Floyd Cramer dies at 64

Nashville piano pioneer

Country music pianist Floyd Cramer, whose distinctively smooth style was avidly sought by singers ranging from Elvis Presley to Patsy Cline, has died. He was 64.

Cramer, who had been diagnosed with cancer, died Wednesday at his home in Nashville, according to his longtime manager, Gerard Purcell.

The self-taught Cramer helped develop the "Nashville sound" that carried country music to a wider audience, and he had the nation's most popular singers demanding his presence in the recording studio and on the bandstand.

Besides recording with Presley and Cline, Cramer played for Eddy Arnold, Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers.

Cramer's distinctive fingering style featured "bent" or "slip notes," where one note blended with the next, making the melody shine in a different way than when played by more percussive pianists.

Cramer recorded some 50 albums, many with his own songs that included such hits as "Lovin' Season," "Last Date" and "The Young and the Restless."

He won a Grammy Award in 1979 for best country instrumental for the song "My Blue Eyes."

Cramer taught himself to play piano while growing up in Huttig, Ark., which he left after graduating from high school to join the "Louisiana Hay Ride" radio program in Shreveport, La. There he played with the young Presley, Hank Williams Sr. and others.

Cramer also funded college music scholarships for around 200 students at East Tennessee State U.

Cramer is survived by his wife, Mary, and two daughters.