Larry Cordle

Songwriter Larry Cordle counts numerous compositions among his successes, three of which reached the summit of the charts. The International Bluegrass Music Association presented him its 1992 Song of the Year award for “Lonesome Standard Time,” a track that also secured a Grammy nomination.

Later in his career Cordle generated headlines with a co-written piece that some interpreted as an attack on the very sector sustaining him. Created alongside Larry Shell, “Murder on Music Row” openly faults Nashville for abandoning country music’s traditional foundations. Industry insiders responded with equal measures of fury and approval at the song’s blunt dismissal of the city and its recent stylistic shifts.

Although the track never received an official single release or substantial promotional support, a duet performance by George Strait and Alan Jackson elevated its visibility. The recording struck a resonant chord, entered the Top 40, and compelled widespread attention to Cordle’s assessment of the genre’s direction. The resulting attention ultimately prompted the same industry the song had censured to recognize its candor through a pair of 2000 Country Music Association nominations, one for Vocal Event of the Year and another for Song of the Year.

Additional interpreters of Cordle’s material include Diamond Rio, Ricky Skaggs, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Alison Krauss, John Michael Montgomery, and John Anderson. Shell Point Records issued the album Murder on Music Row, while Sugar Hill Records put out three further Cordle albums. His band Lonesome Standard Time comprises Terry Eldredge on upright bass, lead acoustic guitarist Booie Beech, fiddler Fred Carpenter, mandolinist David Harvey, and banjo player David Talbot.