Country Singer Jeff Carson Dies At 58

Country music singer and Academy of Country Music award-winner Jeff Carson died on Saturday of a heart attack at Williamson Medical Center in Franklin, Tennessee, according to his publicist Jeremy Westby of 2911 Media. He was 58.

Born Jeffrey Lee Herndon on December 16, 1963 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and known musically as Jeff Carson, he began to perform after participating at a local competition in Rogers, Arkansas. Carson later moved to Branson, Missouri, where he found work playing bass guitar in local bands, in addition to writing songs. While in Branson, he met his future wife, and then moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1989. There he found work with a band that played at the Opryland Hotel, and eventually started recording demos for other artists. Included were Tracy Byrd (Walkin’ To Jerusalem), Tracy Lawrence (I See it Now), Reba McEntire (The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter), Tim McGraw (I Wouldn’t Want It Any Other Way), and Faith Hill (It Matters To Me).

After being discovered by record producer Chuck Howard in 1994, Carson signed with Curb Records. His first single, Yeah Buddy, was released on radio in 1995. Next was single Not On Your Love, which went number one, followed by The Car, another top-five hit that resulted in his first Academy of Country Music award for “Video of the Year.” Carson recorded several other singles, including Real Life (Was Never The Same Again), which was another of the 14 charted singles in his career on the Billboard chart.

In 2009, Carson retired from music to become a law enforcement officer with Franklin Police Department in Williamson County, Tennessee, where he currently remained on the police force.

Carson returned to music in 2019 after signing a singles deal with MC1 Nashville to recut and release a previously recorded song God Save The World, which charted on the Music Row Top 40 chart. More recently, Carson signed with Encore Music Group and was in the studio with Buddy Hyatt recording a specialty album to be released later this year that included duets with Michael Ray, Darryl Worley, Mark Wills, and Craig Morgan.

Jeff Carson is survived by his wife Kim Cooper Carson, son Dayton Grei Herndon Carson, mother Virginia Norton, brother Steve Herndon, sister Karen Spurlock, as well as aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.