Don Henry (born December 30, 1959, in San Jose,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

) is 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 and songwriter. His career took off when the

Kathy Mattea Kathleen Alice Mattea (born June 21, 1959) is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including four that re ...

single "

Where've You Been "Where've You Been" is a song recorded by American country music artist Kathy Mattea. It was released in November 1989 as the third single from the album ''Willow in the Wind''. The song reached #10 on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot ...

", which he co-wrote with

Jon Vezner Jon Vezner (born June 6, 1951) is an American country music songwriter. He is best known for his work with Kathy Mattea, to whom he has been married since 1988. Vezner began working as a songwriter in Minnesota and later moved to Nashville, Tenne ...

, won numerous awards in 1990 and 1991. These included the "song of the year" award at the 25th annual

Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

in 1990, and a

Grammy Award for Best Country Song The Grammy Award for Best Country Song (sometimes known as the Country Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the songwriter(s) of the song, not to the artist, except if the artist is also the songwriter. There ha ...

at the

33rd Annual Grammy Awards The 33rd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 20, 1991. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year. Quincy Jones was the night's biggest winner winning a total of six awards including Album of the Year. Performers ...

. He went on to team up with Vezner to write another song, " Whole Lotta Holes", which was also later recorded by Kathy Mattea and released as a single. In 1991, he released his first solo album, '' Wild in the Backyard'', which was engineered and produced by

Ray Kennedy Raymond Kennedy (28 July 1951 – 30 November 2021) was an English footballer who won every domestic honour in the game with Arsenal and Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Kennedy played as a forward for Arsenal, and then played as a le ...

. The album's music was favorably compared to the music of

Randy Newman Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early Americana (music), Americana-influenced songs (often ...

. The album was also named one of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s top 10 records of 1991. Writing in ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'',

Alanna Nash Alanna Nash is an American journalist and biographer. Born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1950, Nash holds a master's degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is the author of several acclaimed books. She is a 1972 graduat ...

gave the album a B+ grade and described Henry as "One of Nashville’s best young tunesmiths". He performs with

The Don Juans ''The Don Juans'' ( cs, Donšajni, also known as ''Skirt Chasers'') is a 2013 Czech comedy film directed by Jiří Menzel. The film was selected as the Czech entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, but it was not nom ...

; they accompanied

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than fifty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

on his 2018 and 2019 UK tours.

Discography

*'' Wild in the Backyard'' ( Epic, 1991) *''Flowers and Rockets'' ( Love Child, 2001)

References

External links

* Living people 1959 births Musicians from San Jose, California American country singer-songwriters Epic Records artists Grammy Award winners Country musicians from California Singer-songwriters from California {{US-country-musician-stub