Cowboy Jack Clement Dies

Best friends with Johnny Cash, Clement was the first artist at Sun Records to record with Jerry Lee Lewis and Roy Orbison.

He is also credited with promoting Charley Pride inside the country music world, thereby desegregating it. Clement is also associated with the outlaw movement of country, writing Waylon Jennings’ “Dreaming My Dreams,” conceived and produced the story-oriented A Bird Named Yesterday by Bobby Bare, and arranged the mariachi band horns on Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

U2 also owes Clement for his production of its hits “Angel of Harlem” and “When Love Comes To Town.”

Despite having the nickname “Cowboy Jack,” Clement disliked horses and loved Hawaiian shirts, according to the Tennessean.