Join me Sunday, June 1st for the 98 Country Classic Show starting at 9 a.m. This week the featured artist is Don Gibson.

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Don Gibson might not have been thinking of himself when he wrote his 1960 song I'd Be A Legend In My Time, but the title is a great description of his own career.  He has been responsible for writing at least three of the most famous songs in country music history.  He penned such country standards as Sweet Dreams, I Can't Stop Loving You, Oh Lonesome Me and a string of country hits from 1957 into the early 1970's.

In 1957 Don and Chet Atkins decided to abandon the traditional steel guitar and fiddle and created a new sound featuring only guitars, a piano, a drummer, upright bass and background singers,  This became one of the first examples of what would be called the Nashville sound.  It set the pattern for a long series of hits including Blue Blue Day, Who Cares?, Sea of Heartbreak and Rings of Gold.  My favorite from the new Nashville sound is Blue Blue Day, which became a #1 hit in 1958.

These accomplishments were even more remarkable because Don achieved them while suffering from personal problems and drug abuse.  He was nicknamed The Sad Poet because he frequently wrote songs that told of loneliness and lost love.

He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973 and in 2001 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.  He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1958 as a cast member.

Following his death from natural causes on November 17, 2003, he was buried in his hometown of Shelby, North Carolina.

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