Deaths
- January 9 — Jon Hager, 67, one half of the Hager Twins, gained fame on Hee Haw.
- February 7 — Molly Bee, 69, gained fame through appearances on Hometown Jamboree. (complications from a stroke)
- March 2 — Ernest Ashworth, 80, Grand Ole Opry star, best known for his 1963 Number One hit, "Talk Back Tremblin' Lips".
- March 8 — Hank Locklin, 91, Grand Ole Opry star, best known for his 1960 crossover hit, "Please Help Me, I'm Falling".
- March 25 — Dan Seals, 61, singer-songwriter of the 1980s, best known for his 1985 crossover hit, "Bop". (mantle cell lymphoma)
- April 28 — Vern Gosdin, 74, singer-songwriter known as "the Voice." (complications from a stroke)
- June 10 — Barry Beckett, 66, record producer and session musician (natural causes)
- June 24 — Tim Krekel, 58, country music songwriter (cancer)
- July 28 — Reverend Ike, 74, Ike made a guest appearance on Hank Williams Jr.'s single “Mind Your Own Business”, a Number One country hit in 1986. (complications from a stroke)
- August 13 — Les Paul, 94, recording innovator and electric guitar inventor, both which have seen significant use in country music (complications from pneumonia)
- August 14 — Warren "Gates" Nichols, 65, steel guitarist and co-founding member of the 1990s group Confederate Railroad (pancreatic cancer).
- September 27 — Ruby Wright, 69, daughter of country music legends Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright and prominent member of her parents' touring act (heart-related illness)
Read more about this topic: 2009 In Country Music
Famous quotes containing the word deaths:
“I sang of death but had I known
The many deaths one must have died
Before he came to meet his own!”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“On almost the incendiary eve
Of deaths and entrances ...”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier’s sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.”
—Philip Caputo (b. 1941)