Famous Country Songwriter Curly Putman Dies at 85
Country music songwriter Claude “Curly” Putman passed away Sunday morning after a battle with longtime illness. Putman was born in 1930 in Princeton, Alabama, remaining an Alabama resident for his entire life. After a four-year stint in the Navy, Putman began playing and performing steel guitar in several local bands, finding little success as a songwriter before settling down in Huntsville, Alabama in the late 1950’s. Through the 60’s, Putman penned “Green, Green Grass of Home” which became an international hit with its second recording done by Porter Wagoner. The song has since charted multiple times in multiple genres, and has been famously covered by everyone from Dean Martin to the Grateful Dead to Merle Haggard. A Swedish version of the tune was also recorded by Björn Ulveaus, who later went on to for ABBA. Putman also penned the Tammy Wynette and David Houston tune “My Elusive Dreams” and Dolly Parton’s first hit “Dumb Blonde.” In 1976, Curly Putman was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and four years later Outman and long-time collaborator Bobby Braddock wrote “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” the tune that famously reignited George Jones’s career, earning him his first Number One in 6 years and a Grammy. Putman passed just three weeks before his 86th birthday. (Rolling Stone)
Bob Dylan Finally Acknowledges Nobel Prize
After three weeks of giving the cold shoulder, Bob Dylan has finally acknowledged and accepted the award for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Dylan’s apparent avoidance of the Nobel Committee has confused many and outraged others, so much so that the story has remained in the eye of the media every day for the last two weeks. In an interview over the weekend, Bob Dylan revealed his reasons for avoiding the committee saying, “It’s hard to believe…Whoever dreams about something like that.” A comment that will likely land him criticism for insensitivity by those in the literary sphere. When asked if he plans to attend the ceremony on December 10th in Stockholm, Dylan said “Absolutely…if it’s at all possible.” (FADER)
-Taylor Wallace
