Charlie
Craig was born and raised in Watts Mill, South Carolina, a cotton
mill village two miles from the city square in Laurens, South
Carolina. He performed on a Saturday morning live radio show at age
15 in Laurens singing as a duet with a high school friend. Charlie
began working clubs, high school auditoriums and theaters after
graduating from high school. In 1968 he moved to Nashville,
Tennessee and began a 40 year songwriting career that lasted until
his passing in 2011. He was 73 years old and still working in
the music industry.
Charlie says in his book, "Looking back on my life in this dazzling
world of country music, I sometimes wonder if I am somebody else and
not that kid from Watts Mill, South Carolina that used to sit up on
an iron rail across from the cotton mill and daydream about the life
I have been living in this business of country music for more than
forty years. How could I possibly have known that the Sears &
Roebuck Silvertone guitar I got when I was about fourteen years old
would lay the musical path to Nashville, Tennessee and pair me up
with the likes of Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, Dolly Parton, Johnny
Cash and a lot of other great stars. It still amazes me how this all
happened. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I didn't
know anybody important. I didn't even have a rabbit's foot. So why
me? I don't honestly know. I do believe that God gave me a gift and
something inspired me to take that gift and make it my craft."
Some of Charlie Craig's more than 300 recorded credits as a
songwriter are listed below:
Wanted - Alan Jackson
Bring on the Night - Alan Jackson
Tropical
Depression - Alan Jackson
All American Country Boy - Alan Jackson
What a Day Yesterday Was - Alan Jackson
She's Single Again - Janie
Fricke, Reba McIntyre
Between an Old Memory and Me - Travis Tritt,
Keith Whitley
Lay a Little Lovin' on Me - B.J. Thomas, Wayne Newton,
Del Reeves & Bill Medley
I Would Like to See You Again - Johnny
Cash, Kenny Rogers, Don Williams & Del Reeves
Miss Mis Behavin' -
Aaron Tippin
She's Got a Way - Aaron Tippin
Every Time it Rains -
George Strait
Let's Get Over Them Together - Mo Bandy & Becky Hobbs
Following the Feeling - Mo Bandy & Judy Bailey
Chicken Every Sunday
- Dolly Parton
Rainy Days and Stormy Nights - Billie Jo Spears
Leavin's Been a Long Time Coming - Shenandoah
The Generation Gap -
Jeannie C. Riley
I'll Take The Memories- Lorrie Morgan, Tanya Tucker
Waking Up With You - Waylon Jennings
Love Is Alive - Mark Wills
I
Think I'm In Love - Keith Stegall, Conway Twitty & Ed Bruce
Your
Memory Finds A Way - Moe Bandy
Nickel Bar Candy - Kitty Wells
Every
Step Of The Way - Kitty Wells
Other credentials include:
Grammy
Nomination - The Generation Gap
Nominated Song of the Year - Wanted
Nominated Song of the Year - She's Single Again
Wrote One Foot
Dragging - used on the television show "Northern Exposure"
-performed by the Coasters
He had five songs on the soundtrack of
Robert Duval's Academy Award winning movie, "Tender Mercies."
Charlie Craig was also proud to have accomplished the following:
Inducted into South Carolina Entertainment Hall of Fame in 1998
Produced Nashville Super Pickers - they released two singles from
this album.
Produced two developmental acts for Warner Brothers Records.
Worked in A&R for Giant Records.
Worked in A&R and Promotion with Gusto records.
Worked with several special acts in the beginning of their careers -
acts that went on to become super stars; Alan Jackson, Randy Travis,
and the Wilkinsons.
Charlie was directly responsible for the signing of Tracy Hagen and
The Wilkinsons to their record deals.
Charlie Craig recorded a CD with himself performing 12 hits he
had written for some of Nashville;s and country music's
biggest stars. Charlie released his last CD on
Gusto Records in 2008 entitled, "The Hitmaker".
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