Hugh X. Lewis born 25th December 1930

Hubert Brad Lewis (December 25, 1930 – December 29, 2020), known professionally as Hugh X. Lewis, was an American country music singer born in Yeaddiss, Kentucky. He recorded between 1964 and currently for various labels, and charted fifteen singles on the Hot Country Songs charts. Lewis's debut single, "What I Need Most", peaked at number 21 on this chart. Lewis also wrote eleven songs for Stonewall Jackson including the number one single "B.J. the D.J." 

Hubert Bradley Lewis was born the son of a Church of Christ minister. He grew up in southeast Kentucky in Cumberland and sfter high school, he went to work with the U.S. Steel Corporation's Mine Operations in Lynch, Kentucky and stayed there for about ten years. Though such work might leave one tired and sore, Hugh found the time to perform in weekend shows in the Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia areas - he just knew he would one day end up in Nashville. He eventually worked his way up to the position of foreman at his job in Lynch. 

During the late 50’s,  a radio station in Cincinnati, WLW, held a talent search contest and Hugh won out for two years in a row, which lead to other opportunities. His appearances on the famed Renfro Valley Barn Dance drew encouragement from the legendary John Lair. But what got the momentum going for him was when he won a Pet Milk contest that got him a guest spot on the Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round in Knoxville. He ended up doing frequent appearances on the Barn Dance and sometimes hitch-hiked from Lynch, Kentucky to do those shows. 

During 1963, Hugh decided it was time to move to Nashville and made the move by himself initially. He got himself a job selling advertising space for a magazine during the day and at night, continued to hone his songwriting skills. He spent about two months in a boarding house which he calls the two most miserable months in his life, before he was able to bring his wife Ann and the kids to town in a Ryder truck. He was soon  signed as a staff songwriter with Cedarwood Music, the publishing company that had been co-founded by singer Webb Pierce and Grand Ole Opry manager Jim Denny a decade prior. 

                             

In 1964, he hit pay dirt as the writer of the No. 1 Stonewall Jackson hit “B.J. the D.J.” Jackson subsequently recorded a half dozen more Lewis tunes, including “Angry Words” (No. 16, 1968) and “Ship in the Bottle” (No. 19, 1969). Carl Smith took the songwriter’s “Take My Ring Off Your Finger” into the top-20 in 1964. Carl Butler & Pearl succeeded with the Lewis tune “Just Thought I’d Let You Know” the following year. Kitty Wells, Ray Pillow, Mac Wiseman, Jimmy C. Newman, George Morgan, Charley Pride, Jimmy Dickens, Lynn Anderson and Jim Ed Brown also recorded songs written or co-written by Hugh X. Lewis. Del Reeves & Bobby Goldsboro sang a duet on his song “I Just Wasted the Rest.” 

Success as a songwriter led to a recording contract with Kapp Records. Lewis never scored a top-20 hit as a singer, but his smooth baritone was notable on a string of country singles. He wrote or co-wrote nine of his 15 charted songs.“What I Need Most” (1965), “Out Where the Ocean Meets the Sky” (Mel Tillis/Fred Burch, 1965), “I’d Better Call the Law on Me” (1966), “You’re So Cold (I’m Turning Blue)” (Harlan Howard/Tony Senn, 1967) and “Evolution and the Bible” (1968) were top-40 entries. “All Heaven Broke Loose” was a top-20 hit in Canada in 1969. His major-label LPs were The Hugh X. Lewis Album (1965), Just Before Dawn (1965), My Kind of Country (1966), Just a Prayer Away (1967) and Country Fever (1968). 

Beginning in 1968, he hosted Hugh X. Lewis Country Club, a syndicated weekly TV show. By 1971, it was being aired in 31 markets. He opened his own nightclub in Printer’s Alley in 1972 and produced the remaining episodes of the show from there. Lewis was also featured in the country B-movies Forty Acre Feud (1966), Gold Guitar (1967) and Cotton Pickin’ Chicken Pickers (1967). 

Hugh X. Lewis retired in 1984, but returned to the music business in 1998 as the "Country Ham, Colonel Hugh X. Lewis He began emphasizing gospel music with the albums God, Home & Country and Stand Up and Be Counted. In 2005, he appeared in the Christian children’s film Summer of Courage. He also became a performing poet, reciting inspirational verse on various radio programs and in churches. In 2006, the Tennessee Senate and House of Representatives passed a resolution designating Lewis as the state’s poet laureate of Christian country music. He was the first person to hold that designation. 

Since 2017 he was hosting a weekly gospel radio show called The Christian Country Store on WSGS and WKIC in Hazard, Kentucky. He also had daily features on the Gospel Radio Network. Lewis  became a member of the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame and was honoured in the Walkway of Stars at the original Country Music Hall of Fame 

 He died from complications of COVID-19 in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 29, 2020, at the age of 90.

(Edited from article by Robert K Oermamn @ Music Row, Hillbilly Music, Baptist & Relector & Wikipedia)