Christopher Clay Austin (February 24, 1964 – March 16, 1991) was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer. Austin was signed to

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

in 1988 and charted three singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs chart. His highest-charting single, "Blues Stay Away from Me," was included on the 1989 compilation album ''New Tradition Sings the Old Tradition''. Austin also co-wrote

Ricky Skaggs Rickie Lee Skaggs (born July 18, 1954), known professionally as Ricky Skaggs, is an American neotraditional country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, ...

' 1991 single " Same Ol' Love." Austin was most known for playing guitar and fiddle for

's and Reba McEntire's road bands. Austin toured with McEntire until an airplane carrying Austin, six other members of McEntire's band, and her road manager crashed into a nearby mountain after taking off from an airport in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, killing all on board.

Singles

References

1964 births 1991 deaths American country singer-songwriters American male singer-songwriters People from Boone, North Carolina Warner Records artists Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States 20th-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from North Carolina Country musicians from North Carolina 20th-century American male singers Accidental deaths in California Musicians killed in aviation accidents or incidents Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1991 {{US-country-singer-stub