23.650 singing at all. Instead, Sammy was going to make independent 0:14:23.650 --> 0:14:28.090 or custom records. Seven inch vinyl 45. Work the phones. 0:14:28.210 --> 0:14:30.690 Get his songs played on the radio and get his 0:14:30.690 --> 0:14:34.490 songs recognized in the country charts in hopes of getting 0:14:34.490 --> 0:14:37.770 noticed by a major label. In the first five years 0:14:37.770 --> 0:14:41.130 he was in Nashville, from 1984 until the shooting of 0:14:41.130 --> 0:14:45.200 Kevin Hughes. Sammy didn't play a single gig in town 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:49.200 or sell a single record. In 1985, he signed a 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.160 record deal with Johnny Morris, who was part owner of 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:56.640 Evergreen Records. Morris had once been a radio DJ in Missouri. 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:01.359 Evergreen had produced records on some local talent like Narvel Felts, 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.640 Joe Stampley, and Robin Lee. Lee went on to sign 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.760 with Atlantic Records, but Sammy said his record deal was 0:15:07.760 --> 0:15:09.760 different than a lot of other young people who came 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.760 to Nashville with rich parents and got taken advantage of 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.960 by independent labels. Sammy said neither he nor his parents 0:15:17.120 --> 0:15:20.520 paid Morris any money. While lots of musicians like him 0:15:20.520 --> 0:15:25.120 were getting shaken down for $5,000 here and $10,000 there, 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.320 or much more. Sammy said that wasn't happening to him. 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.080 It raises the question, though, who was paying for those 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:36.240 records and studio time? Sammy was adamant the first five 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.320 years of his career, he said, for all intent and purpose, 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:43.300 was an Was an expensive game to which he contributed nothing. 0:15:43.700 --> 0:15:46.700 He and his parents paid no money for records. And 0:15:46.700 --> 0:15:50.300 his records made him and his label no money. Sammy 0:15:50.340 --> 0:15:54.980 said Morris agreed to produce and promote six singles. When 0:15:54.980 --> 0:15:58.940 you signed with evergreen, did you actually sign a piece 0:15:58.940 --> 0:16:03.180 of paper? Yeah. And did you have a signing party? 0:16:03.220 --> 0:16:06.700 I would think no. That would have to be the highlight. 0:16:06.740 --> 0:16:08.220 I mean, that's that's the dream, right? 0:16:08.260 --> 0:16:10.500 Well, I mean, again, man, I mean, I came to 0:16:10.500 --> 0:16:12.980 this town. I was just a naive kid, you know? 0:16:13.020 --> 0:16:16.940 I didn't know any of this business worked. How things happened. And, 0:16:16.980 --> 0:16:19.300 you know, there was no signing party. 0:16:19.340 --> 0:16:22.820 As part of their agreement. Morris also hired Sammy to 0:16:22.860 --> 0:16:26.780 work in the evergreen office, paying Sammy $200 per week 0:16:27.140 --> 0:16:32.220 for 40 hours of tedious promotion. Early in 1985, Sammy 0:16:32.220 --> 0:16:36.020 began working a regular eight hour shift, working the phones, 0:16:36.020 --> 0:16:41.250 pitching songs, sometimes 30 calls per day, promoting evergreen artists 0:16:41.250 --> 0:16:45.210 and promoting himself to radio stations and to Cashbox magazine. 0:16:45.530 --> 0:16:49.250 Sammy's paycheck from evergreen wasn't enough to pay for an apartment, 0:16:49.370 --> 0:16:51.010 so his father paid for that. 0:16:51.170 --> 0:16:53.570 My mom moved up here with me, and we we 0:16:53.570 --> 0:16:55.370 rented an apartment. 0:16:55.410 --> 0:16:58.250 Um, I know that it was about six months before 0:16:58.250 --> 0:17:01.410 you hooked up with Evergreen Records. Were you a waiter? 0:17:01.610 --> 0:17:04.290 Where did you. Did you work in a mechanic's? You know. 0:17:04.810 --> 0:17:07.450 I think I worked two days at a at a 0:17:07.450 --> 0:17:11.610 western store here in town. Out somewhere out, uh, by 0:17:11.650 --> 0:17:15.050 Opryland or. Or somewhere. But then my dad again, you know, 0:17:15.090 --> 0:17:17.890 my dad had his business, so he he kind of 0:17:17.930 --> 0:17:20.570 took care of me while I was here, and, uh, 0:17:20.570 --> 0:17:23.410 he kind of footed the bill for me, uh, to 0:17:23.450 --> 0:17:24.330 to do what we do. 0:17:24.530 --> 0:17:27.770 You had a strategy when you came to Nashville, and 0:17:27.770 --> 0:17:30.810 I want to know if this is intentional. You weren't 0:17:30.810 --> 0:17:33.730 the kind of singer to be playing a bunch of gigs. 0:17:34.810 --> 0:17:37.330 You know, I didn't, uh, we weren't playing, you know, 0:17:37.369 --> 0:17:39.639 gigs around here or doing any of that kind of stuff. 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:44.000 And whenever I came and we signed with evergreen, you know, 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:46.679 Johnny was looking for a I don't know if he's 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.720 looking for another record promoter or what, but he said, man, 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.280 you just go to work for the label. And, you know, 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:55.600 I started working there promoting records as well. And that's, 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.080 you know, that's how I learned how the record promotion 0:17:59.080 --> 0:18:00.040 business worked. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:02.720 But it was an intentional strategy. I think the reason 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:06.160 I'm asking is if I've talked to a bunch of singers, 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:08.840 and how do you make it in Nashville? I think 0:18:08.840 --> 0:18:12.240 they would say, play as many open mic nights as 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.080 you can. You decided not to do that? 0:18:14.200 --> 0:18:16.199 Well, it's I don't know if it's I decided not to. 