Robert Bruce "Bob" Ferguson Sr (December 30, 1927 – July 22, 2001) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
songwriterA songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics, as well as the musical composition or melody to songs. One who writes only lyrics is a lyricist, while one who writes only music is a composer.-History and background of songwriters:...
,
record producerIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
who was instrumental in establishing
Nashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is the second most populous city in the state after Memphis. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state...
as a center of country music; movie producer, and
ChoctawThe Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean linguistic group...
Indian
historianAn historian is an individual who studies and writes about history, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all events in time...
. Ferguson wrote the bestselling songs "On the Wings of a Dove" and "
The Carroll County AccidentThe Carroll County Accident is a 1968 country song written by Bob Ferguson, and recorded by Porter Wagoner. It was a hit for Wagoner and became one of his signature songs....
". The "Carroll County Accident" won the
Country Music AssociationThe Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
Song of the Year in 1969. In 1983, "Wings of a Dove" was featured in the movie
Tender MerciesTender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
starring
Robert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards....
. In 1987,
Broadcast Music IncorporatedBroadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
(BMI) awarded Ferguson with the "million air" plays for the "Wings of a Dove."
The country song "Carroll County Accident", recorded by Porter Wagoner, made No. 2 on the
Billboard country singles chart (No. 92 pop) and No. 1 on the
Cash Box country singles chart. The tune was also recorded by Wagoner's longtime duet partner Dolly Parton.
Early life and education
Bob Ferguson was born 30 Dec 1927 in
Willow Springs, MissouriWillow Springs is a city in Howell County, Missouri, in the Ozark Mountains of the United States. The population was 2,147 at the 2000 census.- History :...
, the third son of John Carl and Mary Willie Boles Ferguson.
While in high school, Ferguson was a typesetter at the local newspaper, a fire tower lookout for the U.S. Forest Service, and a member of the Missouri State Guard during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After graduating from high school in 1945, he entered the U.S. Army. He attained the rank of sergeant and served as a radioman for two winters in Alaska. He tested military equipment under Arctic conditions. He went on to study at
Southwestern Missouri State UniversityMissouri State University is a state university located in Springfield, Missouri. It is the state's second largest university with nearly 23,000 students, second only to the University of Missouri. From 1972 to 2005, Missouri State University was known as Southwest Missouri State University...
.
After discharge from the Army, Ferguson went out West and worked for the U.S. Forest Service as a fire tower lookout and trail crew boss. He also worked as a laborer in the wheat fields and a typesetter for the newspaper in
Moses Lake, WashingtonMoses Lake is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 14,953 as of the 2000 census. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management's April 1, 2008 estimate, the city has a population of 18,310. Major attractions include the Sand Dunes, Moses Lake,the...
. He led the Boy Scout Troop from that city to the Boy Scout Jamboree at
Valley Forge, PennsylvaniaThe Village of Valley Forge is an unincorporated settlement located on the west side of Valley Forge National Historical Park at the confluence of Valley Creek and the...
, in 1950.
Ferguson then entered Washington State College,
Pullman, WashingtonPullman is the largest city in Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 24,675 at the 2000 census, and was estimated at 27,150 in 2008 by the U.S. Census Bureau...
, under the GI Bill and earned a BS in Speech. He specialized in radio and television production.
While in college, Ferguson joined a
U.S. Marine Reserve unit. He was called to duty during the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
(1950-1952). Ferguson served as a Drill Instructor at the
Marine Corps Recruit Depot San DiegoMarine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego is a United States Marine Corps military installation in San Diego, California. It lies between San Diego Bay and Interstate 5, adjacent to San Diego International Airport and the former Naval Training Center San Diego...
and producer of Marine training motion pictures.
Tennessee Game and Fish Commission
From about 1955-1961, Ferguson worked at the Tennessee Game and Fish Commission, headquartered in Nashville, where he produced films for the agency. In 1960, the North American Wildlife Conservation Association named his production
The World Outdoors the "Best Motion Picture of the Year."
The World Outdoors influenced many wildlife television shows, most notably
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom series.
While working there, Ferguson also started in the music business. In 1958 he wrote his first multi-million seller song "On the Wings of a Dove". It was recorded by
Ferlin HuskyFerlin Husky is an American singer who became well-known as a country-pop chart-topper under various names, including Terry Preston and Simon Crum. In the 1950s and 60s, Husky had several hits, including "Gone" and "Wings of a Dove," each number one on the country charts.-Biography:Ferlin Husky...
. It has since been recorded by many artists and in many languages around the world. It was featured in the movie
Tender MerciesTender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...
(1983), starring
Robert DuvallRobert Selden Duvall is an American actor and director. He has won an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards....
