Country music legend, Hall of Fame songwriter dead at 82

Hugh Prestwood might not be a name that most country music fans know, but it should be because he was truly a legend at his craft.

Prestwood, a songwriter who authored hits for some of country music’s best, has died after he reportedly suffered a stroke.

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He was 82.

“Hugh Prestwood, who wrote major hits, including Randy Travis’ ‘Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart’ and Trisha Yearwood’s ‘The Song Remembers When,’ died on September 22,” the Country Music Hall of Fame wrote in a post on X. “The Texas native, who composed his work solo, was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006.”

Prestwood was reportedly first discovered by Judy Collins, and he wrote his first hit, “Hard time for Lovers,” for her in 1978. Rolling Stone said Prestwood was “one of the most respected and in-demand songwriters in Nashville from the late Seventies to the mid-Nineties.”

Yearwood also wrote about Prestwood’s death on social media.

“Hugh Prestwood was a poet,” she wrote. “’The Song Remembers When’ is one of the greatest songs ever written, and I’m the lucky girl who got to sing it. It paints the beautiful picture of the power of music.

“We’re all luck that Hugh decided to be a writer,” she continued. “I will miss his voice.”