BOONE COUNTY, WV (WOWK) – A West Virginia Music Hall of Famer from Boone County has died.
Musician, author and playwright Billy Edd Wheeler passed away at his home in Swannanoa, North Carolina on Monday, Sept. 16. He was 91 years old. The WVMHoF and Wheeler’s family and friends announced his passing on social media.
Wheeler was born in the Boone County town of Whitesville in 1932. The WVMHoF says he was “raised by his mother and grew up dirt poor in the coalfields.” The organization says that Wheeler had a “rare gift” when it came to story-telling, and combining that with his country smarts and his perseverance made him a “true renaissance man.”
According to his website, Wheeler is a 1953 graduate of Warren Wilson Junior College in Swannanoa and a 1955 graduate of Berea College in Kentucky. Wheeler served as a student pilot in the Navy before completing his graduate studies at Yale’s School of Drama where he majored in playwriting. The WVMHoF says he considered himself as Yale’s “token hillbilly.”
The Boone County native moved to Swannanoa in 1963. He moved to Nashville in 1968 while managing the United Artists Music Group until 1970, but then returned to Swannanoa after his Nashville stint, according to his website.
Wheeler has written songs for numerous musical artists such as Neil Young, Elvis Presley, Johnny and June Carter Cash, the Kingston Trio, Judy Collins, Kenny Rogers, and even his fellow West Virginian Kathy Mattea.
Some songs Wheeler wrote include “Jackson,” “The Reverend Mr. Black,” “Coal Tattoo,” and “Ode to the Little Brown Shack Out Back.” He also wrote “Coward of the County,” which was made popular by the late Kenny Rogers’ version. The song became a No. 1 single for Rogers and was later even made into a movie.
He has also received 13 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers for songs he has written.
Wheeler didn’t stop at writing music. According to his website, he has also written a dozen plays and has authored or co-written several books.
Wheeler was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2007. He was also inducted into the Nashville Association of Songwriters International Hall of Fame and has earned Distinguished Alumnus awards from both Warran Wilson and Berea. According to his website, Berea College conferred Wheeler with an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters in 2004.
Wheeler married Mary Mitchell Bannerman, and the couple had two children together, Lucy and Travis.