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.640 I mean, man, I was just a 18 year old 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.320 kid out of Texas, you know, I thought, you know, 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.360 if you if you could sing, you know, you could 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:25.800 make it in this business. And, you know, I just 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:27.879 I don't I don't think I planned it any way. 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:29.480 I think it's just how it happened. 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.280 Sammy said he would show up to work at 1020 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:36.040 1/16 Avenue South in the Evergreen Building. It's still there 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.580 if you want to drive by. He usually would be 0:18:38.580 --> 0:18:40.899 the only person in the office. He would be given 0:18:40.900 --> 0:18:45.580 a list of radio stations to call nicely prodding, asking provocatively, 0:18:45.740 --> 0:18:49.500 strongly suggesting that it would be great if songs by 0:18:49.500 --> 0:18:53.139 Sammy Sadler and other evergreen recording artists be played on 0:18:53.140 --> 0:18:56.460 their stations. He said not only did he lobby hard 0:18:56.460 --> 0:19:00.620 for airplay, he would also collect statistics from radio stations 0:19:00.619 --> 0:19:04.140 and report them to Cashbox. In effect, the singer was 0:19:04.140 --> 0:19:06.619 calling in his own numbers and numbers for his indie 0:19:06.619 --> 0:19:10.060 label mates to Cashbox magazine. What did you need to 0:19:10.100 --> 0:19:11.420 call Cashbox for? 0:19:11.500 --> 0:19:15.300 You had to call in and report your stations to 0:19:15.340 --> 0:19:18.420 them or your report every week on your records you 0:19:18.420 --> 0:19:19.020 were working. 0:19:19.300 --> 0:19:22.659 So let me make sure I got this straight. W 0:19:22.700 --> 0:19:28.859 whatever station calls you and tells you which songs are charting, 0:19:28.859 --> 0:19:31.020 do they give you numbers like this? Has this many 0:19:31.020 --> 0:19:31.859 plays and that many? 0:19:31.900 --> 0:19:33.820 Yeah. I mean, it's like first, you know, you'll get 0:19:33.820 --> 0:19:36.450 an ad, so it'd be an add. So we're adding 0:19:36.450 --> 0:19:38.890 the record. So you get an add. Then like I said, 0:19:39.130 --> 0:19:40.689 once you get an add then you would have to 0:19:40.730 --> 0:19:43.530 turn it into or can you, you know, turn it 0:19:43.530 --> 0:19:46.250 into numbers of what you're playing. So you'd have to 0:19:46.250 --> 0:19:50.369 give Kevin, you know, say Norvel got this many adds 0:19:50.369 --> 0:19:53.210 this week, so you'd give him the number and then 0:19:53.210 --> 0:19:55.570 whatever he had to do with whatever his job was. 0:19:56.330 --> 0:19:58.449 The the important point, I think, though, is that it 0:19:58.450 --> 0:20:02.410 came through you, goes to you then, Kevin. 0:20:02.410 --> 0:20:04.930 Yeah. I mean, why didn't they call Kevin directly? 0:20:06.050 --> 0:20:08.890 I mean, that's just, you know, that's how that's how 0:20:08.890 --> 0:20:11.730 the system was working at evergreen of what we had 0:20:11.730 --> 0:20:13.530 to do and what I had to do every week, 0:20:13.770 --> 0:20:17.410 I would just take and compile my list of evergreen's 0:20:17.450 --> 0:20:20.050 artists of whose record we were working, and I would 0:20:20.050 --> 0:20:21.530 just call it in and give it to him. 0:20:21.690 --> 0:20:23.570 Was there about 4 or 5 artists at a time? 0:20:23.730 --> 0:20:26.090 It sometimes it just depends on, you know. 0:20:26.130 --> 0:20:27.930 Sometimes only 1 or 2 maybe. 0:20:27.970 --> 0:20:29.170 Just depends on when they were because. 0:20:29.170 --> 0:20:29.810 It was small. 0:20:29.850 --> 0:20:32.650 Yeah. And when they were released. Singles. 0:20:32.650 --> 0:20:36.480 I've shared Sammi's Sammy's explanation with a couple of industry insiders, 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:38.400 who said it was hard to even wrap their heads 0:20:38.400 --> 0:20:41.040 around a situation in which a guy at a small 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:43.760 label was reporting for radio stations. 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:47.560 I don't make any sense. That's total corruption. If the 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.960 report that's like, you know, going and doing ballot harvesting 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:55.080 for a vote, that don't make any sense. So that 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:56.920 stinks to high heaven right there. 0:20:57.160 --> 0:20:59.760 Mark Carman was a singer who then got into the 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.719 business side of music. He took over as the cash 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:06.240 box director of operations after Kevin Hughes was killed. He 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:11.040 knew how the reporting was supposed to work. I haven't 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:12.639 said a whole lot about the guy who was in 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:16.240 charge of putting all these investigative threads together. Detective Bill 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:20.719 Pridemore was raised a military kid bouncing around bases. He 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:23.479 was ten years old, living in Dayton, Ohio, when he 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:24.920 was the victim of a crime. 