Three in One Day. Wow.

Tweet

I'll post my list of October obituaries soon. If you've followed that through this year you've probably noticed we've had a boatload (or as we say in the south, a mess) of music people leave us this year. I mentioned the other day, with the death of Leon Russell, that we've lost ten Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members this year alone! Today we lost three music people. Three very diverse individuals who made their mark indelibly in three very different forms of music. Mose Allison: a blues/jazz piano player who was a significant impact on rock and roll. His "Young Man Blues" was covered by the Who; and the Clash covered "Look Here" on Sandinista! Van Morrison did an entire album of Mose Allison songs in 1996 (Tell Me Something). Allison died of natural causes at the age of 89. Cliff Barrows: when you mention "Billy Graham" most people, musically, think of the incredible booming bass voice of George Beverly Shea. Cliff Barrows was the music director on all of those evangelistic programs, leading the choir and singing beautifully...just taking a back seat to Shea. Barrows died today, eight days after Rev. Graham's 98th birthday, after a short illness. Barrows was 93. (And, if you're thinking "wow, they lived a long life," George Beverly Shea was 104 when he died in 2013!) Holly Dunn: a country singer and songwriter who shot to fame with the touching autobiographical song "Daddy's Hands." Although that song never reached number one (while two other hits of hers, "You Really Had Me Going" and "Are You Ever Gonna Love Me," did top the country chart), it is the song most closely associated with her. In March of this year she announced that she was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of ovarian cancer. Today it claimed her life at the age of 59. Three in one day. Wow. Here's Mose Allison singing "Young Man Blues," later popularized by the Who: