On this day (April 1) in 1970, Paul Cohen died in Bryan, Texas, after being diagnosed with cancer. Nashville, Tennessee, and country music likely wouldn’t be what they are today without Cohen’s input. His choices helped create a thriving recording industry in what is now Music City. He also discovered and signed up-and-coming artists like Webb Pierce, Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, and Brenda Lee.
Videos by American Songwriter
Cohen’s long and illustrious career in the recording industry began in the late 1920s at Columbia Records. Less than a decade later, Decca Records opened its American branch, helmed by Jack and Dave Kapp, who were hometown friends of Cohen’s. As a result, he moved to Decca in 1934. He relocated from Chicago to Cincinnati and took over the label’s Midwestern division. There, he found and signed new artists and helped market their releases…