Patsy Bruce obit

Patsy Bruce, 'Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys' songwriter, dies at 81

 

She was not on the list.

Country songwriter Patsy Bruce, who co-wrote the hit song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys," died Sunday at age 81.

Bruce, a Nashvillian, co-wrote "Mammas ..." with Ed Bruce, her husband at the time. His 1975 version of the number reached the top 20 on the country charts.

Country stars Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings also cut "Mammas ..." on their 1978 duet record "Waylon & Willie."  The song went to No. 1 on the country charts and stayed there for four weeks. "Mammas ..." became a staple in country music canon and is now played religiously in honky-tonk bars and on the road by Nelson with his family band.

Patsy and Ed Bruce also wrote "Texas (When I Die)" with Bobby Borchers. Tanya Tucker recorded the track in the 1970s, and it became a top-five country hit for Tucker.

Patsy Bruce served as the president of Nashville Songwriters Association International in the late '70s and early '80s, and also worked as a casting director for TV's "Maverick" and the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy."

Beyond the entertainment business, Bruce also served on the state parole board. She was appointed to the board in 2004 by Gov. Phil Bredesen. While on the board, she reviewed criminal cases like those of John A. Brown and Gaile Owens. Brown was one of the two men convicted in the 1973 murders of "Opry" star David "Stringbean" Akeman and his wife. Owens was sentenced to death for hiring a hit man to murder her husband in 1985 and later received clemency.

After her divorce in 1987, Bruce operated several event management and marketing companies, including Events Unlimited and the Nashville bus tour Songbird Tours. She was also known for her Lyric Springs Country Inn, a bed and breakfast in Williamson County.

Bruce is survived by partner Jim Trout; son Trey; daughters Ginny Bruce and AnnMarie Bruce Pinhal; nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Funeral information is forthcoming.