Hugh Prestwood Helped Raise Concern About Country’s Songwriters (RIP)

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Songwriter Hugh Prestwood lived an accomplished and fulfilling life as a professional songwriter, penning big hits for some of the biggest artists in country music, and being recognized by his peers and some of the premier songwriting institutions. He was also an original performer who released multiple albums himself. Then when his life hit the skids like it’s done for so many of country’s legacy songwriters and Prestwood faced an uncertain future, the music community stepped up in a heartening way.

Hugh Prestwood died of a stroke on September 22nd at the age of 82. But it’s not before the country music community rose up to make sure he wouldn’t be forgotten, or left behind in his time of need.

Hugh Loring Prestwood was originally from El Paso, TX where he started playing guitar at the age of 12. He taught school for a number of years after graduating from the University of Texas, and also played at nights in cover bands. When Hugh decided to pursue his songwriting dream full-time, instead of moving to Nashville, he pointed his nose towards New York where he knew a friend on Broadway who thought they could help him get started in the business.

In 1978, Judy Collins heard Prestwood’s song “Hard Time For Lovers” and fell in love with it. She made it the title track of her 1979 album, and recorded a second song from Prestwood for the album called “Dorothy” that Jackie DeShannon had recorded a couple of years before. This was the spark that Prestwood needed to launch a songwriting career, and soon he was deep in business. Even though being based in New York meant he was at a competitive disadvantage to his Nashville-based peers, Prestwood utilized his location to give his songwriting an air of mystery.

Prestwood first found major success in country music through Crystal Gayle’s #1 song “The Sound of Goodbye” in 1983 that also earned a Grammy nomination. Michael Johnson had another #1 hit from Hugh’s pen with “The Moon Is Still Over Her Shoulder.” Prestwood was not known as a voluminous writer, sometimes taking weeks, months, or years to complete a song. But Hugh Prestwood songs had a special magic that led to their regular success.

Prestwood arguably hit his peak around 1990 when a host of popular artists found success with his songs. Shenandoah had a hit with “Ghost in This House,” which Alison Krauss also recorded later on. Highway 101 had a hit with “Bing Bang Boom.” When Randy Travis recorded Hugh’s “Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart,” the song stayed at #1 for four weeks—an unprecedented run in country that hadn’t been accomplished in 12 years at that time.

Tanya Tucker, Don Williams, The Judds, Jerry Douglas, and more also recorded Hugh Prestwood songs over the years, while he also spent some 20 years teaching songwriting classes and workshops at the New School in Manhattan while living in Long Island.

In 2006, Hugh Prestwood’s body of work was considered worthy enough for him to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame with Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy Buffett was another artist who recorded Hugh Prestwood songs. In 2020, English recording artist Rumer released and album paying tribute to the songwriter called Nashville Tears – The Songs of Hugh Prestwood.

However, by 2022, Hugh Prestwood was facing tough times. As his royalties from songwriting credits dried up, and the talent pool of professional country songwriters faced major retraction down to a select few names, Prestwood was forced to sell his house on Long Island, and eventually his song catalog to stay ahead of bills. Then left to renting, he was being removed by his landlord to make his home a short-term rental. While planning to move to Texas for more affordable housing, he broke his back and became disabled.

But the story of Hugh Prestwood took a heartwarming turn. After a Go Fund Me was launched and his story went viral, the country music community stepped up to help Prestwood out. With an initial goal of $25,000, eventually over $120,000 was raised to help out Prestwood and his wife—photographer Judy Ahrens—find secure housing. Names who donated to the cause included current hit songwriters Josh Osborne and Luke Laird, producer and songwriter Buddy Cannon, songwriter Josh Kear, singer John Conlee, and producer Garth Fundis.

Not only did this help Prestwood out financially, it also helped prove to Prestwood that he’d not been forgotten. Prestwood’s story also helped raise awareness about the plight facing so many of country music’s former songwriters who were sidelined beginning in the 2000’s and exacerbated in the Bro-Country era when the population of songwriting contributors dropped by 90% from their highs in some estimates.

Hugh Prestwood is survived by his wife Judy Ahrens, son Bryan Prestwood, and daughter Jennifer Bustillos.

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