Jim McBride, 'Chattahoochee' songwriter and Alan Jackson collaborator, dies at 78

This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.

Jim McBride, the Grammy-nominated country songwriter who partnered with singer Alan Jackson on songs including “Chattahoochee” and “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” died Tuesday.He was 78.

“Jim was a good man and a great and genuine songwriter,” Jackson wrote on Thursday in an Instagram story.“He understood country music and touched many with his songs.

Jim and I wrote some of my favorite songs together and I don’t know if my career would have ended up quite the same without his help, inspiration, and encouragement in my early years.Thank you Jim, rest in peace.” Music The musician-focused charity directed over $15 million toward relief, assisting more than 3,200 music professionals since the disaster.

Despite grants and donations, many musicians still struggle to rebuild their lives and careers.Jackson’s photo showed him and McBride as younger men, smiling and holding ASCAP certificates.In 1994, “Chattahoochee” won the Country Music Assn.’s award for song of the year and they were nominated for the Grammy for country song of the year as well.“I am in shock.

I am devastatingly sad.My phone has been ringing and dinging all day, so I hope my friends will understand I’m just not able to talk right now,” songwriter and close friend Jerry Salley wrote Wednesday on Facebook, noting that McBride died after a fall on Monday.

McBride had texted Salley just hours before falling, the latter said.“I’ll never know why he took a chance to write with me” when they met in Nashville in the early 1980s, Salley wrote, “but man, we hit it off, became instant friends, and loved being in the writing room together.

He always brought out the very best in me.”Though best remembered for his Jackson collaborations, McBride’s songs were also recorded by artists including Conway Twitty, Johnny Lee, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Reba McEntire, Alabama, Willie Nelson...