Former Billboard Editor-in-Chief Dies at 87

Veteran music journalist Gerry Wood died on Saturday (May 3) in Inverness, Fla. He was 87.

Wood was Billboard’s Nashville bureau chief and country editor in 1980 when he was promoted to editor-in-chief of the magazine, resulting in a transfer to the publication’s New York headquarters. He served in that capacity through 1983, when he left Billboard, only to return in 1986 as general manager/Nashville, a position he held into 1991.

Wood’s elevation to editor-in-chief coincided with the explosion of country music in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, when Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson and Alabama were among the top-selling acts in any genre and the film Urban Cowboy became a pop-culture phenomenon. Wood was there before, during and after the explosion, charting every bit of it. He could probably relate to the lyrics of a Barbara Mandrell hit in 1981: “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool.”

Ken Schlager, former Billboard managing editor, paid tribute to Wood on Facebook: “When I joined Billboard as managing editor in November 1985 one of the first tasks was finding a new Nashville bureau chief. Our publisher, Sam Holdsworth (R.I.P.), had asked Gerry, who was no longer associated with Billboard, to check out the candidates that had emerged and scout for others. After several weeks, Gerry reported back that he, in fact, was the best candidate. It seemed like a whole lotta hubris, but it turned out he was right. That’s how Gerry ended up back at Billboard.

“Some weeks later, when I made my first trip to Nashville, Gerry, now bureau chief, greeted me with a gift basket in my hotel room filled with GooGoo Clusters, Moon Pies, and airplane bottles of Jack Daniel’s.

“Gerry was a sweet guy. Smart, hard-working, knowledgeable and well-connected. I’m sorry to hear of his passing.”

Born Gerald Edmund Wood in Lewiston, Maine, on April 7, 1938, Wood began his career in radio. He was a news and sports reporter and DJ at WSON in Henderson, Ky., and at WVJS in Owensboro, Ky. He also served as news reporter and DJ at WAKY in Louisville, Ky.

Wood graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1960 and went on to earn a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville in 1965. He later worked in public relations at Vanderbilt (1966-69).

While attending Vanderbilt and after, Wood served as news reporter and DJ at WKDA in Nashville (1964-66). After working in public relations at Vanderbilt (1966-69), he shifted to working on Music Row, where he worked in public relations at ASCAP (1969-75), rising to associate director. Wood began his first stint at Billboard in 1975.

Wood left Billboard in 1983 when the editorial leadership was reorganized under group publisher Jerry Hobbs. He moved back to Music City to become editor-in-chief at Nashville magazine (1983-84) and a special correspondent for People magazine (1984). Like many others before and since, Wood returned to Billboard for a second tour of duty, rejoining the staff in 1986 as general manager/Nashville. In that capacity, he directed and coordinated editorial, chart and sales activities in the country sector. He held that position through 1990.

On local TV, Wood became known as “The Gamboling Gourmet” on WTVF-TV. He also worked under that identity for Nashville magazine. As a freelance journalist, Wood wrote for Country Weekly and many other publications. He was also a regular reviewer on the TNN cable channel in the mid-1980s.

Wood won a Journalistic Achievement Award from SESAC in 1981. He was a board member of the Nashville Entertainment Association and a member of the Country Music Association, the Gospel Music Association, the Recording Academy, the Nashville Songwriters Association International, and Sigma Delta Chi.

Wood was also a published author. Ain’t God Good (1975) and Let the Hammer Down (1978) were collaborations with country comedian Jerry Clower. Other titles included The Grand Ole Opry Presents the Year in Country Music (1997) and Tales From Country Music (2003).

Outside of his career, Wood was a travel enthusiast. Late in life, he moved to Florida and wrote books and articles for local publications on the Gulf Coast.

“I was just laughing with Ed [Morris] yesterday as we were reminiscing about our days at Billboard with Gerry at the helm of the Nashville bureau,” says Debbie Holley, who worked under Wood in the country department at Billboard in the 1980s.

“Ed and I never knew where he would be calling in his column from, to whichever one of us was willing to take it over the phone by dictation. If he wasn’t on a plane or boat, he was calling from a train making his way across the country!

“Ed and I truly loved Gerry Wood! If free-flowing, imaginative, intuitive, and emotional thought are characteristics associated with the right brain, his right hemisphere must have been double in size. Gerry Wood definitely encompassed and underscored ‘creative.’ He was full of original ideas, artistic works and new possibilities. He was unconventional and impractical at times, but that always led to even more interesting projects. He was more than willing to share the spotlight and pushed everyone around him to ‘be your best self,’ ‘try things without fear of judgment,’ and ‘go for it, or you’ll always wonder!’

“I’m sad that he has left us, but I bet there are a couple of one-way streets called ‘Music Row’ just inside ‘Heaven’s Gates!’ And, I bet Gerry Wood is right there with all of the songwriters, music publishers and record label execs on ’16th (and 17th) Avenue!’”

Ed Morris, who was Billboard’s country music editor from 1990-95, tells Billboard, “Gerry hired me in 1981 as he was leaving Nashville for New York to take the chief editor job. Having heard I was an atheist, he found it enormously amusing to name me gospel editor, thereby making me hostage to the Righteous for the next two years. Gerry lived to be entertained—by both by personalities and circumstances—and I never once saw him less than buoyant.”

Wood also had a good sense of humor about himself. At one Billboard staff conference, a staff member, Jean Williams, wasn’t able to be present, but sent in taped remarks. At one point she said, “Gerry Wood had a good idea. I think it was about a year ago.”

William paused just a little too long between those two sentences, creating the impression that good ideas from Wood were a rarity. Everyone in the room laughed at the unintended slight. No one laughed harder than Gerry.