0:21:25.560 --> 0:21:28.720 I'd just gotten this bike and it was a Schwinn 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:31.600 five speed, which is, you know, really hot at the 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:36.780 time with the banana seed and the butterfly handlebars and, 0:21:36.820 --> 0:21:40.260 you know, kids our age. And at that time, we 0:21:40.260 --> 0:21:42.739 just set the bike down in the middle of the 0:21:42.740 --> 0:21:45.260 yard or on the side of the house and didn't 0:21:45.260 --> 0:21:48.860 have to worry about being stolen, I didn't think. Uh, 0:21:48.859 --> 0:21:51.060 so anyway, I it was sitting on the side of 0:21:51.060 --> 0:21:54.219 the house or in the yard, and I came out 0:21:54.220 --> 0:21:57.700 the next day and it was missing and I was 0:21:57.700 --> 0:22:00.780 really upset. And so my mother called the police and 0:22:00.820 --> 0:22:04.180 a police officer came out, and he seemed really concerned. 0:22:04.180 --> 0:22:06.100 He said, well, come on, let's get in the car 0:22:06.980 --> 0:22:09.780 and let's ride around the Platt and see if we 0:22:09.780 --> 0:22:12.660 can find it. And so I did. I got in 0:22:12.660 --> 0:22:16.380 the car and in the front seat with the radio blaring, 0:22:16.380 --> 0:22:20.780 and we rode around. I mean, it was like at 0:22:20.820 --> 0:22:25.020 least 30 or 40 minutes. And sure enough, he rode 0:22:25.020 --> 0:22:29.020 down this one street and there was my bike without 0:22:29.020 --> 0:22:33.290 a front wheel, but, uh. And my speedometer was gone, but, 0:22:33.330 --> 0:22:34.770 you know, got it put in the trunk of his 0:22:34.770 --> 0:22:37.450 car and took me back home and took it out 0:22:37.450 --> 0:22:40.530 and went on his way. And I just, you know, 0:22:40.570 --> 0:22:43.970 I was amazed I was that somebody, especially a policeman, 0:22:44.010 --> 0:22:47.730 that he would take the time out of his day to, 0:22:47.770 --> 0:22:49.770 you know, to ride around with a ten year old 0:22:49.770 --> 0:22:52.810 kid in the car and look for his bicycle and 0:22:52.810 --> 0:22:56.250 that just it always from that point forward, I just felt, 0:22:56.290 --> 0:22:58.090 you know, I was just I just admired him. I 0:22:58.090 --> 0:23:00.890 admired the fact that, you know, he's a perfect stranger. 0:23:00.890 --> 0:23:03.290 And as I got older, it just impressed me more 0:23:03.369 --> 0:23:05.889 because he was a perfect stranger. 0:23:06.330 --> 0:23:10.929 Pridemore's family lived in Offutt, Nebraska and Kingston, Tennessee, before 0:23:10.930 --> 0:23:16.010 moving to Nashville in 1971. Pridemore attended Stratford High. Shortly 0:23:16.010 --> 0:23:19.010 after high school, he got a job working at UPS. 0:23:19.210 --> 0:23:23.129 He started at the police academy in 1976. Over the 0:23:23.130 --> 0:23:26.210 next nine years, Pridemore worked his way to the spot 0:23:26.250 --> 0:23:27.570 he had always wanted. 0:23:27.970 --> 0:23:31.600 So they created the Murder Squad unit. They took the best. 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:35.040 They considered the best from the homicide unit and created 0:23:35.040 --> 0:23:36.320 the Murder Squad unit. 0:23:36.520 --> 0:23:39.879 There were six guys on the Murder Squad. One of 0:23:39.880 --> 0:23:44.680 the guys was Pat Castiglione, the guy who became Pridemore's partner. 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:46.280 What was your first impression of Pat? 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:50.800 Well, other than he was from New York City, I 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:54.800 liked him. I mean, he didn't try to be overbearing. 0:23:55.800 --> 0:23:57.760 When we got to a crime scene, he didn't he 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:01.199 didn't try to take over the crime scene. Uh, he 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:04.600 and I got along well. We we giggled. We, you know, 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:07.320 we ask each other questions, made points and things. 0:24:07.400 --> 0:24:10.320 Pridemore used a term that I had never heard. He 0:24:10.320 --> 0:24:14.040 said he and gee had. I had to look it up. 0:24:14.119 --> 0:24:18.040 It's a farming term used when train donkeys work in tandem. 0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:22.520 They gee-haw when they move left or right smoothly. It 0:24:22.520 --> 0:24:26.240 means they work well together. In this case, Pridemore was 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:29.459 the lead donkey. The two The two detectives would spend 0:24:29.460 --> 0:24:32.420 hours sitting on the short brick wall across the street 0:24:32.420 --> 0:24:35.700 from Evergreen Records, trying to figure out what the hell 0:24:35.700 --> 0:24:43.260 was going on. After Kevin's death, for the first time 0:24:43.260 --> 0:24:46.859 in their lives, the detectives were introduced to the mechanics 0:24:46.859 --> 0:24:51.580 of a music chart at Cashbox magazine. They found a doozy. 0:24:51.940 --> 0:24:55.820 The hitmaker, Bobby Braddock, said number one at Cashbox was 0:24:55.820 --> 0:25:00.300 basically meaningless. He wrote a hit song called Old Flames 0:25:00.300 --> 0:25:02.740 Have New Names for Mark Chesnutt. 0:25:03.700 --> 0:25:04.740 And it was. 0:25:04.780 --> 0:25:08.179 Number one in Cash Box and, uh, I think number 0:25:08.180 --> 0:25:10.940 four in Billboard at that point. I don't think anybody, 0:25:10.980 --> 0:25:13.740 you know, had a lot of respect for for Cashbox. 0:25:13.740 --> 0:25:16.060 And I think just the buzz that was going around 0:25:16.060 --> 0:25:19.500 after the after the murder of Kevin Hughes, you know, 0:25:19.540 --> 0:25:22.379 I think that that had a huge impact on the 0:25:22.380 --> 0:25:24.899 negative impact on Cashbox, for sure. 0:25:25.300 --> 0:25:27.689 I know it's a little hard to hear. He's saying 0:25:27.690 --> 0:25:32.490 number one at Cashbox wasn't a respected position, especially after 0:25:32.490 --> 0:25:35.890 the murder of Kevin Hughes. Here's Lon Helton, the chart 0:25:35.890 --> 0:25:38.010 expert on the Cashbox chart. 