Red Lane

Red Lane (born Hollis Rudolph DeLaughter; A self-taught musician, Lane began writing songs in the early 1960s and over his career wrote or co-wrote 60 songs that reached the U.S. top 100 country charts. Outside of country music, Lane's songs have been recorded by a diverse group of artists including Bob Dylan, Ray Charles and Solomon Burke. He has credits as composer or instrumentalist on at least 386 albums.

His most widely-known songs include, "'Til I Get It Right" (recorded by Tammy Wynette, 1973), "Country Girl" (Dottie West), "Miss Emily's Picture" (John Conlee), "The Eagle" (Waylon Jennings, George Strait), "My Own Kind of Hat" (Merle Haggard, Alan Jackson), "Blackjack County Chain" (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings), "Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa" (George Strait), and "New Looks From An Old Lover" (B.J. Thomas).

Lane's songs were recorded by many country artists, including Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette, Eddy Arnold, Dottie West, B.J. Thomas, George Strait, Roger Miller and Alan Jackson. In 2010 he was recognized by the Country Music Hall of Fame in a program series called "Poets and Prophets", which included a two-hour interview session with Lane, and live performance by him enhanced with photos, videos and recordings from the Museum's Frist Library and Archive. The program was streamed live by the Hall of Fame.

Early life He was born in Zona, Louisiana which was later incorporated into the town of Bogalusa, along the Pearl River which forms the lower part of the boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi. His father was a sharecropper and heavy equipment operator. The family moved often to go wherever there was work. He began playing guitar about age nine, taught by his father. The family moved to northern Indiana, where he completed high school. He then joined the Air Force and was stationed in Hawaii as an aircraft mechanic. His color blindness prevented him though from being a pilot. Killen facilitated Lane's move to Nashville and signed him as a staff writer in April 1964. Just over a week after moving to Nashville, Lane appeared on the Grand Ole Opry with Tubb. Lane said, "What do you do after you've reached all your dreams in 8 days?"

Career Lane's career as a solo singer was mediocre. He was offered a recording contract by Chet Atkins Lane developed a productive association with West, who recorded dozens of his songs. He was a guitarist for Merle Haggard and The Strangers, who recorded about 25 of Lane's songs.

Unique character Lane had been interested in airplanes since his early career as an aircraft mechanic. He eventually got his pilot's license, and also became a skydiver. He used this experience in a song "The Day I Jumped from Uncle Harvey's Plane" recorded by Roger Miller. Its 177 seats were removed, and it was converted into Lane's permanent home. It was well insulated and comfortable, and had a bar and a music room in the cockpit. It served as a place where songwriters and musicians would frequently gather to share songs and ideas. Lane's directions on how to find him went something like: "...go down the country road past the bicycle and the windsock, and it's the first large airliner on the right." Lane was active in charitable efforts with the local police department with a camp for disadvantaged youth. He once took the boys out for a boat ride on Nashville's Old Hickory Lake and surprised them by pulling the boat up to Johnny Cash's house. Cash came out personally and gave the boys record albums.

Lane died of cancer in Nashville on July 1, 2015. He was 76.