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Former Charlie Daniels Band Guitarist Passes
Crain’s life-long love affair with music started when was growing up in Nashville where he began piano lessons when he was six years old, according to Aristo Media. Other string instruments followed, including the ukulele, banjo, guitar and pedal steel.
Along with his brother Billy, Crain was playing in Nashville’s Flat Creek Band when the group opened for the Charlie Daniels Band at the first Volunteer Jam in 1974. Crain joined CDB one year later and played on more than 20 albums and co-wrote more than 60 songs, including the Grammy Award-winning 1979 hit, “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.”
Crain left the Charlie Daniels Band in 1989 so he could devote more time to his family, eventually working for Rogers Remodeling and Southbound Trains, both in Franklin, Tenn. He also kept one foot in the music world as the leader of Tommy Crain & The Crosstown Allstars Of Atlanta.
“Tommy Crain will always be a part of the CDB family and his music will always be a part of the CDB sound,” Charlie Daniels said. “We have lost a good friend and the world has lost a unique, creative and precious human being. We send our deepest condolences to the family of our brother Tommy Crain. You were special, buddy. We’re gonna miss you.”
Crain is preceded in death by his daughter Ella Helen Crain and is survived by his parents, wife Melissa, daughter Ann, grandson Hunter McDuffee, brother Billy, sister Sherry Crain Arledge and man y nieces and nephews. Information on a memorial service is pending. Donations can be made to the Nashville Local Chapter of Musicians On Call, 1313 21st Avenue, Oxford House, Suite 1002, Nashville, Tenn., 37232.