Wayne Raney

Wayne Raney (August 17, 1921 – January 23, 1993) After learning to play harmonica at an early age, he moved to Piedras Negras, Mexico at age 13, where he played on radio station XEPN. Raney played the Grand Ole Opry in 1953, and also worked on the California Hayride and the WWVA Jamboree. Late in the 1950s he worked as a DJ, record producer, and label owner, starting Rimrock Records. He wrote the 1959 Christian revival song, "We Need a Whole Lot More of Jesus (and a Lot Less Rock and Roll)", which has been covered by numerous artists in a variety of styles. These include People!, The Greenbriar Boys and Linda Ronstadt. He recorded country music into the early 1960s, including for his own label, but ceased the mail-order business in 1960.

After returning to Arkansas, he recorded a gospel album called Don't Try to Be What You Ain't. Eventually he went into semi-retirement, running his own chicken farm and performing only occasionally in the late 1960s and 1970s. While he appeared sporadically on Hee Haw in the 1970s, he lost his voice in the 1980s and ceased performing; in 1990 he published an autobiography entitled Life Has Not Been a Bed of Roses. He died of cancer in 1993.

Raney was honored posthumously with the Arkansas Country Music Award for "Lifetime Achievement" on June 3, 2018, at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.