Biography
Over an extended span, Marijohn Wilkin ranked among country music's premier composers. Beyond her own extended and notable professional path, she earned recognition for providing crucial support that advanced the trajectories of fellow tunesmiths. Among her standout compositions stand "Waterloo," "P.T. 109," and "Long Black Veil," widely regarded as her signature piece.
Born Marijohn Melson in Kemp, Texas, to a deacon and his spouse, she displayed childhood talent yet showed scant interest in show business and declined a Monogram Studios film contract during the 1930s, favoring schooling and matrimony over celebrity. After completing college, she took a position as a music instructor. Her first husband, Bedford Russell, perished in World War II shortly after their wedding; the young widow soon remarried, a union that produced her son John, commonly known as Bucky, before ending in divorce. She then wed Art Wilkin Jr. and shortly thereafter commenced songwriting.
In 1955 the Wilkins relocated to Springfield, Missouri, enabling Bucky to perform guitar on The Children's Ozark Jubilee. There Marijohn made her recording debut with the co-written "Take This Heart," a collaboration with James P. Coleman; additional numbers she penned were subsequently cut by other program regulars. She supplemented household income by performing evenings in local clubs, where a neighborhood attorney urged her to pursue opportunities in Nashville. She relocated, sang in a venue while pitching material, and initially met rejection before securing employment at Cedarwood Publishing alongside figures such as Mel Tillis and John D. Loudermilk. On a single June 1959 day, Stonewall Jackson introduced "Waterloo" while Lefty Frizzell debuted "Long Black Veil." Frizzell reached number six with the latter, yet Jackson achieved the pinnacle of his career as "Waterloo" held the country summit for five weeks. Three years afterward Jimmy Dean cut "P.T. 109," a narrative of the 1943 loss of John F. Kennedy's torpedo boat, which climbed to number three.
Although Wilkin's successes registered on country charts, she also crafted pop material, most prominently "Cut Across Shorty" and "Whip-Poor-Will." She occasionally contributed backup vocals, including sessions with the Jordanaires. Between 1960 and 1961 Columbia issued two solo albums by her, among them Country & Western Songs That Sold a Million. During the mid-1960s she established the publishing firm Buckhorn Music. At that company Bucky attained his initial songwriting triumph with the surf staple "G.T.O.," which he recorded alongside his ensemble Ronny & the Daytonas.
Buckhorn Music rapidly served as a base for Nashville outsiders; Kris Kristofferson launched his career there, joined by Johnny Duncan and Ed Bruce. Despite her stature as a writer, Wilkin endured depressive episodes mitigated by excessive drinking. Her third marriage collapsed in the mid-1960s, and on two occasions she contemplated suicide. By 1974 she had redirected her existence toward faith and, in tandem with Kristofferson, composed the introspective "One Day at a Time." Marilyn Sellers's recording entered the Top 20, and more than 200 artists have since interpreted the piece.
Wilkin thereafter concentrated on gospel compositions. In 1974 she expressed her renewal via the World label album I Have Returned. She entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975 and issued her autobiography, Lord Let Me Leave a Song, in 1978. Later health complications arose from heart disease; coronary bypass surgery in the early 2000s proved unsuccessful, and further intervention was ruled out. Marijohn Wilkin died October 28, 2006, in Nashville at age 86.
Born Marijohn Melson in Kemp, Texas, to a deacon and his spouse, she displayed childhood talent yet showed scant interest in show business and declined a Monogram Studios film contract during the 1930s, favoring schooling and matrimony over celebrity. After completing college, she took a position as a music instructor. Her first husband, Bedford Russell, perished in World War II shortly after their wedding; the young widow soon remarried, a union that produced her son John, commonly known as Bucky, before ending in divorce. She then wed Art Wilkin Jr. and shortly thereafter commenced songwriting.
In 1955 the Wilkins relocated to Springfield, Missouri, enabling Bucky to perform guitar on The Children's Ozark Jubilee. There Marijohn made her recording debut with the co-written "Take This Heart," a collaboration with James P. Coleman; additional numbers she penned were subsequently cut by other program regulars. She supplemented household income by performing evenings in local clubs, where a neighborhood attorney urged her to pursue opportunities in Nashville. She relocated, sang in a venue while pitching material, and initially met rejection before securing employment at Cedarwood Publishing alongside figures such as Mel Tillis and John D. Loudermilk. On a single June 1959 day, Stonewall Jackson introduced "Waterloo" while Lefty Frizzell debuted "Long Black Veil." Frizzell reached number six with the latter, yet Jackson achieved the pinnacle of his career as "Waterloo" held the country summit for five weeks. Three years afterward Jimmy Dean cut "P.T. 109," a narrative of the 1943 loss of John F. Kennedy's torpedo boat, which climbed to number three.
Although Wilkin's successes registered on country charts, she also crafted pop material, most prominently "Cut Across Shorty" and "Whip-Poor-Will." She occasionally contributed backup vocals, including sessions with the Jordanaires. Between 1960 and 1961 Columbia issued two solo albums by her, among them Country & Western Songs That Sold a Million. During the mid-1960s she established the publishing firm Buckhorn Music. At that company Bucky attained his initial songwriting triumph with the surf staple "G.T.O.," which he recorded alongside his ensemble Ronny & the Daytonas.
Buckhorn Music rapidly served as a base for Nashville outsiders; Kris Kristofferson launched his career there, joined by Johnny Duncan and Ed Bruce. Despite her stature as a writer, Wilkin endured depressive episodes mitigated by excessive drinking. Her third marriage collapsed in the mid-1960s, and on two occasions she contemplated suicide. By 1974 she had redirected her existence toward faith and, in tandem with Kristofferson, composed the introspective "One Day at a Time." Marilyn Sellers's recording entered the Top 20, and more than 200 artists have since interpreted the piece.
Wilkin thereafter concentrated on gospel compositions. In 1974 she expressed her renewal via the World label album I Have Returned. She entered the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975 and issued her autobiography, Lord Let Me Leave a Song, in 1978. Later health complications arose from heart disease; coronary bypass surgery in the early 2000s proved unsuccessful, and further intervention was ruled out. Marijohn Wilkin died October 28, 2006, in Nashville at age 86.
Albums