. In 1987, "Wings of a Dove" received
BMIBMI may refer to:Business* Broadcast Music Incorporated, a collecting society for composers' copyrights* Business Monitor International* Baltimore Museum of Industry* BMI , a United Kingdom airline* BMI Healthcare, a British healthcare company...
's "One million airplays" Award.
Performing with Husky, Ferguson played a character called Simon Crum in
The Good Old Days, a motion picture produced by the Tennessee Game and Fish Commission.
Nashville music producer
After graduation from college, Ferguson moved to Nashville, TN, as manager for country music singer
Ferlin HuskyFerlin Husky is an American singer who became well-known as a country-pop chart-topper under various names, including Terry Preston and Simon Crum. In the 1950s and 60s, Husky had several hits, including "Gone" and "Wings of a Dove," each number one on the country charts.-Biography:Ferlin Husky...
.
The success of his song "On the Wings of a Dove" enabled Ferguson to turn full time to music. He became a senior producer with
RCARCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. Currently, the RCA trademark is owned by the French conglomerate Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson...
Music Corporation, where he helped create the
Nashville SoundThe Nashville sound arose during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of honky tonk music which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s...
of the 1950s and 1960s. He served as assistant to
Chet AtkinsChester Burton Atkins , better known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who created, along with Owen Bradley, the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.His picking style, inspired by...
until his retirement. While there, he produced records, many in
RCA Studio BRCA Studio B is a noted recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee. Situated at 30 Music Square W and originally known simply as RCA Studios, it became famous in the 1960s for being a part of what many refer to as the Nashville Sound...
. He particularly worked with producing the acts of
Porter WagonerPorter Wayne Wagoner was a popular American country music singer known for his flashy Nudie and Manuel suits and blond pompadour. He introduced a young Dolly Parton on his long-running television show, and they were a well-known duet team throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s...
,
Dolly PartonDolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best-known for her work in country music....
, and
Connie SmithConstance June Meador, professionally known as Connie Smith is an American country music artist, who had major success in the 1960s and 70s. She was discovered by country artist, Bill Anderson in 1963 and signed with RCA Victor Records the following year...
. He also produced records by
Floyd CramerFloyd Cramer was an American Hall of Fame pianist who was one of the architects of the "Nashville Sound." He popularized the 'slip note' piano style where one note slides effortlessly into the next...
, Danny Davis,
The BrownsThe Browns were an American country and folk music vocal trio best known for their 1959 Grammy-nominated hit, "The Three Bells." The group, composed of Jim Ed Brown and his sisters Maxine and Bonnie Brown, had a close, smooth harmony characteristic of the Nashville sound, though their music also...
,
Helen CorneliusHelen Cornelius is an American country singer-songwriter and actress, best remembered for a series of hit duets with Jim Ed Brown, many of which reachd the U.S...
,
Lester FlattLester Raymond Flatt was a bluegrass musician and guitarist.-Biography:Flatt was born in Duncan's Chapel, Overton County, Tennessee to Nannie Mae Haney and Isaac Columbus Flatt. A singer and guitarist, he first came to prominence as a member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in 1945...
,
Homer and JethroHomer and Jethro were the stage names of American country music duo Henry D. Haynes and Kenneth C. Burns , popular from the 1940s through the 1960s on radio and television for their satirical versions of popular songs...
, Charlie Pride and many others. With Atkins, he played a major role in the development of what was to become known as the
Nashville SoundThe Nashville sound arose during the late 1950s as a sub-genre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of honky tonk music which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s...
and elevated Nashville as the
country musicCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
capital of the world. He also played a major role in developing the
Country Music AssociationThe Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
. His first successful single was with the Avons.
Ferguson developed a comedy role as "Grandpappy Possumtrot", a name which he took from a crossroad community near his childhood home in
the OzarksThe Ozarks are a physiographic, geologic, and cultural highland region of the central United States. It covers much of the south half of Missouri and an extensive portion of northwest and North central Arkansas...
. In that role, he recorded his own song, "Eli's Blue", a lament about a man who accidentally shot his dog.
Ferguson wrote several other songs, including the million seller, "Carroll County Accident", first recorded by Porter Wagoner. In 1969 it received a Country Music Award for the "Song of the Year". In the 1960s Ferguson also wrote "Natividad", a Christmas song, and "Choctaw Saturday Night", a tribute to
ChoctawThe Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean linguistic group...
Native Americans.
The country song "Carroll County Accident" was written when Ferguson passed through Carroll County when driving from Nashville to a concert for the Choctaw Indians in Philadelphia, Miss., according to an interview Ferguson granted with Steve Eng for the Wagoner biography "A Satisfied Mind." He recounted that he passed a sign for Carroll County in Tennessee, which inspired the song's title, and when he saw a sign for Carroll County in Mississippi the song was a finished work. Wagoner took the song to No. 2 on the Billboard country singles chart (No. 92 pop) and No. 1 on the Cash Box country singles chart. The tune was also recorded by Wagoner's longtime duet partner Dolly Parton.
