Country Music Legend of the Week, Vern Gosdin [VIDEOS]

Vern Gosdin idolized The Louvin Brothers and The Blue Sky Boys as a young man and sang in a gospel quartet called The Gosdin Brothers.

An inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Gosdin was nicknamed "The Voice" by his peers.

He had 19 top-ten solo hits on the Country music charts from the late 1970s through the early 1990s. Three of these hits went to number one: "I Can Tell By the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)", "Set 'Em Up Joe" and "I'm Still Crazy".

Vern Gosdin - Set 'Em Up Joe Live at the Ryman

He made the top 10 consistently in the early '80s, really hitting his stride when he teamed with Max D. Barnes as a songwriting collaborator. The pair specialized in songs of cheating and barroom romance, often delivering an over-the-top emotionalism that got Gosdin compared to the ultimate legend of honky tonk vocals -- George Jones.

In 1983, Gosdin had two top 5 hits — "If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)" and "Way Down Deep." The following year, he had his first No. 1 single with "I Can Tell by the Way You Dance (You're Gonna Love Me Tonight)".

Vern Gosdin - If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong Do It Right

Vern Gosden - Way Down Deep

Vern Gosdin - I Can Tell By The Way You Dance

After Compleat Records went bankrupt, Gosdin signed with Columbia in 1987. He had success right off the bat with "Do You Believe Me Now." He hit No. 1 once again with a tribute to Ernest Tubb called "Set 'Em Up Joe."

Gosdin's "Chiseled in Stone," co-written with Barnes, won the Country Music Association's Song of the Year award in 1989.
Vern Gosdin - Chiseled in Stone

His 1989 album Alone was a concept album in a traditional country style. It chronicled the dissolution of Gosdin's marriage and included his final number-one hit: "I'm Still Crazy".

From 1989-1991, he released a number of songs and three more made the Billboard top 10: "Right in the Wrong Direction," "That Just About Does It" and "Is It Raining at Your House."

Vern Gosdin - Is It Raining At Your House

Vern continued writing and singing up until April 28, 2009 despite his battle and recovery from his first stroke in 1998. In December 2008, Vern Gosdin announced that www.theVoiceofCountryMusic.com would be releasing "40 Years of the Voice" with the help of a marketing team Tangent Alliance, LLC.

This would become his final music project showcasing 40 years of his remarkable career. It released 11 new songs, 14 songs from his 1968 album "Sounds of Goodbye" with brother Rex Gosdin, and 77 of his favorite classics.

Gosdin, who suffered a stroke in early April 2009, died at a Nashville hospital the evening of April 28, 2009 at the age of 74.