Larry Willoughby obit

 

Larry Willoughby has died

He was not on the list.

Luke Bryan is mourning the death of an integral figure in his career: Larry Willoughby, the A&R executive who helped the now-superstar get his deal with Capitol Records, died on Thursday (Jan. 14) of COVID-19, Bryan reports.

"This guy believed in me and rolled the dice on a goofy boy from Georgia," Bryan writes of Willoughby on Instagram, alongside an undated photo of the two together. "He was very key and critical in getting me my record deal at Capitol Records."

In 2016, singer Kelleigh Bannen learned more of the story in an episode of her This Nashville Life podcast. Autumn House Tallant, an A&R executive who worked under Willoughby and helped sign Bryan, Dierks Bentley and Eric Church, tells Bannen that Capitol had passed on the aspiring star twice before inking a record deal with him.

"We knew he was talented and there was something there, but the music wasn't always quite right," Tallant remembers (quote via Country Living). But when she ran into Bryan later out in Nashville, "he was telling me a story about his [now-wife] Caroline, and I remember watching him and thinking, 'Oh, he's got it. He has got it.'

"He was funny and charming. He just had this star power," Tallant continues. And when she approached Willoughby about her hunch, he shared the same feeling.

"I came back to the office and said to Larry, 'Remember that guy, Luke Bryan?'" Tallant recounts. "And he said, 'Oh my goodness, I had the same experience playing poker with him, and we should sign him.'"