Books
With Jesse Burt as Co-Author, Ferguson wrote two books:
So You Want to be in Music and
Southeastern Indians: Then and Now.
So You Want to be in Music is a book about the music industry for aspiring songwriting and recording professionals.
Southeastern Indians: Then and Now is a general-interest book about
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
of the
Deep SouthThe Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the antebellum period...
, covering the
ChoctawThe Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean linguistic group...
,
CherokeeThe Cherokee are a Native American people from the Southeastern United States...
, Creek,
ChickasawThe Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States . They are of the Muskogean linguistic group....
, and
SeminoleThe Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation was formed in the 18th century in a process of ethnogenesis...
tribes.
Anthropology
While working at RCA, Ferguson earned a Master's Degree in
anthropologyAnthropology is the study of human beings, everywhere and throughout time....
from
Vanderbilt UniversityVanderbilt University is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the South...
. He served as volunteer Project Director and President of Southeastern Indian Antiquities Survey. He served as volunteer Project Director and President of Southeastern Indian Antiquities Survey and in that role oversaw the survey, recovery, and preservation of remains and artifacts unearthed during construction in the Nashville area. One startling discovery was the remains of the first saber-toothed tiger found east of the Mississippi River. It was found during construction of the Regions Center, former First American Bank building, in downtown Nashville. On September 25, 1997, the newly established hockey team, the
Nashville PredatorsThe Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
, adopted the head of a saber-toothed tiger as their logo.
Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
After his retirement from RCA, Ferguson moved his family to the reservation of the
Mississippi Band of Choctaw IndiansThe Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is a Native American tribe whose members are of Choctaw ancestry. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 allowed them to become re-organized, which they did on April 20, 1945. In that year Mississippi land in Neshoba and surrounding counties was set aside as...
in
Philadelphia, MississippiPhiladelphia is a city in and the county seat of Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 7,303 at the 2000 census.- History :...
. There he served as editor of the
Choctaw Times, and historian and audio- visual producer for the
Mississippi Band of Choctaw IndiansThe Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians is a Native American tribe whose members are of Choctaw ancestry. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 allowed them to become re-organized, which they did on April 20, 1945. In that year Mississippi land in Neshoba and surrounding counties was set aside as...
. In that role, he helped establish the Museum of the Southern Indian (Choctaw Museum) in 1981. He also worked part-time as promotional director of the Chucalissa Prehistoric Indian Village in
Memphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
. In 1983, he created the foundation for Choctaw Video Productions and created numerous tribal productions.
In 1987, Ferguson established WHTV as local cable service for Pearl River/Philadelphia, Mississippi. He retired from that position in 1998, when he was also named Tribal Historian
Emeritus. He established the tribe's organic gardening program in 1978.
Robert Bruce "Bob" Ferguson, Sr. died Sunday, July 22, 2001 at 1:05 a.m. in the
University of MississippiThe University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1848, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford and three branch campuses located in Booneville, Tupelo, and Southaven...
Medical Center in
Jackson, MississippiJackson is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County , but the city also contains areas in Madison and Rankin Counties...
. The cause of death was
cancerCancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis...
. He was buried at Phillip's Cemetery in rural Neshoba County near Philadelphia, MS. He was 73.
Legacy and honors
Ferguson was the recipient of many awards and recognitions during his multiple careers. He was also a member of
MensaMensa is the largest, oldest and best known high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98
th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised intelligence test...
, a society of people with high I.Q.s.
- 1960, the North American Wildlife Conservation Association named his production The World Outdoors the "Best Motion Picture of the Year."
- 1969, "Carroll County Accident", Country Music Award for the "Song of the Year".
- 1987, "Wings of a Dove" received BMI's "One million airplays" Award.
Selection of Albums produced
Bob Ferguson worked for nearly 30 years at RCA's Studio B producing hundred's of albums for artists like Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, and Porter Wagoner.
- Just Between You And Me - Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton
- Jolene (album)
Jolene is a 1974 Dolly Parton album, produced by Bob Ferguson.The title track "Jolene" tells the tale of a housewife confronting a beautiful seductress who she believes is having an affair with her husband. It became Parton's second solo number-one country single; it also was a moderate pop hit for...
- Dolly Parton
- The Open Mind of John D. Loudermilk - John D. Loudermilk
- My Favorite Songwriter: Porter Wagoner
My Favorite Songwriter: Porter Wagoner was a 1972 album by Dolly Parton, performing the work of her duet partner Porter Wagoner. The album peaked on the U.S. country albums charts at # 33, while its single, "Washday Blues" reached # 20. "When I Sing for Him" is a gospel song that was released as a...
- Dolly Parton
- Coast Country - George Hamilton IV
- Jerry Reed explores guitar country - Jerry Reed
External links