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Jim Chesnut Bio

James William Chesnut (born in Midland, Texas on December 1, 1944) is a singer/songwriter known professionally as Jim Chesnut. He started his career as a country music DJ at KOYL-AM in Odessa, Texas, while attending Odessa College and eventually became a licensed broadcast engineer. He left Odessa to study radio/TV/film at the University of Texas at Austin and worked at KVET-AM as a DJ/engineer while enrolled at the university.

He began his singing career in San Angelo, Texas, performing part time locally and was eventually noticed by the manager of a local country radio station. The manager introduced him to an innkeeper from Dallas, who gave Chesnut his first job as a full time professional singer at the Holiday Inn in Carrollton, Texas, in 1970.

For the next six years, he performed first as a single and then as a duo, teaming with Rodney Crowell in Nacogdoches, Texas. Crowell taught Chesnut’s first wife, Linda, to play drums, and the three played as a trio for several months in East Texas until Rodney moved to Nashville.

After playing in Dallas and East Texas as a duo for a couple more years, Chesnut followed Crowell to Nashville after signing writing and recording contracts. Wesley Rose, President of Acuff-Rose Music Publishing, Inc., signed him in part because Roy Acuff was willing to allow Jim to take his place on the full roster at Hickory Records (distributed at the time by MGM).

When Charley Pride endorsed Chesnut’s first album (Let Me Love You Now on ABC/Hickory Records) he stated, “He has a tremendous talent for writing, and as you can see from this album for delivering a good country song, also.”

Pride was the first major artist to record and release a Chesnut song (Oklahoma Morning) shortly before he was signed to Acuff-Rose, the firm that produced such songwriting greats as Hank Williams, Mickey Newbury, Eddy Raven, Don Gibson, Roy Orbison and The Everly Brothers.

From that point, Chesnut, in what proved to be an unwise monetary career decision, reserved all of his material for his own use as a recording artist. He wrote most of the songs for the 15 top-100 singles and two albums he released during a five-year period in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One of those songs, Show Me a Sign, was submitted for a Grammy in 1978 by his label, ABC/Hickory. 1978 was a good year for Chesnut. Get Back to Lovin’ Me backed with Kinder than the Last One was also released and stayed on the Billboard country chart for several weeks. But, his best record, Let’s Take the Time to Fall in Love Again, coproduced by Chesnut and Don Powell, reached Billboard’s Top-30 in 1979, which led to Chesnut being signed to Curb Records in Los Angeles.

In 1980, Outrun the Sun produced by Bob Montgomery (who later ran CBS Records in Nashville and was Buddy Holly’s early singing partner) was released on Liberty/Curb Records. In 1981, two singles were released on United Artists/Curb Records that were coproduced by Chesnut and Jerry Gillespie (producer of the Grammy-winning father/daughter duo, the Kendalls). The first, Bedtime Stories backed with Pick Up the Pieces, penetrated Billboard’s Top-40 country chart. However, the second release, The Rose Is for Today backed with Dark Eyed Lady, peaked early and failed to reach the top section of Billboard’s country chart. It was Chesnut’s last Nashville release.

From 1976 to 1981, Chesnut, represented by Bob Neal (Elvis Presley’s first manager) and the venerable William Morris Agency, performed in nightclubs and concerts, appearing with such folks as Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Rodney Crowell, Mickey Newbury, Tom T. Hall, Bobby Bare, Tommy Cash, Con Hunley, Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass, Don Williams, Ed Bruce, Gene Watson, Moe Bandy, Don Everly, Eddie Raven, Larry Gatlin, Dottie West, Reba McEntire, Janie Fricke, Lorrie Morgan, B.J. Thomas, Pat and Debby Boone, Ernest Tubb, Ed Bruce, Grandpa Jones, Jan Howard, Helen Cornelius and a number of other Grand Ole Opry stars.

After the failure of The Rose Is for Today, Chesnut’s emerging career trumpet was muted, and he returned to Texas. Battered emotionally by divorce and a changing landscape in Nashville and country music, he began a new career in marketing communications apart from the music industry. He wrote and produced a series of jingles for Pearl Beer and associated brands in the early 1980s. He then developed and produced the award-winning magazine, Texas Wildlife, for the Texas Wildlife Association for almost 20 years.

In early 2007, his passion for music was rekindled when Nashville songwriter, Steve Collom, called to let him know that Chesnut’s recording of Get Back to Loving Me, a Collom original, was to be included on the soundtrack of Ashley Judd’s critically acclaimed movie Come Early Morning.

Hearing that news motivated Chesnut to “get back in the game.” He began performing in a variety of house concerts and small public venues throughout Texas. Encouraged by the response, he has produced two new independent albums, Reflections and J.W. Chesnut’s Sippin’ Whiskey, his first recordings since the early 1980s. Two singles from the “Sippin’ Whiskey” album, Fading Memories and Get Aboard a Catamaran, reached the top-30 of New Music Weekly’s national country chart in 2013. Get Aboard a Catamaran peaked at #12. The NMW chart is compiled from data reported from radio outlets in national secondary markets.

Chesnut is currently working on a third album, Troubadours and Dreamers, which will be released in June 2014. The first single from the album released in January 2013 was Oklahoma Morning, a new version of his original that Charley Pride released in the 1970s. In its first week, it was the #1 most added record in the national secondary markets, according to New Music Weekly.

