Songwriter Producer Bob Ferguson passes

Janice Brooks · Post by **Janice Brooks** » 23 Jul 2001 2:35 pm

Noted songwriter-producer Bob Ferguson dies in Mississippi

file / 1971
FERGUSON
By JIM EAST
Staff Writer

Robert B. ''Bob'' Ferguson Sr., an award-winning songwriter who produced
records for some of country music's legendary performers, then walked away
from Music Row to live on a Choctaw reservation, died yesterday at
University Medical Center in Jackson, Miss.

Mr. Ferguson, 73, for years had lived with his family on the Choctaw
reservation near Philadelphia, Miss. Cause of death was not disclosed.

Mr. Ferguson wrote and produced singer Ferlin Husky's Wings of a Dove - the
best-selling song in popular and country music in 1960, as well as Carroll
County Accident, the Country Music Association's song of the year in 1969.

''I had the tune ticking over in my head for quite a while, and one day I
thought of the words for it,'' Mr. Ferguson said of Wings of a Dove in a
1964 interview with The Tennessean.

Mr. Ferguson also produced albums for Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton, Porter
Wagoner, Lester Flatt, Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass, Connie Smith,
George Hamilton IV, Jim Ed Brown, Billy Edd Wheeler and Archie Campbell.

From 1956 to 1961, Mr. Ferguson made films for the Tennessee Game and Fish
Commission. He also worked part time as promotional director of Chucalissa
Prehistoric Indian Village in Memphis and served as editor of the Choctaw
Times.

Surviving are his wife, Martha Ferguson; sons, John and Robert Bruce
Ferguson; daughters, Mary Lewis, all of Philadelphia, Miss., and Missouri
Brown of Hugo, Okla.; and brothers, Claude Ferguson, of Indiana, and Paul
Ferguson, of Amarillo, Texas.

Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Pearl River Baptist Church on the
reservation. Milling Funeral Home of Union, Miss., is in charge of
arrangements.

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Janice "Busgal" Brooks
ICQ 44729047

Eddie Lange · Post by **Eddie Lange** » 23 Jul 2001 2:41 pm

Fantastic producer and I believe he was one of the first producers to use electric bass on mainstream country records. Another sad loss in Country music.

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The Young Steelkid

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 24 Jul 2001 12:49 am

Aah, this is sad news.
Despite what some may have seen a severe criticism of the Nashville sound by my self on several recent topics, I remain a fan of Bob and enjoyed a lot of his late 1960s crossover work with some truly great artists, records and albums resulting.

I communicated with Bob for a time, he sent me a sad email when John Hartford passed away and we swapped tibits of into about Smokey Rogers who Bob interviwed and hung out with in the early 1950s at the Bostonia Ballroom. I can't believe he's gone so soon after his mentor Chet!

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 28 Jul 2001 9:06 pm

Very sad, I went to Nashville in 1968 and played a demo tape for him when he was with RCA, on 16th ave. He was very nice and spent some time listening, all originals....al

Jason Odd · Post by **Jason Odd** » 29 Jul 2001 7:21 am

After John Hartford died, he sent me a picture of himself with John and Ex-Gov. Jimmie Davis, even more touching a gesture now with hindsight.