0:25:38.369 --> 0:25:42.649 It was certainly unethical. I remember stories of people sitting 0:25:42.730 --> 0:25:46.209 in Shoney's at the time, talking loudly about being in 0:25:46.210 --> 0:25:50.330 the music business, hoping that they would be overheard by, 0:25:50.369 --> 0:25:52.690 you know, a set of parents or grandparents with an 0:25:52.690 --> 0:25:55.850 aspiring young star or starlet who would come over them 0:25:55.850 --> 0:25:58.330 and talk about it, and then they would get them 0:25:58.330 --> 0:26:02.290 in the system of paying for chart positions. 0:26:02.930 --> 0:26:05.090 Mark Carman had similar thoughts. 0:26:05.090 --> 0:26:09.330 But I learned at that point the charts were just irrelevant. 0:26:09.850 --> 0:26:13.370 They didn't mean anything. I knew that there was that. 0:26:13.369 --> 0:26:18.410 The charts were indicative of nothing. They didn't represent sales. 0:26:18.410 --> 0:26:21.369 They didn't represent how popular the record was in the 0:26:21.369 --> 0:26:26.760 industry overall. They just represented somebody took a pencil and 0:26:26.760 --> 0:26:29.280 wrote it down. For whatever reason. 0:26:29.520 --> 0:26:33.119 It got so bad that promoter Jerry Duncan stopped working 0:26:33.119 --> 0:26:36.560 with Cashbox in 1988. He wasn't the only one who 0:26:36.560 --> 0:26:39.119 quit promoting to Cashbox altogether. 0:26:39.160 --> 0:26:42.520 It had been a year since I got out of Cashbox, 0:26:42.520 --> 0:26:45.000 and I knew about I knew what was going on. 0:26:45.320 --> 0:26:47.240 So it had taken that long for us to see 0:26:47.240 --> 0:26:49.760 just how bad it was. And so two and two 0:26:49.800 --> 0:26:52.280 makes four. It was clear to everybody. 0:26:52.520 --> 0:26:56.000 And there was one guy everybody in town believed was 0:26:56.000 --> 0:26:57.440 controlling the Cashbox. 0:26:57.440 --> 0:26:59.160 Chart Chuck Dixon, Chuck. 0:26:59.160 --> 0:27:00.440 Dixon, Chuck Dixon. 0:27:00.520 --> 0:27:04.400 Chuck Dixon, won't you lie to me? 0:27:04.680 --> 0:27:07.159 Chuck Dixon was probably the ugliest man I ever met 0:27:07.160 --> 0:27:07.840 in my life. 0:27:09.920 --> 0:27:14.480 Chuck Dixon's name wasn't Chuck Dixon. His given name was 0:27:14.480 --> 0:27:19.160 John Blane, Deadline junior. He grew up in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, 0:27:19.160 --> 0:27:22.440 which is about 40 miles from Philadelphia in the southeastern 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:25.419 corner of the state. As a teenager, Chuck fell in 0:27:25.420 --> 0:27:29.100 love with rock n roll in 1955. He learned how 0:27:29.100 --> 0:27:31.699 to play guitar and spent the rest of the decade 0:27:31.820 --> 0:27:35.620 writing and singing songs. He played in Philadelphia and New 0:27:35.619 --> 0:27:39.900 York City sometime in the 1960s. His focus switched from 0:27:39.900 --> 0:27:42.860 performing to the business end of music. There's an old 0:27:42.900 --> 0:27:48.100 Tennessean clipping from August 20th, 1969. A Nashville company called 0:27:48.100 --> 0:27:52.020 Clark Records was being sued by a singer named John Poole. 0:27:52.060 --> 0:27:55.860 Poole said he had paid $1,400, and all the company 0:27:55.859 --> 0:27:59.140 gave him was one single 45 record. Poole said he 0:27:59.140 --> 0:28:04.260 also paid a clerk agent, John B Federline, junior, $600 0:28:04.260 --> 0:28:08.179 to advertise the record in trade journals. Federline kept the 0:28:08.180 --> 0:28:10.980 money and didn't promote the record. I couldn't find any 0:28:10.980 --> 0:28:14.460 resolution to that lawsuit. One thing is for sure, some 0:28:14.460 --> 0:28:17.660 people have not trusted Chuck Dixon for a long time. 0:28:18.100 --> 0:28:21.300 In the late 60s, he left Coatesville with the intention 0:28:21.300 --> 0:28:24.490 of chasing a music career in Memphis, a story by 0:28:24.490 --> 0:28:28.609 Joe Henderson in Cashbox magazine said, on the way to Memphis, 0:28:28.930 --> 0:28:31.609 Chuck made a stop in Nashville, and he never left. 0:28:31.690 --> 0:28:35.210 He saw the opportunities for business in Music City in 0:28:35.210 --> 0:28:39.730 his songwriting career. He wrote under the name Chuck D, J.B. 0:28:39.770 --> 0:28:44.370 Deadline Jr, and Chuck Dixon. His first break when George Gobel, 0:28:44.410 --> 0:28:47.209 who would later become a star as a comedian, recorded 0:28:47.210 --> 0:28:51.770 a JB Federline Junior song called Big Gold Cadillac. I 0:28:51.770 --> 0:28:53.970 talked to more than a couple of people who said 0:28:53.970 --> 0:28:58.050 Chuck presented himself as a good guy. A little intense, maybe. 0:28:58.130 --> 0:29:00.650 He liked the movie The Godfather and liked to act 0:29:00.650 --> 0:29:03.370 like as if his real life was a storyline in 0:29:03.370 --> 0:29:05.890 that movie. But they said he seemed like basically a 0:29:05.890 --> 0:29:08.610 good family man with a good eye for music. 0:29:08.970 --> 0:29:09.570 Chuck came. 0:29:09.570 --> 0:29:11.130 In. He said, you are the one that's. 0:29:11.130 --> 0:29:13.090 Got to write a song about Hank. 0:29:13.130 --> 0:29:17.130 Gary Gentry met Chuck sometime. It appears in 1982. Gary 0:29:17.130 --> 0:29:20.530 and Chuck share writing credit on a smash hit called 0:29:20.650 --> 0:29:25.320 The Ride, which was released on CBS records in 1983. 0:29:25.440 --> 0:29:28.719 It's about an imaginary ride with Hank Williams, and it 0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:31.800 was Chuck who pushed Gary to write the song. The 0:29:31.800 --> 0:29:35.120 ride was sung by David Allan Coe and later Hank 0:29:35.160 --> 0:29:38.120 Williams Jr and Tim McGraw. And one more singer of 0:29:38.120 --> 0:29:40.200 note I'll tell you about that most recent cover of 0:29:40.200 --> 0:29:43.400 The ride in the last episode of this podcast. 0:29:43.440 --> 0:29:44.920 Well, we met that night. 