Legendary songwriter Hugh Prestwood has passed away at the age of 82.
Music Row reports:
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Hugh Prestwood died on Sunday (Sept. 22) at age 82 following a stroke.
Prestwood wrote such iconic country hits as “The Song Remembers When” and “Ghost in This House.” His “Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart” was BMI’s Country Song of the Year in 1991.
Prestwood’s first major Nashville success was “The Sound of Goodbye.” The song became a smash for Crystal Gayle in 1983, topping the country chart, becoming a top 10 AC hit and earning a Grammy nomination. Rather than moving to Nashville, Prestwood relocated from Manhattan to Long Island that year. Prestwood always thought that living far away from Music Row gave him a “mystique.” In 1983, he also began a 20-year tenure teaching advanced songwriting at The New School in New York.
Meanwhile, in Nashville, Holly Dunn, Judy Rodman and others were recording his tunes. In 1987, he scored his second No. 1 country hit, Michael Johnson’s recording of “The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder.” Johnson followed it with his hit single of Prestwood’s “That’s That” in 1988.
Hugh Prestwood wrote solo and was not a prolific composer—he often worked on a song for months or even a year before he thought it was finished to his satisfaction. But in rapid succession, he wrote both “Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart” and “Ghost in This House.” The former topped the country chart for Randy Travis in 1990, which led to its big BMI award. “Ghost in This House” became a major 1990 country hit for Shenandoah. This song was re-popularized by Alison Krauss in 1999, then became a top 20 country hit for TV’s The Voice finalist Lauren Duski in 2017.
The songwriter’s third big hit of 1990 was Anne Murray’s version of his rhythmic “Feed This Fire.” The following year, Highway 101 scored with Prestwood’s “Bing Bang Boom,” and Kathy Mattea was successful with “Asking Us to Dance.” In 1993, Trisha Yearwood recorded Prestwood’s “The Song Remembers When.” It became an enduring songwriters’ anthem and was named the NSAI Song of the Year.
During the next few years, his songs became singles for Vern Gosdin, Suzy Bogguss, Bobbie Cryner, Stephanie Bentley and Ty England. Then Colin Raye returned Prestwood to the top of the charts with his hit recording of “On the Verge” in 1997.
Prestwood’s songs were also recorded by Conway Twitty, The Judds, Shelby Lynne, John Conlee, Jimmy Buffett, Jerry Douglas, James Taylor, Baillie & The Boys, Jerry Jeff Walker, Gene Watson, Barbara Mandrell, Sammy Kershaw, Lee Greenwood, Don Williams and Tanya Tucker.
Hugh Prestwood wasn’t prolific, but he has a disproportionate number of most played songs by some of my favorite artists, including Trisha Yearwood (“The Song Remembers When”), Crystal Gayle (“The Sound of Goodbye”), Randy Travis (“Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart”), Kathy Mattea (“Asking Us to Dance”), and Alison Krauss (“Ghost in This House.”)
Our condolences to Hugh Prestwood’s family, friends, and fans. Please share your favorite Prestwood songs in the comments!
Hugh Prestwood is a classic example of quality over quantity. Kevin, I appreciate how much you made me realize the genius of This Song Remembers When.
Although he didn’t record that many of Prestwood’s songs, my favorite interpreter of his material was Michael Johnson.
Prestwood was one of those artists hurt by changes in the music industry. Although a successful songwriter in the late 1970s through the mid-1990s, profound changes in the recording industry’s business model – particularly the digitalization of recorded music and the collapse of CD sales – essentially ended his royalty income around 2005 as royalties on streamed music are but a tiny fraction of the royalties realized on CD, cassette and vinyl sales.
Consequently, Prestwood found himself primarily surviving on social security. The Nashville music industry rallied around a gofundme site Hugh set up in 2022 (his goal was $25K but artists, fellow songwriters and a bunch of anonymous donors got him up to $120K which helped him through his final days).
https://www.gofundme.com/f/elderly-and-drifting-towards-homeless
Even if he’d only written The Song Remembers When (and clearly he wrote so many more of my favourites) this man would stand as a legend. RIP, Sir.
I am touched by how gentle his songs are.
In addition to his biggest hits already mentioned, I love the two cut he had on Ty England’s 1995 eponymous debut. “Smoke in Her Eyes” and “Is that You?”
I also am still enfatuated with Michael Johnson’s “That’s That.”