Wayland D. Holyfield, is a prominent American

United States

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

 songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 and leader in the songwriting community.

Early life

Wayland Holyfield was born in Mallettown, Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

. He was educated in Arkansas public schools and attended Hendrix College

Hendrix College

Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college located in Conway, Arkansas. The student body averages around 1,400 and currently represents forty-three states and fourteen foreign countries. In US News and World Report's America's Best Colleges, Hendrix is ranked annually in the top tier of...

 at Conway, Arkansas before graduating from the University of Arkansas

University of Arkansas

The University of Arkansas is a public, co-educational, land-grant, space-grant, research university. It is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a research university with very high research activity. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and is located in...

 with a degree in marketing in 1965. Prior to his musical career Holyfield was a wholesale appliance salesman and advertising account manager.

Early career

In 1972, Holyfield left Arkansas and moved to Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 to pursue a songwriting career and his first song was recorded in 1973. He received his first number one hit with Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer

Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer

"Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer" is the title of a song written by Bob McDill and Wayland Holyfield, and recorded by American country music artist Johnny Russell. It was released in July 1973 as the first single from his album Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer. The song peaked...

. In 1975, Holyfield achieved his first solo number one hit You're My Best Friend

You're My Best Friend (Don Williams song)

"You're My Best Friend" is an American country song written by Wayland Holyfield, and most famously recorded by Don Williams.A ballad expressing unwavering faithfulness and loyalty to a spouse or other soulmate, the song became Williams' second No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart...

recorded by Don Williams

Don Williams

Don Williams , is an American country singer, songwriter and a 2010 inductee to the Country Music Hall of Fame. He grew up in Portland, Texas, and graduated in 1958 from Gregory-Portland High School. After seven years with the folk-pop group Pozo-Seco Singers, he began his solo career in 1971,...

.

In addition to Williams, Holyfield's songs have been recorded by numerous Nashville luminaries including George Strait

George Strait

George Harvey Strait is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional...

, Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire

Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

, Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Mandrell

Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer best known for a 1970s–1980s series of Top 10 hits and TV shows that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of the 1970s and 1980s...

, Kathy Mattea

Kathy Mattea

Kathleen Alice "Kathy" Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass performer who often brings folk, Celtic and traditional country sounds to her music. Active since 1983 as a recording artist, she has recorded seventeen albums and has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot...

, Tammy Wynette

Tammy Wynette

Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette , was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling female vocalists....

, Conway Twitty

Conway Twitty

Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...

, Charley Pride

Charley Pride

Charley Frank Pride is an American country music singer. His smooth baritone voice was featured on thirty-nine number-one hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. His greatest success came in the early- to mid-1970s, when he became the best-selling performer for RCA Records since Elvis...

, Randy Travis

Randy Travis

Randy Travis is an American country music singer and actor. Since 1985, he has recorded 20 studio albums and charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, 22 of which were number one hits...

, The Judds

The Judds

The Judds were an American country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter, Wynonna Judd. Signed to RCA Records in 1983, the duo released six studio albums between then and 1991. One of the most successful acts in country music history, The Judds won five Grammy Awards for Best Country...

, Mark Chesnutt

Mark Chesnutt

Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer. Chesnutt recorded and released his first album, Doing My Country Thing, in the late-1980s on private independent record label, Axbar Records, with the vinyl album version now a collector's item...

, John Anderson

John Anderson (musician)

John David Anderson is an American country music artist with a successful career that has lasted more than 30 years...

, Mel Street

Mel Street

King Malachi Street , commonly known as Mel Street, was an American country music singer.-Biography:Street was born in Rowe, Virginia to a coal mining family...

, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...

, The Oak Ridge Boys, Ernest Tubb

Ernest Tubb

Ernest Dale Tubb , 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" , marked the rise of the honky tonk style of music...

, Anne Murray

Anne Murray

Morna Anne Murray CC, ONS is a Canadian singer in pop, country and adult contemporary styles whose albums have sold over 54 million copies....

, and others. During his career Holyfield was writer of over 40 Top Ten hits and 14 #1 hits. Some of his best-known songs are Could I Have This Dance, Some Broken Hearts Never Mend, Till The Rivers All Run Dry, You're the Best Break This Old Heart Ever Had, Only Here For a Little While, Meanwhile, Nobody Likes Sad Songs and several more recognizable tunes.

In his home state of Arkansas, Holyfield is most famous for his song Arkansas, You Run Deep In Me which was written for the 1986 Arkansas Sesquicentennial celebration. It was named one of Arkansas' official state songs in 1987. Holyfield played the song at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton

Bill Clinton

William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...

 in 1992.

Leadership and Awards

Holyfield is the current chairman of the Nashville Songwriters Foundation. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, (NSAI) for almost 25 years. Since 1990 he has been serving on the ASCAP board of directors, the first Nashville songwriter to do so. And as of 2007 will have served for almost 17 years.

Holyfield received a Grammy Award nomination in 1972 for Could I Have this Dance and in 1979, he received the NSAI Presidential Award. Holyfield has won 14 BMI Performance Awards and 16 ASCAP Performance Awards.

Holyfield was the 1983 ASCAP Country Writer of the Year co-winner and in 1992 he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and to the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame.

External links

• http://www.sos.arkansas.gov/education/activity/you_run_deep_in_me.html Lyrics to "Arkansas (You Run Deep In Me)", from Arkansas Secretary of State's website