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:47.000 I thought, well, it's a good idea. I've been clean 0:29:47.000 --> 0:29:50.160 and sober since 1984, but back then I was a 0:29:50.160 --> 0:29:53.400 party animal boy, and, uh, he wanted to write a 0:29:53.400 --> 0:29:56.920 song about Hank and Lefty. Well, we did, and at 10:00, 0:29:56.920 --> 0:29:59.080 he said, Gary, I gotta go home. He said, I 0:29:59.080 --> 0:30:02.000 like the song. I said, well, I don't it's not 0:30:02.040 --> 0:30:04.440 what I want for Hank. I want the I want 0:30:04.440 --> 0:30:06.560 a better song for Hank. So I was drinking and 0:30:06.560 --> 0:30:09.840 doing cocaine. The song went like, uh, last night, a 0:30:09.840 --> 0:30:12.800 DJ called me. He said, Gary, I need a drink. 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:18.240 Said someone requested a lefty song, and it sounded like Hank. 0:30:18.280 --> 0:30:21.180 I said, brother, I believe you get his number next 0:30:21.180 --> 0:30:24.940 to my phone, because wherever Hank and Lefty are, that's 0:30:24.940 --> 0:30:27.860 where I want to go. Well, it's not what I wanted. 0:30:27.860 --> 0:30:30.780 I wanted a tribute to Hank. And so when Hank, 0:30:30.860 --> 0:30:33.740 when he left, I dove down deeper into the bottle 0:30:33.740 --> 0:30:37.140 and deeper into cocaine. And I had held a seance. 0:30:37.180 --> 0:30:39.180 So I dove deeper in the bottle, and I held 0:30:39.180 --> 0:30:41.780 a seance and cut all the lights out, lit candles, 0:30:41.780 --> 0:30:44.020 cussed Hank because I couldn't get him to come into 0:30:44.020 --> 0:30:50.380 the room. Well, guess what he did. And, uh, I said, Mr. Williams, 0:30:50.380 --> 0:30:52.340 we're going to take a ride. So next day, I 0:30:52.340 --> 0:30:55.740 found an unfiltered cigarette in the, uh, ashtray. I don't 0:30:55.740 --> 0:30:57.980 smoke unfiltered cigarettes. He was sitting there on a couch, 0:30:58.020 --> 0:31:02.780 smoking with his shirt off, and, uh. Yeah, Hank was 0:31:02.780 --> 0:31:04.140 a co-rider on that ride. 0:31:04.220 --> 0:31:07.780 The next morning, Gary called Chuck and Chuck's wife, Catherine, 0:31:07.780 --> 0:31:10.260 who they called. Carter was listening on the phone. 0:31:10.420 --> 0:31:14.700 And now Chuck was not per se, a songwriter. And 0:31:14.700 --> 0:31:16.420 I called him at 4:00 in the morning. I could 0:31:16.460 --> 0:31:19.850 barely read my own writing. I was still drunk. He said, 0:31:19.890 --> 0:31:21.770 I said, I want you to hear something. So we 0:31:21.770 --> 0:31:24.250 didn't have cell phones. Then I laid the phone down, 0:31:24.930 --> 0:31:26.970 picked up the guitar and played it for him. He said, 0:31:26.970 --> 0:31:30.050 oh my God, Carter, wake up, wake up, you gotta 0:31:30.050 --> 0:31:33.770 hear this. And so she did. I knew it was 0:31:33.810 --> 0:31:36.210 a hit. It was like sitting there on the lottery ticket, 0:31:36.210 --> 0:31:37.890 you know, all you had to do was go cash 0:31:37.890 --> 0:31:40.770 it in. It was a monster. I knew it was. 0:31:40.810 --> 0:31:44.490 Chuck got royalties and an enhanced reputation off that song. 0:31:44.490 --> 0:31:47.370 I don't know how many songs Chuck Dixon actually wrote, 0:31:47.370 --> 0:31:51.170 but I found 27 songs which listed him as co-writer 0:31:51.290 --> 0:31:55.770 with Johnny Morris, Jerry foster, Bill rice, John T Lewis, 0:31:56.130 --> 0:32:00.210 Don Goodman and others. I also found nine songs on 0:32:00.210 --> 0:32:04.490 which he sang, sometimes using the name Chuck D. Chuck's 0:32:04.490 --> 0:32:08.890 main focus was making money off songs, not sweet music. 0:32:09.330 --> 0:32:12.450 Many people I've interviewed have described Chuck Dixon as a 0:32:12.450 --> 0:32:15.490 mafioso type. The Mafia tag is used a lot in 0:32:15.490 --> 0:32:19.120 this murder case. From my reporting, Dixon was not a 0:32:19.120 --> 0:32:21.320 made guy. Even if he might have tried to act 0:32:21.320 --> 0:32:24.440 like one. I talked to Frederick Dannen, author of the 0:32:24.440 --> 0:32:28.720 seminal book Hit Men, Power Brokers, and Fast Money Inside 0:32:28.720 --> 0:32:31.840 the Music Business. He had never heard of Chuck Dixon. 0:32:32.040 --> 0:32:35.280 He said these low level scams ripping off kids from 0:32:35.280 --> 0:32:39.440 Iowa with acoustic guitars and manipulating small time music charts, 0:32:39.520 --> 0:32:41.160 were not a part of the Mafia. 0:32:41.200 --> 0:32:45.240 Footprint didn't matter all that much, certainly not compared to 0:32:45.800 --> 0:32:49.200 Billboard first and then Radio and Records. In that era, 0:32:49.320 --> 0:32:50.440 it just doesn't add up. 0:32:53.600 --> 0:32:57.360 Kyle Hughes was a teenager in 1988 when he came 0:32:57.360 --> 0:33:00.600 to Nashville for the summer to visit his older brother, Kevin. 0:33:00.960 --> 0:33:03.920 Kevin was introducing Kyle around to the people he worked with. 0:33:04.320 --> 0:33:06.240 One of them was Chuck Dixon. 0:33:06.280 --> 0:33:09.960 He was overly jovial. When I met, Chuck said a 0:33:09.960 --> 0:33:11.920 lot of nice things about Kevin. When I was there, 0:33:12.160 --> 0:33:15.120 but for some reason, I got home. When I came 0:33:15.120 --> 0:33:18.740 home to to Carmi, I said, Chuck Dixon guy just 0:33:18.740 --> 0:33:22.260 doesn't go well with me for some reason. He was 0:33:22.260 --> 0:33:25.460 really fake. That's how I felt when I left the office. 0:33:25.700 --> 0:33:27.460 He just felt like he was over the top fake. 0:33:27.500 --> 0:33:29.940 I remember he was behind his desk. I'll never forget 0:33:29.940 --> 0:33:31.900 him getting up. He's had the beard on and had 0:33:31.900 --> 0:33:34.540 his beard. And it's just I just never forget that 0:33:34.540 --> 0:33:37.300 moment of him doing that on his desk, you know, 0:33:37.300 --> 0:33:39.940 and come and shake my hand. We sat there for maybe, 0:33:40.220 --> 0:33:42.340 maybe five minutes, and we left. 0:33:45.460 --> 0:33:47.860 Since the charts were supposed to be based on radio 0:33:47.860 --> 0:33:51.860 station airplay, Chuck worked with several radio stations. In a 0:33:51.860 --> 0:33:56.100 deposition years later, a music promoter named Gary Bradshaw dropped 0:33:56.100 --> 0:34:00.580 several bombshells. He said 95% of the songs that appeared 0:34:00.580 --> 0:34:05.260 on the Cash Box Country Indie chart in 1989 received 0:34:05.260 --> 0:34:09.500 no radio airplay at all. Zero. There's no way to 0:34:09.540 --> 0:34:12.100 check on the veracity of that number, but if it's 0:34:12.100 --> 0:34:17.810 anything close to 95%, that's shocking. Bradshaw also said Chuck 0:34:17.810 --> 0:34:20.810 would buy tickets to country music events around Nashville and 0:34:20.810 --> 0:34:24.370 hotel rooms, and give them free to disc jockeys. Nashville 0:34:24.370 --> 0:34:28.729 law enforcement agencies never investigated payola, so we'll never know 0:34:28.890 --> 0:34:33.530 how much or how often Chuck Dixon corrupted radio station employees. 