A music-filled childhood on the family farm south of New Albany launched singer, keyboardist, and songwriter Bobby Wood’s storied career, which would span more than six decades and nearly every American musical genre. As staff pianist for Sun Records and American Sound Studio in Memphis and later a top Nashville session musician, he created indelible keyboard parts on recordings by monumental artists, including Neil Diamond, B.J. Thomas, Wilson Pickett, Elvis Presley, and Garth Brooks. His melodic compositions became hits for Ronnie Milsap, Crystal Gayle, and Merle Haggard, among others.

Born into a gospel-singing family on January 25, 1941, music was central to Bobby Wood’s early life in Mitchell Switch. He began playing piano at age nine, and later fell under the spell of 1950s rock ‘n’ rollers, especially Jerry Lee Lewis. At fifteen, he and three Ingomar High School friends formed the Bobby Wood Band, attracted an enthusiastic local fan base, and recorded two songs in Memphis for independent label OJ Records. After graduation, Wood returned to Memphis, formed the Starlighters with older brother Billy, and played contemporary pop and rock ‘n’ roll hits at local nightclubs.

Wood began to play keyboards in sessions for Sun Records. He honed his vocal talents and released several of his own records that received regional radio airplay. In 1963, Wood’s recording of “If I’m a Fool for Loving You” broke through, climbing the radio charts. However, a promotional tour ended with an automobile crash that severely injured Wood, cost him his right eye, and halted his momentum. He made a few more records during the 1960s, but dreams of a solo career faded.

In 1967, producer Chips Moman of American Sound Studio convinced Wood to join the group of young, talented Memphis music veterans he was assembling as a house band. With Wood, guitarist Reggie Young, bassists Tommy Cogbill and Mike Leech, drummer Gene Chrisman, and keyboardist Bobby Emmons, the 827 Thomas Street Band jelled into a hitmaking combo whose versatility, virtuosity, and groove drew major label artists to the studio. From 1967 through 1971, 122 records featuring the group landed on the Billboard charts: Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” “Hooked on a Feeling” by B.J. Thomas, and Elvis Presley’s “Kentucky Rain,” “In the Ghetto,” and “Suspicious Minds” among them.

Upon moving to Nashville in 1972, Wood quickly became a first-call session musician. He contributed to landmark records such as Kris Kristofferson’s “Why Me,” Kenny Rogers’s first #1, “Lucille,” and the Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson epic “Pancho and Lefty.” Wood’s gift for creating melodies led to great success as a songwriter. Crystal Gayle’s recording of “Talking in Your Sleep” topped the charts in 1978, followed by the #2 hit “Half the Way.” “He Got You” was a #1 for Ronnie Milsap in 1982. Bob Luman, Merle Haggard, and LeAnn Rimes each made hits of Wood compositions, as well. A pivotal relationship began when Wood played on Garth Brooks’s debut album. The superstar continued to use Wood and the other session musicians, known as the “G- Men,” for subsequent albums. With Brooks, Wood co-wrote “In Another’s Eyes,” Brooks’s first duet recording with Trisha Yearwood.

In the mid-2010s, Wood began an association with musician and producer Dan Auerbach, from the Black Keys, and contributed as a musician and a songwriter to albums by a new generation of artists, including Kentucky singer-songwriter Tyler Childers, country-soul diva Yola, and singer and rapper CeeLo Green. Wood was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame twice—as a member of the Memphis Boys (the band from American Sound Studio) and as a member of the G-Men.