Paul Cohen (November 10, 1908 – April 1, 1970) 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, ...
producer.
Career
Cohen was chiefly responsible for Nashville's emergence as the country music recording capital and the
Nashville Sound
The Nashville Sound originated during the mid-1950s as a subgenre of American country music, replacing the chart dominance of the rough honky tonk music, which was most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, with "smooth strings and choruses", "sophist ...
and was a long-time
Decca Records executive. As President of the
Country Music Association (CMA), Cohen was on hand when the
Country Music Hall of Fame
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amas ...
opened in 1967.
Cohen first entered the record business with
Columbia in the late 1920s, but in 1934 joined Decca's newly formed American operation, organized by two brothers,
Jack
Jack may refer to:
Places
* Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community
* Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA
People and fictional characters
* Jack (given name), a male given name, ...
and
Dave Kapp
Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp (who set up American Decca Records in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to ...
—old Chicago friends of his. Cohen moved to Cincinnati to become Decca's midwestern branch manager in 1935; in this role he was responsible for scouting, producing and signing new talent in addition to marketing records. During World War II, he gradually took over Decca's hillbilly production work from Dave Kapp, and in the mid-1940s moved to New York to head that branch of the company.
With two of Decca's main country stars based on Nashville's
Grand Ole Opry—
Ernest Tubb
Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, " Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), ...
and
Red Foley
Clyde Julian "Red" Foley (June 17, 1910 – September 19, 1968) was an American musician who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II.
For more than two decades, Foley was one of the biggest stars of the gen ...
. In August 1947, Cohen began regular recording of his country roster in
Castle Recording's new studios, located in the Tulane Hotel at Eighth Avenue North and Church Street in Nashville. Musicians
Beasley Smith
John Beasley Smith (September 27, 1901 – May 14, 1968)William F. Lee, ''American Big Bands'' (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005) p50 was an American composer and big band musician. "That Lucky Old Sun" (1949) one of his better known works, was cove ...
and
Owen Bradley helped Cohen schedule his intensive, two-to-three-week Nashville visits by lining up stars, musicians, and arrangements (many of them created on the spot). Cohen is remembered for an energetic production style—as much cheerleader as executive—and a knack for spotting new artists and matching them with songs (often published by his own publishing companies).
Kitty Wells
Ellen Muriel Deason (August 30, 1919 – July 16, 2012), known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier to women in country music with her 1952 hit recording " It Wasn't God ...
,
Webb Pierce
Michael Webb Pierce (August 8, 1921 – February 24, 1991) was an American honky-tonk vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the 1950s, one of the most popular of the genre, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the ...
,
Brenda Lee
Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed onl ...
,
Patsy Cline
Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...
, and
Bobby Helms
Robert Lee Helms (August 15, 1933 – June 19, 1997) was an American country singer, who is best remembered for his 1957 Christmas hit "Jingle Bell Rock". Additionally, he had two other hit records from that year: " Fraulein" and "My Special Ang ...
were among the new acts signed and produce by Cohen during his tenure, while Tubb, Foley, Jimmie Davis, and others continued to have success with the label.
Cohen left Decca's country department early in 1958 (replaced by
Owen Bradley some weeks later), first to do pop production for Decca's Coral subsidiary. Soon Cohen launched his own company, Todd Records, and besides signing such country acts as
Pee Wee King
Julius Frank Anthony Kuczynski (February 18, 1914 – March 7, 2000), known professionally as Pee Wee King, was an American country music songwriter and recording artist best known for co-writing "Tennessee Waltz".
Pee Wee King is credited with ...
and Dub Dickerson, the label enjoyed a pop hit,
Joe Henderson's "Snap Your Fingers." In 1964 Cohen rejoined his old boss Dave Kapp as head of
Kapp Records
Kapp Records was an independent record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp (who set up American Decca Records in 1934). David Kapp founded his own label after stints with Decca and RCA Victor. Kapp licensed its records to L ...
' country division in Nashville. In four years at Kapp, Cohen signed and produced
Hugh X. Lewis,
Cal Smith
Calvin Grant Shofner (April 7, 1932 – October 10, 2013), known professionally as Cal Smith, was an American country musician, most famous for his 1974 hits "Country Bumpkin" and " It's Time to Pay the Fiddler".
Career
Calvin Grant Shofner was ...
,
Billy Edd Wheeler
Billy Edward "Edd" Wheeler (born December 9, 1932, Boone County, West Virginia, United States) is an American songwriter, performer, writer, and visual artist.
His songs include " Jackson" (Grammy award winner for Johnny Cash and June Carter ...
, and
Mel Tillis
Lonnie Melvin Tillis (August 8, 1932 – November 19, 2017) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he recorded songs since the late 1950s, his biggest success occurred in the 1970s as part of the outlaw country movement, ...
, among others. Cohen's last major executive position was as head of
ABC Records Nashville office (1968–1969), which he left after being diagnosed with cancer.
He died in Bryan, Texas, on April 1, 1970, and was buried in nearby
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-n ...
. In an unprecedented gesture, Nashville's
Music Row
Music Row is a historic district located southwest of downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Widely considered the heart of Nashville's entertainment industry, Music Row has also become a metonymous nickname for the music industry as a w ...
offices closed for a memorial service a week later (April 7), but the lasting testimony to his memory and importance came with his posthumous election to the
Country Music Hall of Fame
The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amas ...
in 1976.
Adapted from the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's Encyclopedia of Country Music, published by Oxford University Press.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Paul
1908 births
1970 deaths
People from Chicago
Record producers from Illinois
Country Music Hall of Fame inductees
20th-century American businesspeople