Jerry Kennedy, Who Helped Define Music in Nashville, Dies at 85

Jerry Kennedy, the guitarist, producer and record executive who helped shape Nashville music in the 1960s and ’70s, died on Wednesday in hospice care in Franklin, Tenn. He was 85. His son Gordon confirmed the death and said the cause was congestive heart failure; Gordon Kennedy co-wrote Eric Clapton’s Grammy-winning single “Change the World.” Known less for a single style than for a keen ear, Mr.

Kennedy had a talent for hearing what was distinctive in an artist and capturing it in the studio. He favored uncluttered arrangements for songwriters like Tom T. Hall, adding bluesy, precisely timed Dobro accents, and his reverberating Dobro riffs on Jeannie C.

Riley’s “Harper Valley P.T.A.” and the sympathetic guitar intro on Tammy Wynette’s “Stand By Your Man” are frequently singled out.

United States, Franklin, Tenn.

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