Ep. 12 - BOBBY BRADDOCK ("He Stopped Loving Her Today")

Bobby Braddock has written more than a dozen #1 country hits, including standards such as Tammy Wynette’s “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” and George Jones’ “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” which is frequently ranked as the greatest country song of all time. George Jones began finding success with Braddock’s songs in the 1970s with hits such as “Nothing Ever Hurt Me (Half As Bad As Losing You)” and “Her Name Is…” Jones and his then-wife, Tammy Wynette, also scored with Bobby’s “We’re Not the Jet Set” and “Golden Ring,” while Tammy found solo success with “Womanhood” and “They Call It Making Love.” Other Braddock-penned hits from the 1970s include “I Believe the South is Gonna Rise Again,” which Tanya Tucker took to the Top 20, “Something to Brag About,” which Mary Kay Place and Willie Nelson took to the Top 10, and “Come On In,” which was a hit for Jerry Lee Lewis in 1978. Bobby continued to reach the #1 position in the 1980s (“I Feel Like Loving You Again” and “Faking Love” by T.G. Shepard), the 1990s (“Texas Tornado” and “Time Marches On” by Tracy Lawrence), and the 2000s (“I Wanna Talk About Me” by Toby Keith and “People Are Crazy” by Billy Currington). He earned the CMA's Song of the Year award in both 1980 and 1981. He was, at the time, the youngest person inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981, and he was honored with the BMI Icon award in 2011. Additionally, he discovered Blake Shelton and produced or co-produced Shelton's first five albums. Braddock was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2011, and was just inducted into the national Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015. He is the only living person to have written #1 country songs in five consecutive decades. His second memoir, entitled Bobby Braddock: A Life on Music Row will be released in the fall of 2015.