Country music has lost one of its own far too soon.

Brian “Nashville” Duckworth, the West Virginia singer who performed with his siblings in the family band Taylor Made, has died at just 56 years old.

The first wave of public reports and memorial posts appeared between September 10 and September 12, as the news moved beyond Duckworth’s home state:

Duckworth passed away at his home in Clarksburg, West Virginia, on Monday, September 7, according to the family’s obituary. Born in Grafton on December 8, 1969, he was 56, and a cause of death has not been publicly disclosed.

He leaves behind his wife, Tina, six children, four grandchildren and a large extended family now mourning a husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle.

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But the man his loved ones knew was much bigger than any one title.

Duckworth grew up in Grafton, West Virginia, where music became a family affair long before it became a career. He sang with his brother Greg and sister Wendy, building the kind of natural three-part harmony that can only come from years spent listening to one another.

The obituary also remembers his love of the outdoors and the pets that were constant companions in his daily life. Funeral services were scheduled for noon on Monday, September 14, at Bartlett Funeral Home in Grafton.

Entombment was to follow at Floral Hills Memorial Garden. The details bring the story home: his family lost a deeply rooted West Virginia man whose voice happened to reach country radio.

The siblings first performed professionally as I-79 in 2008 before taking the name Taylor Made. Their music carried them well beyond that West Virginia back porch.

A retrospective in MusicRow records that Taylor Made earned the publication’s Independent Artist of the Year honor after its songs generated more than 35,000 radio spins in 2012. “Good Love” reached No. 28 on the MusicRow CountryBreakout Chart, while “Things You Don’t Grow Out Of” climbed into the Top 20.

The band also opened shows for major country acts including Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley and Sugarland.

Taylor Made’s story was never an overnight Nashville invention. The three siblings had sung together since childhood in church and during old-fashioned back-porch sessions in Taylor County.

After competing as I-79, they caught the attention of a West Virginia record-label owner and continued under the Taylor Made name. Their rise was built on family harmony, independent radio support and years of live work — a path that made Duckworth’s nickname feel earned rather than manufactured.

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Here is Taylor Made’s official video for the song that became its signature:

For all that success, Duckworth apparently never saw honest work as something beneath him.

When he was not singing, he drove a dump truck for Wolfe’s Excavating. His obituary says he earned another nickname there — “Truck Boss” — and loved the job because it kept him outdoors.

That detail says quite a bit about the man his family is remembering: a country singer who could take the stage, then go back to work and remain grounded in the place and people that shaped him.

Fox News reported that Duckworth’s niece, singer-songwriter Brianna Duckworth Kazner, shared video from her wedding and said it may have captured Taylor Made’s final performance together.

She also remembered turning to her uncle whenever she hit a wall while writing a song. They had spoken recently about an idea he was working on — one more glimpse of a creative life that was still moving forward.

The same report describes a family band whose last shared performance may now be preserved in that wedding video. Kazner recalled growing up around Taylor Made’s appearances at fairs and festivals before becoming old enough to join the group herself on occasion.

Her remembrance makes clear that Duckworth’s influence reached beyond the records he made. It lived in the younger musicians he encouraged and the family tradition he helped sustain.

Duckworth’s wife, Tina, remembered a humble, selfless man with a generous heart who would help anyone in need. She said he found joy in his family, singing, hunting and making people laugh.

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Her account fits the rest of the record. Even after radio success and stages shared with nationally known performers, he remained a working man whose home, family and West Virginia roots stayed at the center of his life.

Those are simple things, but they are not small things.

Brian “Nashville” Duckworth built a life around family, hard work, the outdoors and songs that people could carry home with them. May he rest in peace, and may his family be comforted by every harmony, every story and every memory he left behind.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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