Vern Gosdin was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer. He idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys

The Blue Sky Boys

The Blue Sky Boys were an American country music duo consisting of the brothers Earl Bolick and Bill Bolick , whose careers spanned over forty years.-Biography:...

 as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers. An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell

Lefty Frizzell

Lefty Frizzell , born William Orville Frizzell, was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty...

 and Merle Haggard

Merle Haggard

Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...

, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his peers. He had 19 top-ten solo hits on the Country music charts from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. Three of these hits went to number one: "I Can Tell By the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)

I Can Tell By the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)

"I Can Tell By the Way You Dance " is the title of a song written by Sandy Pinkard and Rob Strandlund and recorded by American country music artist Vern Gosdin. It was released in March 1984 as the lead single from the album, There is a Season. The song was Vern Gosdin's eighteenth country hit and...

", "Set 'Em Up Joe

Set 'Em Up Joe

"Set 'Em Up Joe" is a 1988 single by Vern Gosdin, who co-wrote the song with Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran, and Buddy Cannon. "Set 'Em Up Joe" was a tribute song to Ernest Tubb and was Vern Gosdin's second number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total...

" and "I'm Still Crazy

I'm Still Crazy

"I'm Still Crazy" is a 1989 single by Vern Gosdin, who co-wrote the song with his son Steve and Buddy Cannon. "I'm Still Crazy" was Vern Gosdin's third and final number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of fourteen weeks on the country...

".
As the sixth child in a family of nine, Vern Gosdin began singing in a church in Woodland, Ala., where his mother played piano.