Bluegrass Singer and Hit Country Songwriter Was 64

Ronnie Bowman, a preeminent bluegrass singer who was also renowned for co-writing songs recorded by top country stars like Chris Stapleton, Kenny Chesney and George Strait, died Sunday at age 64.

Bowman was involved in a motorcycle accident in Ashland, Tenn. on Saturday and died from his injuries the following afternoon at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.

“His was the voice that defined ’90s bluegrass,” wrote the website Bluegrass Today in reporting his passing.

“Ronnie Bowman was an amazing singer and songwriter,” wrote Billy Strings, in one of many posts that his fellow performers put up on social media. “One of the best entertainers in bluegrass and country music. He lit up any room he was in. I’m terribly sad to hear that he has passed on after a tragic motorcycle accident. May our dear friend rest in peace.” Strings had had Bowman join him on stage at the Ryman last year.

As a celebrated tunesmith. Bowman won the ACM Award for song of the year for co-writing Chris Stapleton’s “Nobody to Blame,” one of three contributions he made to that country superstar’s breakout album in 2015. (Stapleton and Bowman are pictured above at the 2016 ACMs.) He also shared songwriting credit for two No. 1 country hits, Kenny Chesney’s “Never Wanted Nothing More” (also a co-write with Stapleton) and Brooks & Dunn’s chart-topping “It’s Getting Better All the Time.”

Other artists who cut Bowman’s songs included Jessie Buckley (for the film “WIld Rose”), Nick Cave, Cody Johnson, Lee Ann Womack, Ralph Stanley, Bill Gaither, Del McCoury and Marcus King. And as a singer or player, he appeared on recordings by Loretta Lynn, Sierra Hull, Alan Jackson, John Fogerty, Jake Owen, Yola, Randy Newman and many others.

But the North Carolina native was best known to bluegrass fans as a singer-songwriter in his own right, first as lead singer and bass player for 11 years with the Lonesome River Band, where he began a partnership with Dan Tyminski in 1990, and by the mid-’90s as a solo artist. He was the recipient of numerous awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association, starting with an album of the year win for “Cold Virginia Night” in 1995, and the IBMA named him male vocalist of the year three times.

Dierks Bentley, the country star who is known for his bluegrass bona fides, paid tribute to Bowman in an emotional Instagram post.

“Going to take awhile for it to sink in that Ronnie Bowman is gone,” wrote Bentley. “He was the favorite bluegrass and country singer of everyone I know. And he was everyone’s favorite hang.”

Bentley noted that he had many memories of hanging with Bowman at the Station Inn in Nashville, but said his favorite was of a favor he called in at the inaugural DelFest (named after bluegrass legend Del McCoury).

“My wife loved Ronnie’s song ‘It’s Getting Better All the Time’ (which Brooks and Dunn cut). Obsessed really. And while she was sleeping in a bunk on the bus, I went and found Ronnie and asked him if he would come serenade her! He came up on the bus with his guitar, snuck back into the middle bunk section which is very dark, hit the first chord and ‘I don’t stop breathing every time the phone rings…’ Imagine sleeping and all of a sudden you hear someone whose voice you love, but hadn’t met, singing your current all-time fave song, six inches away from your head on the other side of a bus bunk curtain, in the pitch dark. Shock and confusion followed by tears and laughs. It was the sweetest thing to do, and that’s just how he was.

“Listening to that song takes on a whole new meaning now,” Bentley concluded. “Can’t imagine what Garnet, his family and all his close friends are feeling right now. Thoughts and prayers for them, and for all the RoBo fans out there, as he’s affectionally referred to in my band. We all loved him.”

A statement posted by Garnet Bowman, Ronnie’s wife, read: “We are in complete shock and utterly devastated to confirm that our beloved Ronnie passed away yesterday…  Ronnie was beloved by so many in our music community, whom he loved so dearly… and we are beyond grateful for all of the love & outpouring toward us already.  Right now, as we process, we just covet your prayers. We have no words at this time, but thank you and graciously request that you honor our privacy while we try to put our heads around this and grieve.  What we know and hold onto, is that he is with his Savior Jesus in Heaven, although already terribly missed here on Earth. Any further details or plans will be made public when there is any information to share about honoring the legacy of our beloved Ronnie.”

“Love that man,” posted country singer-songwriter Ernest in response.

His onetime bandmate Tyminski wrote that Bowman was “so much more than an old friend and band mate. We formed a bond years ago that we carried with us through life knowing that we had something special together. For a long time no one thought of my name without his being attached. We were a pair. I am not the man I am today without him in my life. The whole world will feel this devastating loss and he will forever be my brother.”

One of Bowman’s last posts on social media was to repost an excerpt that George Strait’s account had put up of the song “The Journey of Your Life,” with the caption, “Thanks for recording this one George!” It’s a composition that is likely to come up as Bowman is remembered, with lyrics inspired by a grandfather figure that include the lines, “Ride the wind ’til we meet again / On the other side of life… / I’ll be the angel flyin’ by your side / On the journey of your life.”