# 20 Years Ago Today, Music Row Said Goodbye to Its “Den Mother,” Who Wrote Hits for Lefty Frizzell, Stonewall Jackson, and Jimmy Dean

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/20-years-ago-today-music-row-said-goodbye-to-its-den-mother-who-wrote-hits-for-lefty-frizzell-stonewall-jackson-and-jimmy-dean/
- Published: 2026-10-28T16:45:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T04:29:37+00:00
- Original publisher: American Songwriter
- Original article: https://americansongwriter.com/20-years-ago-today-music-row-said-goodbye-to-its-den-mother-who-wrote-hits-for-lefty-frizzell-stonewall-jackson-and-jimmy-dean/
- Topics: Business, Companies, Entertainment, Health, Medicine, Music

## Key points

- Marijohn Wilkin died in 2006, aged 86.
- She co-wrote major hits for Lefty Frizzell and Stonewall Jackson.
- Her Buckhorn Music company backed songwriters including Kris Kristofferson.

## Summary

Marijohn Wilkin, a songwriter and former touring musician known as the “Den Mother of Music Row”, died of heart disease on 28 October 2006, aged 86. Her publishing company helped launch the careers of songwriters who went on to shape country music.

After moving to Nashville in the late 1950s, Wilkin co-wrote “The Long Black Veil”, a top 10 country hit for Lefty Frizzell in 1959, and “Waterloo”, which Stonewall Jackson took to number one for five weeks that summer. In the mid-1960s she founded Buckhorn Music, signing writers including Johnny Duncan, Ed Bruce and Kris Kristofferson; its catalogue later included “For the Good Times”.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.