Brook Benton - The Boll Weevil

The Nashville producer and record executive Shelby Singleton died on Wednesday at seventy-seven. He was less well-known than people like Owen Bradley and Billy Sherrill, probably partly because his taste ran more to novelty records than to maintaining sustained careers for his artists. (Unless they had sustained careers making novelty records, such as Ray Stevens or Roger Miller.) His first nationwide success as a producer was with Brook Benton's "The Boll Weevil," a number one hit in 1961.