Paul Craft

b. 12 August 1938, Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Raised in rural Arkansas, Craft listened to mainly country music on radio and records, taught himself to play harmonica, accordion, ukulele and guitar. Later, and now living in Richmond, Virginia, he dabbled with electric guitar and also added banjo to his arsenal of instruments. In the early 60s he abandoned his academic studies for a while to take to the road, playing banjo with Jimmy Martin And The Sunny Mountain Boys. He then completed his studies, moved back to Memphis, studied law, and then managed a music store meanwhile playing with a band named the Settlers. Moving to Nashville, Tennessee, in the mid-70s, Craft quickly established a reputation as a skilled songsmith and in that year had songs published and nominated for prestigious awards. In 1976 he formed his own music publishing company and in addition to his own songs he published and helped foster work by writers such as Bruce Burch, Mark Germino, Henry Hipkens, Jon Ims, Tim O’Brien, Don Schlitz, Don Singleton and John Starling.


Over the years, Craft has garnered peer recognition owing to his songs being sought out and recorded by leading artists. His songs include ‘Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life’ (which was a hit for Moe Bandy), ‘It’s Me Again Margaret’, ‘Keep Me From Blowing Away’, ‘Take Another Swing At Me’ (recorded by Randy Travis), ‘Blue Heartache’, ‘Raised By The Railroad Line’ (recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford but unreleased), ‘Come As You Were’, ‘Brother Jukebox’ (a hit for Mark Chestnutt), ‘Midnight Flyer’ (recorded by the Osborne Brothers). Others who have recorded Craft’s songs include the Eagles, Clint Eastwood, Howard Keel, Alison Krauss, Barbara Mandrell, Kenny Rogers and Linda Ronstadt.