-30-

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This is the user sandbox of Ccollier6. A user sandbox is a subpage of the user's user page. It serves as a testing spot and page development space for the user and is not an encyclopedia article. For a sandbox of your own, create it here. Other sandboxes: Main sandbox | Tutorial sandbox 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | Template sandbox If you are writing an article, and are ready to request its creation, click here. Jim Chesnut Bio James William Chesnut (born in Midland, Texas on December 1, 1944) is a singer/songwriter known professionally as Jim Chesnut. He started his career as a country music DJ at KOYL-AM in Odessa, Texas, while attending Odessa College and eventually became a licensed broadcast engineer. He left Odessa to study radio/TV/film at the University of Texas at Austin and worked at KVET-AM as a DJ/engineer while enrolled at the university. He began his singing career in San Angelo, Texas, performing part time locally and was eventually noticed by the manager of a local country radio station. The manager introduced him to an innkeeper from Dallas, who gave Chesnut his first job as a full time professional singer at the Holiday Inn in Carrollton, Texas, in 1970. For the next six years, he performed first as a single and then as a duo, teaming with Rodney Crowell in Nacogdoches, Texas. Crowell taught Chesnut’s first wife, Linda, to play drums, and the three played as a trio for several months in East Texas until Rodney moved to Nashville. After playing in Dallas and East Texas as a duo for a couple more years, Chesnut followed Crowell to Nashville after signing writing and recording contracts. Wesley Rose, President of Acuff-Rose Music Publishing, Inc., signed him in part because Roy Acuff was willing to allow Jim to take his place on the full roster at Hickory Records (distributed at the time by MGM). When Charley Pride endorsed Chesnut’s first album (Let Me Love You Now on ABC/Hickory Records) he stated, “He has a tremendous talent for writing, and as you can see from this album for delivering a good country song, also.” Pride was the first major artist to record and release a Chesnut song (Oklahoma Morning) shortly before he was signed to Acuff-Rose, the firm that produced such songwriting greats as Hank Williams, Mickey Newbury, Eddy Raven, Don Gibson, Roy Orbison and The Everly Brothers. From that point, Chesnut, in what proved to be an unwise monetary career decision, reserved all of his material for his own use as a recording artist. He wrote most of the songs for the 15 top-100 singles and two albums he released during a five-year period in the late 1970s and early 1980s. One of those songs, Show Me a Sign, was submitted for a Grammy in 1978 by his label, ABC/Hickory. 1978 was a good year for Chesnut. Get Back to Lovin’ Me backed with Kinder than the Last One was also released and stayed on the Billboard country chart for several weeks. But, his best record, Let’s Take the Time to Fall in Love Again, coproduced by Chesnut and Don Powell, reached Billboard’s Top-30 in 1979, which led to Chesnut being signed to Curb Records in Los Angeles. In 1980, Outrun the Sun produced by Bob Montgomery (who later ran CBS Records in Nashville and was Buddy Holly’s early singing partner) was released on Liberty/Curb Records. In 1981, two singles were released on United Artists/Curb Records that were coproduced by Chesnut and Jerry Gillespie (producer of the Grammy-winning father/daughter duo, the Kendalls). The first, Bedtime Stories backed with Pick Up the Pieces, penetrated Billboard’s Top-40 country chart. However, the second release, The Rose Is for Today backed with Dark Eyed Lady, peaked early and failed to reach the top section of Billboard’s country chart. It was Chesnut’s last Nashville release. From 1976 to 1981, Chesnut, represented by Bob Neal (Elvis Presley’s first manager) and the venerable William Morris Agency, performed in nightclubs and concerts, appearing with such folks as Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Rodney Crowell, Mickey Newbury, Tom T. Hall, Bobby Bare, Tommy Cash, Con Hunley, Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass, Don Williams, Ed Bruce, Gene Watson, Moe Bandy, Don Everly, Eddie Raven, Larry Gatlin, Dottie West, Reba McEntire, Janie Fricke, Lorrie Morgan, B.J. Thomas, Pat and Debby Boone, Ernest Tubb, Ed Bruce, Grandpa Jones, Jan Howard, Helen Cornelius and a number of other Grand Ole Opry stars. After the failure of The Rose Is for Today, Chesnut’s emerging career trumpet was muted, and he returned to Texas. Battered emotionally by divorce and a changing landscape in Nashville and country music, he began a new career in marketing communications apart from the music industry. He wrote and produced a series of jingles for Pearl Beer and associated brands in the early 1980s. He then developed and produced the award-winning magazine, Texas Wildlife, for the Texas Wildlife Association for almost 20 years. In early 2007, his passion for music was rekindled when Nashville songwriter, Steve Collom, called to let him know that Chesnut’s recording of Get Back to Loving Me, a Collom original, was to be included on the soundtrack of Ashley Judd’s critically acclaimed movie Come Early Morning. Hearing that news motivated Chesnut to “get back in the game.” He began performing in a variety of house concerts and small public venues throughout Texas. Encouraged by the response, he has produced two new independent albums, Reflections and J.W. Chesnut’s Sippin’ Whiskey, his first recordings since the early 1980s. Two singles from the “Sippin’ Whiskey” album, Fading Memories and Get Aboard a Catamaran, reached the top-30 of New Music Weekly’s national country chart in 2013. Get Aboard a Catamaran peaked at #12. The NMW chart is compiled from data reported from radio outlets in national secondary markets. Chesnut is currently working on a third album, Troubadours and Dreamers, which will be released in June 2014. The first single from the album released in January 2013 was Oklahoma Morning, a new version of his original that Charley Pride released in the 1970s. In its first week, it was the #1 most added record in the national secondary markets, according to New Music Weekly. -30-