0:34:34.290 --> 0:34:38.450 Police did believe Chuck convinced some stations to report inaccurate numbers. 0:34:38.690 --> 0:34:42.489 Police and everyone else called those pocket stations. It's a 0:34:42.489 --> 0:34:46.009 common term, totally illegal. As if Chuck Dixon had them 0:34:46.010 --> 0:34:50.010 in his pocket. For example, Chuck Dixon would convince someone 0:34:50.010 --> 0:34:53.969 at radio station WRs to report they had played a 0:34:53.969 --> 0:34:57.690 song 100 times when actually they didn't play it at all. 0:34:57.810 --> 0:35:01.210 In other words, Chuck could take a crappy song with 0:35:01.210 --> 0:35:04.850 no airplay and make it look like a hit. In 0:35:04.850 --> 0:35:09.210 the world of independent promotions, that was like gold. It 0:35:09.210 --> 0:35:14.959 sounds preposterous, right? But check this out. On October 22nd, 1988, 0:35:15.360 --> 0:35:17.880 four and a half months before the murder of Kevin Hughes. 0:35:18.200 --> 0:35:21.879 A singer named Mickey Jones landed at number 17 on 0:35:21.880 --> 0:35:25.040 the Cash Box Indie chart with a song called The 0:35:25.040 --> 0:35:28.480 Gal from San Antone. The song was produced by Robert 0:35:28.480 --> 0:35:32.520 Metzger and promoted by Chuck Dixon. Here's the problem with 0:35:32.520 --> 0:35:36.000 that record. Due to a mix up at the pressing facility, 0:35:36.000 --> 0:35:40.240 the record had literally never been made. It had never 0:35:40.239 --> 0:35:43.280 been shipped to radio stations. It had never been played 0:35:43.280 --> 0:35:47.279 on the radio. But Metzger, I discovered in records I reviewed, 0:35:47.480 --> 0:35:51.760 had paid Chuck Dixon $15,000 for a position on the chart. 0:35:51.920 --> 0:35:54.000 So it got on the chart. Was that a one 0:35:54.040 --> 0:36:00.080 time mistake? Nope. Mark Carman remembers another one. 0:36:00.080 --> 0:36:02.760 I'd rather not say the name of the artist, because, 0:36:02.800 --> 0:36:05.439 you know, that may be humiliating to them, but I'll 0:36:05.440 --> 0:36:08.480 just say it this way. I was in the office 0:36:09.600 --> 0:36:16.299 when the call came in. Don't don't send in the 0:36:16.300 --> 0:36:20.900 chart yet. We got a problem. And the call was 0:36:21.739 --> 0:36:25.660 the record had been added and was being reported as 0:36:25.660 --> 0:36:30.739 being played in light, medium and heavy rotation. But there 0:36:30.739 --> 0:36:33.540 had been a problem on the on the labeling on 0:36:33.540 --> 0:36:38.299 the little 45 where they had the wrong songwriter on 0:36:38.300 --> 0:36:40.860 the label. So they were having to repress the record, 0:36:40.860 --> 0:36:44.900 and the record was three weeks behind. But the promoter 0:36:44.900 --> 0:36:48.100 had gotten the fact that it was going to release 0:36:48.100 --> 0:36:50.900 and had it in his schedule to get it out, 0:36:51.780 --> 0:36:54.580 and so he had promoted it for the whole week 0:36:56.060 --> 0:36:58.859 before he got the word that the record had not 0:36:58.860 --> 0:37:01.060 been mailed three weeks early. 0:37:01.340 --> 0:37:04.259 So it was impossible that anybody could have played that record. 0:37:04.660 --> 0:37:05.060 The record. 0:37:05.100 --> 0:37:06.180 Didn't exist. 0:37:07.860 --> 0:37:08.860 Who was that promoter? 0:37:09.739 --> 0:37:10.500 Chuck Dixon. 0:37:10.820 --> 0:37:14.330 Chuck Dixon also influenced what was going on inside the 0:37:14.330 --> 0:37:19.370 cash box office. Remember, it was a small operation. Chart director. 0:37:19.370 --> 0:37:23.410 Maybe one assistant. Dixon was good friends with Richard de Antonio, 0:37:23.530 --> 0:37:27.009 known as Tony de Tony. De was the chart director. 0:37:27.130 --> 0:37:29.450 Then after he was fired, he kept a key to 0:37:29.450 --> 0:37:32.250 the office and there were employees who believed Tony De 0:37:32.290 --> 0:37:35.410 would go in after dark and erase some names from 0:37:35.410 --> 0:37:39.049 that chart and add names of songs promoted by Chuck Dixon. 0:37:39.250 --> 0:37:41.810 Kyle Hughes said Kevin showed him two sets of charts 0:37:41.810 --> 0:37:45.090 he made every week. One was the chart that some 0:37:45.130 --> 0:37:49.250 unknown person was manipulating. Kevin had no control over that one. 0:37:49.330 --> 0:37:53.169 It would get published in the magazine. Complete fiction. The 0:37:53.170 --> 0:37:56.170 other was the real list of charting songs from real 0:37:56.170 --> 0:38:00.009 airplay statistics that Kevin had researched. A master copy that 0:38:00.010 --> 0:38:03.370 Kevin kept all to himself. He let his brother in 0:38:03.370 --> 0:38:04.130 on the secret. 0:38:04.170 --> 0:38:06.370 Kevin. Big old chart thing that he would work on. 0:38:06.410 --> 0:38:08.649 You know, we had those charts at the house with 0:38:08.650 --> 0:38:10.170 dates on them, and you could see, well, that's not 0:38:10.170 --> 0:38:13.109 what's in the Cash Box magazine. You know, so we 0:38:13.150 --> 0:38:15.469 knew doing that. So I knew that something had gone. 0:38:15.510 --> 0:38:18.350 Gone on with those those magazines for sure. We have 0:38:18.350 --> 0:38:19.910 it in black and white, you know. So he had 0:38:19.910 --> 0:38:22.190 the chart. It was a complete different magazine. 0:38:22.430 --> 0:38:24.589 He wanted to be able to prove to anyone who 0:38:24.590 --> 0:38:30.230 ever checked that he had integrity. Chuck was also friends 0:38:30.230 --> 0:38:34.469 with Cashbox owner George Albert, who was based in Los Angeles. 