This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll learn about the first-and-only four-way-hit songwriter.
Mickey Newbury was born on May 19, 1940, in Houston. He began his musical career while working on shrimp boats along the Gulf coast. In the early 1960s, Newbury moved to Nashville and joined a new generation of young Texas songwriters that included Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. In 1968, Newbury became the first and only songwriter to have Number One hits in four different musical genres at the same time. Dozens of artists have recorded Mickey Newbury’s songs, including Andy Williams, Eddy Arnold, Solomon Burke, and the First Edition, featuring a young vocalist from Houston named Kenny Rogers.
Mickey Newbury moved to Oregon in the mid-1970s, where he continued to write songs until his death in 2002. In 2008, he was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame.
Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a true visionary who helped redefine Texas-Mexican music.
