Marijohn Wilkin, 86, Wrote Classic Country Hits

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Marijohn Wilkin, who helped pen such classics as “The Long Black Veil” and “One Day at a Time,” died Saturday at a Nashville hospice. She was 86.

Wilkin was a founder of the Nashville Songwriters Association and was dubbed “the den mother of Music Row” because of the songwriters she helped along the way.

She was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975, and her songs have been performed by Johnny Cash, the Beatles, and Patsy Cline.

Wilkin also is credited with discovering Kris Kristofferson, who released a statement yesterday saying “I’ll be forever grateful to her for saving my life.”

Born Marijohn Melson in Kemp, Texas, she was the grandchild of a country fiddler. She became a schoolteacher in Tulsa, Okla., where she began writing songs for her choir.

She moved to Nashville in 1958 and signed as a staff songwriter by Cedarwood Publishing company. She scored her first major hit as a songwriter when she and John Loudermilk created “Waterloo” in 1959. Stonewall Jackson’s recording of the song topped both country and pop charts.

On the same day Wilkin and Danny Dill composed “The Long Black Veil” in 1959, she was scheduled to pitch songs to Lefty Frizzell. He recorded it that night. The song has since become an evergreen, with recordings by Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, The Band, The Kingston Trio, Burl Ives.

“One Day at a Time” was a hit for Marilyn Sellers and Cristy Lane and has been recorded more than 200 times.


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