Don Cusic

Cusic was born in the southern Maryland town of Leonardtown, the county seat of St. Mary's County, and attended Chopticon High School.[1] He said he loved country music since he was a small boy[2] and at age 16 he played country music in a local band.[3] His first job was working for a local weekly newspaper in Maryland called The Enterprise .[1] He attended St. Mary's College and graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1972. He had started there as a business major but changed to journalism.[4]

After college, he moved to Nashville with hopes of being a songwriter but became frustrated by his lack of success in the first couple of years. In a 1974 newspaper interview, Cusic recounted the difficulties was having at the time, saying "My plans haven't worked out like I thought they would, but at least I've got a foot in the industry and who knows what could happen".[5] His "foot in the industry" was a reference to his landing a job in public relations in 1973 at the Country Music Association. Ironically, one of his duties there was returning tapes and lyrics of songs submitted by hopeful songwriters.[5]

As a staff writer at the Country Music Association in 1973, he became immersed in Nashville's music scene.[2] He eventually became country and gospel editor for two trade magazines, Record World and later Cashbox.[6] Cusic said, "The trade magazines were really important at that time as a connection to the gatekeepers...you come in off the street knowing nobody and, when you're with a trade magazine, you're talking to the heads of [record] labels the next day...that's how I learned the music industry, really".[4] He became a book reviewer for MusicRow Magazine and a special correspondent for Billboard.[7] In 1977 he became head of artist development and international liaison for Monument Records and partnered with Dan Beck as an artist manager for Riders In The Sky and Dickie Lee.[2]

By the early 1980s he felt himself drying up as a writer[4] and enrolled in graduate courses at Middle Tennessee State University obtaining a Master's degree (1982) and a Doctor of Arts degree (1988).[7] He accepted a faculty position at Middle Tennessee State University's Recording Industry Management Program in 1982[2] and in 1987 hosted a television show called "The Music Biz " as a part of the university's curriculum.[8]

His first book (1988) was a biography of Sandi Patty, a Christian music artist.[1] Cusic subsequently wrote biographies of country artists Eddy Arnold,[6] Roger Miller, Elvis Presley, Gene Autry, Riders in the Sky, Randy Travis and Reba McEntire. His 2008 book, Discovering Country Music , is a history of the genre as well as an overview of the industry.[2] He wrote biographical essays and edited books of the lyrics of Hank Williams, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson. Cusic wrote The Beatles and Country Music, Baseball and Country Music, and Winston Churchill's Love of Music in addition to America and the American Recording Business, an overview of the recording industry. His book, Saved by Song: A History of Gospel and Christian Music (2012), was one of the first historical overviews of contemporary Christian music.

In addition to his works about music, Cusic wrote biographies of two African-Americans, James Weldon Johnson: Songwriter[9] and The Trials of Henry Flipper, First Black Graduate of West Point. He has written two novels, Sharecropper's Son and a historical novel Dressed in Grey & Blue.

Cusic wrote liner notes on albums by Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Ray Stevens, Bobby Bare, Eddy Arnold, The Oak Ridge Boys, Sonny James, Gary Paxton, George Beverly Shea, Sheb Wooley, Floyd Cramer, Skeeter Davis, Roy Drusky and others. He has also written liner notes for Sun Records 60th Anniversary Box Set ; Word Gold: Five Decades of Hits ;[10] and Lift Every Voice: A Historical Collection of James Weldon Johnson Songs.

Cusic's songs have been recorded by Bobby Bare, Jeannie Seely, Chris LeDoux, Ray Stevens, Jim Ed Brown and others. He produced the Bobby Bare Album, Darker Than Light [11] and a collection of James Weldon Johnson songs performed by Melinda Doolittle. In his career as a record Producer Cusic produced albums by Jim Ed Brown and Jeannie Seely and recordings by Peter Noone and Mandy Barnett.

In 1994, he accepted a position as Professor of Music Business at Belmont University in Nashville.[7] Two of his former students there were Chris Young and Brad Paisley.[3] In 2006 he received a Curb Professorship endowed by the Mike Curb Foundation.[12]

Cusic was a consultant on Ken Burns' documentary miniseries Country Music. In this role, Cusic and other country music scholars, working over several days, sat with Burns and viewed the preliminary footage critiquing what should be included and verifying the material.[13] Cusic appeared a number of times on CMT programs, including the "Controversy" series, "Greatest Patriotic Songs," "Waiting in the Wings: African-Americans in Country Music " and others; he appeared on a number of TNN shows, including "Life and Times of Eddy Arnold" and the A&E Biography Series (on Hank Williams). He also appeared on the BBC series "Lost Highway: The History of Country Music" and “White Gospel.” He has appeared in three films, Country Gold, Wish Me Away, the story of Chely Wright and Country: Portrait of a Music.

Cusic, along with Shannon Pollard and Cheetah Chrome is the founder of Plowboy Records, which began in 2012 as a heritage[14] label as well as contemporary rock. Cusic served as the label's director of special projects.[15]

Cusic is the founder of the Belmont Book Award, given annually for the best book on country music. It is presented during the International Country Music Conference[16] which has been held at Belmont University since 1998.[17] Previous recipients include Robert Helman (2014) for Johnny Cash: The Life ; and Peter Guarlnick (2016) for Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll. Cusic is co-host of the conference and is editor of the International Country Music Journal.[17]

As of 2018, his latest book is Nashville Sound: An Illustrated Timeline.[3] It is an extensively illustrated work that follows the development of the music industry in Nashville from the nineteenth century until modern times.[18]

• Official Website
• Michigan State University profile
• Credits at Allmusic.com
• Selections at MusicRow.com
• Don Cusic Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2018)