0:38:35.469 --> 0:38:39.390 Chuck's influence on the magazine was so pervasive, people in 0:38:39.390 --> 0:38:44.430 the industry called Cashbox magazine. Chuck Box magazine. Bradshaw, the 0:38:44.430 --> 0:38:47.670 promoter who worked with Chuck, said Dixon was completely in 0:38:47.670 --> 0:38:52.430 charge and made every decision for Cashbox magazine with George 0:38:52.430 --> 0:38:55.910 Albert's permission to do so. Listen to this conversation I 0:38:55.910 --> 0:39:00.030 had with Lon Helton, the famous DJ, music magazine editor 0:39:00.030 --> 0:39:03.630 and industry insider. While we're talking, he's got an issue 0:39:03.630 --> 0:39:07.310 of Cashbox magazine in front of him. I'm looking at it, too. 0:39:07.350 --> 0:39:12.779 It's August 12th, 1989. Beginning on page 20, he mentions Bradshaw. 0:39:12.980 --> 0:39:15.300 I found out later. Bradshaw is now dead. 0:39:16.020 --> 0:39:20.739 Cash box was George Albert's baby. It was part of him. 0:39:20.739 --> 0:39:25.140 It was part of his fabric. It existed because he 0:39:25.140 --> 0:39:29.940 willed it to exist. And he was willing to. He 0:39:29.940 --> 0:39:31.940 did not want it to die, so he was willing 0:39:31.980 --> 0:39:35.700 to do things maybe he didn't even believe in. By 0:39:35.700 --> 0:39:38.700 the way, in the August 12th, 1989 edition is an 0:39:38.700 --> 0:39:42.219 ad for Brian O'Neill. You're the softest rock I've ever 0:39:42.219 --> 0:39:47.660 leaned on and sing me records. Thanks, radio for your support. Management. O'Neill, Terry. 0:39:47.700 --> 0:39:49.900 National promotion. Chuck Dixon. 0:39:51.219 --> 0:39:55.460 Exactly. And that's six months after Kevin died. 0:39:55.739 --> 0:39:59.100 And there's another one for Razzy Bailey on So Records 0:39:59.100 --> 0:40:03.339 promotion by Chuck Dixon and Gary Bradshaw. Here's another one. Um, 0:40:03.860 --> 0:40:09.170 produced by Danny Day. The ads. So The promoters were 0:40:09.170 --> 0:40:11.529 getting money to promote their record, and then they were 0:40:12.090 --> 0:40:15.489 requiring them to buy ads. Here's another one Steve Douglas 0:40:15.810 --> 0:40:20.210 to a San Antone Rose national promotion. Chuck Dixon, Tim Fitzpatrick, 0:40:20.450 --> 0:40:25.250 also Tony de Antonio. So there's a lot going on here, man. 0:40:25.290 --> 0:40:28.290 I'd have to double check this, but I would probably 0:40:28.290 --> 0:40:30.689 say that none of those songs ever charted on the 0:40:30.690 --> 0:40:31.450 R&R chart. 0:40:31.570 --> 0:40:34.649 He's talking about a system in which promoters like Chuck 0:40:34.650 --> 0:40:40.250 Dixon charged money around $2,000 per month, promising singers chart positions, 0:40:40.370 --> 0:40:43.049 and then told them they needed to buy advertising in 0:40:43.050 --> 0:40:46.529 Cashbox if they wanted to be a star. He required 0:40:46.530 --> 0:40:50.210 artists to pay him bonuses up to $500 for songs 0:40:50.210 --> 0:40:54.049 that got on the charts successfully. Oftentimes, Dixon worked more 0:40:54.050 --> 0:40:57.209 than ten records at a time. That's good money. There 0:40:57.210 --> 0:41:00.770 were other allegations, too, about even bigger money. You heard 0:41:00.770 --> 0:41:04.530 from Amy Lavelle in a previous episode. She worked at Cashbox. 0:41:04.730 --> 0:41:08.350 Her husband, David Michalski, was a singer. He had a 0:41:08.350 --> 0:41:11.069 meeting with Chuck Dixon. I was talking to her when 0:41:11.070 --> 0:41:12.710 she put her husband on the phone. 0:41:12.870 --> 0:41:15.870 Chuck was telling him off for this. This many thousand. 0:41:15.910 --> 0:41:18.350 I can get you number one at Cashbox, you know, 0:41:18.390 --> 0:41:21.310 for this many thousand top ten and all the way 0:41:21.310 --> 0:41:24.550 down in the top 50. So that's how I knew 0:41:24.550 --> 0:41:26.790 for sure that was going on. 0:41:26.830 --> 0:41:29.989 Do you remember what those numbers were? What how how 0:41:29.989 --> 0:41:33.989 much for the top ten? How much for the top 50? 0:41:34.030 --> 0:41:39.310 Um, they said 50,000 for number one. Then we asked them, hey, honey, 0:41:40.630 --> 0:41:43.550 can you go on the phone from Nashville? Yeah. After 0:41:43.550 --> 0:41:47.669 50,000 for number one, what were the amounts? 50,000 for 0:41:47.670 --> 0:41:56.710 number one. Uh huh. 40,000. Wow. And 30. And on. 0:41:56.710 --> 0:42:00.270 Down all the way. Like 10,000. Clear down into the 0:42:00.270 --> 0:42:03.029 top 50. So, did you hear that cue? 0:42:03.550 --> 0:42:07.140 Yes, I did. And and did. Did you guys ever 0:42:07.140 --> 0:42:11.299 play ball with Chuck? Did you you know when you 0:42:11.300 --> 0:42:13.660 heard those numbers, what was your reaction? 0:42:14.340 --> 0:42:15.420 It was disgusting. 0:42:16.300 --> 0:42:19.780 She said it was disgusting. Dave had worked so hard 0:42:19.780 --> 0:42:21.899 to make it in the music business, and he didn't 0:42:21.900 --> 0:42:24.420 want to be part of a corrupt music chart. 0:42:25.739 --> 0:42:28.300 David worked so hard, you know, in the music business 0:42:28.300 --> 0:42:31.379 to get anywhere, and so many of our friends and 0:42:31.380 --> 0:42:34.259 people we looked up to did as well. We didn't 0:42:34.260 --> 0:42:37.299 want to participate in that in any way, shape or form. 0:42:37.340 --> 0:42:39.620 I asked Dave what he thought of Chuck Dixon. 0:42:39.739 --> 0:42:43.260 I thought he was a crook after, you know, after 0:42:43.260 --> 0:42:48.259 he offered me a $50,000 deal in his office. I 0:42:48.260 --> 0:42:50.979 just thought it was a cook and I didn't care 0:42:50.980 --> 0:42:53.380 for him. You know, that's not how the music business 0:42:53.380 --> 0:42:54.219 should be run. 0:42:54.300 --> 0:42:57.420 In the police file, there's an interview with Kim Buckley, 0:42:57.660 --> 0:43:00.739 who was an intern research assistant when Kevin took over 0:43:00.739 --> 0:43:03.779 as chart director. She said she remembers Kevin, I'll quote 0:43:03.780 --> 0:43:06.770 her quota now became very upset because he was ordered 0:43:06.770 --> 0:43:10.450 to change the charts by the owner of Cash Box, unquote. 0:43:10.690 --> 0:43:14.290 Kim told Pridemore an artist she didn't say, who had 0:43:14.290 --> 0:43:17.450 been paying cash for chart positions since the days Tony 0:43:17.450 --> 0:43:20.810 Deantonio was chart director. Kevin tried to knock that artist 0:43:20.850 --> 0:43:24.370 off the charts, but George Albert called Kevin and promised 0:43:24.450 --> 0:43:26.930 this would be the last time he had to change 0:43:26.930 --> 0:43:30.969 the charts because someone had paid cash. Kim said, quote, 0:43:31.370 --> 0:43:37.850 Kevin was very upset, but he did change the chart, unquote. 0:43:37.890 --> 0:43:42.330 In the first week of March 1989, Kevin Hughes attended 0:43:42.330 --> 0:43:46.450 the Country Radio Seminar, the annual event at the Gaylord 0:43:46.450 --> 0:43:49.969 Opryland Hotel. With all the big shots of the music industry. 0:43:50.010 --> 0:43:53.970 Randy Travis was one of the headliners in 1989. Jerry 0:43:54.010 --> 0:43:55.970 Duncan saw Kevin there. 0:43:55.969 --> 0:44:00.090 I saw Kevin at the country radio seminar one night 0:44:00.090 --> 0:44:02.250 and one of the one of the through. I don't know. 0:44:02.250 --> 0:44:05.750 Where one of the restaurants and I said at the seminar, 0:44:05.910 --> 0:44:09.230 one of the panels was almost always a chart panel 0:44:09.230 --> 0:44:12.230 where the various chart editors would be on a panel 0:44:12.230 --> 0:44:15.830 and explain their chart methodology and take questions. I was 0:44:15.830 --> 0:44:18.469 I would do things for changing it with with him 0:44:18.469 --> 0:44:20.910 there now and trying to be honest and clean up 0:44:20.910 --> 0:44:23.430 the chart. I knew things were changing and I said, 0:44:23.430 --> 0:44:25.870 are you going to be on the panel tomorrow or 0:44:25.870 --> 0:44:29.430 whatever day it was? And he said, no, I'm not 0:44:29.430 --> 0:44:33.270 going to do it this year. We're making some big changes. 0:44:33.390 --> 0:44:35.950 That was the last time I talked to Kevin Hughes. 0:44:35.989 --> 0:44:38.430 I asked Jerry how the chart could be so dirty, 0:44:38.670 --> 0:44:41.870 while Kevin, who everybody said was a clean kid, was 0:44:41.870 --> 0:44:42.510 running it. 0:44:42.710 --> 0:44:46.790 Well, when he first got the job, it was all 0:44:47.270 --> 0:44:51.310 the system. The whole was there. The corrupt system, the 0:44:51.310 --> 0:44:54.310 stations that were on the panel were a lot of 0:44:54.310 --> 0:44:58.630 them had relationships, you know, with the promoters, etc. it 0:44:58.630 --> 0:45:01.700 probably took Kevin a little while to figure out what 0:45:01.739 --> 0:45:05.540 to do about that. So it's not it's a process. 0:45:05.540 --> 0:45:08.860 He couldn't go in and overnight say, okay, we're changing everything. 0:45:09.020 --> 0:45:10.980 So it was not his fault. He was trying to 0:45:10.980 --> 0:45:13.140 fix it from the start. You had to do research, 0:45:13.140 --> 0:45:15.620 had to get the right stations. And it was it's 0:45:15.620 --> 0:45:19.300 a major surgery that he was performing. 0:45:19.420 --> 0:45:22.180 Many promoters I interviewed believe Kevin was about to go 0:45:22.180 --> 0:45:25.980 public with what he knew about corruption at Cashbox magazine. 0:45:26.420 --> 0:45:28.660 They thought he was going to talk to The Tennessean. 0:45:28.739 --> 0:45:30.940 I wish I would have been around for that on 0:45:30.940 --> 0:45:33.660 the last day of the seminar. Kevin Hughes was supposed 0:45:33.660 --> 0:45:38.260 to participate in a panel discussion about how music charts work. 0:45:38.580 --> 0:45:43.460 Kevin was embarrassed because Cashbox was still using fax machines 0:45:43.460 --> 0:45:47.100 and pencils to make the weekly chart, while other magazines 0:45:47.100 --> 0:45:50.980 were using computers. He called George Albert in LA to 0:45:51.020 --> 0:45:55.779 ask permission to skip the panel discussion. Albert called Chuck Dixon. 0:45:55.860 --> 0:45:58.300 Chuck met with Kevin at the seminar and told him 0:45:58.300 --> 0:46:01.090 he didn't have to do the panel. Chuck also slipped 0:46:01.090 --> 0:46:03.850 him some money. More than a few people saw it happen. 0:46:04.170 --> 0:46:06.730 Kevin argued that he didn't want the money, but he 0:46:06.730 --> 0:46:09.770 took a couple of hundred dollars anyway. Kevin told people 0:46:09.969 --> 0:46:13.290 taking the money made him sick. He would be dead 0:46:13.290 --> 0:46:18.330 within the week. Next time on Murder on Music Row. 0:46:18.410 --> 0:46:20.489 I mean, there's so many people putting out records, you know, 0:46:20.530 --> 0:46:22.489 just to be on the charts, you know? I mean, 0:46:22.489 --> 0:46:25.290 it's thrilling to at least be on the charts, you know? 0:46:25.610 --> 0:46:28.730 There's no question that I think that he paid money 0:46:28.730 --> 0:46:33.290 to have his records put on Cash Box. I know, 0:46:33.330 --> 0:46:36.009 I mean, there's no question in my mind. 0:46:36.090 --> 0:46:38.610 I mean, I had no idea that that it was corrupt. 0:46:38.730 --> 0:46:41.370 I never knew any of that until. I never knew 0:46:41.370 --> 0:46:44.529 how this business worked until this crime was solved. 0:46:45.610 --> 0:46:47.810 I would say that even when Sammy told me he 0:46:47.810 --> 0:46:50.850 didn't pay for play, I said, that's bullshit, you know? 0:46:51.570 --> 0:46:53.570 And you know, because I know the chart. 0:46:56.810 --> 0:46:58.250 Murder on Music Row was. 0:46:58.430 --> 0:46:59.149 Reported. 0:46:59.270 --> 0:47:04.390 Written and narrated by me, Keith Sharon. The executive producers 0:47:04.550 --> 0:47:08.230 were Gannett's vice president of local news. And Tennessean editor 0:47:08.230 --> 0:47:13.750 Michael Anastasi and Tennessean news director Ben Goad. The project 0:47:13.750 --> 0:47:18.550 editor was Duane Gang. The sound editor was Amanda Rosman. 0:47:18.590 --> 0:47:21.030 Our reporting on the legacy of the murder on Music 0:47:21.030 --> 0:47:24.750 Row doesn't end with this podcast. If you've been duped 0:47:24.750 --> 0:47:28.109 by an unscrupulous promoter in Nashville, we want to hear 0:47:28.110 --> 0:47:32.950 your story. Please send an email to Sharon at tennessean.com. 0:47:32.950 --> 0:47:35.990 That's the letter k s h a r o n 0:47:35.989 --> 0:47:40.150 at tennessean.com. Include some details of what happened to you 0:47:40.150 --> 0:47:47.070 and how you can be reached. Thanks for listening.