Longtime songwriter and Nashvillian Don Wayne, known best for penning Lefty Frizzell's "Saginaw, Michigan" and Cal Smith's "Country Bumpkin" (the latter of which was also recorded as a duet by Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty), succumbed to cancer yesterday at the age of 78. From a bio penned by Wayne himself:
I think "Country Bumpkin" is by far my best song and it will always be special cause "it" came along and picked me up at a very low point in my songwriting career. I love all my songs but I also feel a special affection for those recorded by the heroes I idolized as a youngster, among those are "Don't Water Down the Bad News" by Ernest Tubb, "What in Her World Did I Do" by Eddy Arnold and "MacArthurs Hand" by Tex Ritter.
In his lifetime, Wayne was awarded three BMI performance awards and one ASCAP performance award. Funeral arrangements have not yet been released.
