Red Lane

Induction Year: 1993

Birth Name: Hollis Rudolph DeLaughter

Birth Date: 02-09-1939

Place of Birth: Zona, Louisiana

Death Date: 07-01-2015

Place of Death: Nashville, Tennessee

Red Lane was born Hollis DeLaughter in a cotton-farming town in southern Louisiana. His mother once said, "The way he stayed awake at night and slept all day should've tipped me off that he would grow up to be a musician." When he was 10, Hollis learned some guitar chords from his dad. Soon he was completely hooked. The family relocated to northern Indiana, and after high school he joined the Air Force. Unable to fly because of color blindness, he was stationed in Honolulu, where he excelled as a top-notch airplane mechanic. During his time in Hawaii, he won several talent contests and played his first professional gig on a live radio show.

In 1958, his last year of duty, he started playing guitar in nightclubs six nights a week. To avoid problems with the military authorities, he adopted a stage name: Red Lane. After the Air Force, Lane toured the country with various bands, and, inspired by his hero Willie Nelson, took up songwriting. Lane's big break came in 1964 when he played some of his songs for Justin Tubb. Tubb not only hired him as his guitarist, he introduced him to music publisher Buddy Killen, and soon Lane had a deal with Tree International.

For years, Lane got to enjoy the best of both worlds, performing on the Grand Ole Opry and touring America with Tubb, while writing songs for a long list of Nashville artists, including Little Jimmy Dickens, Tex Ritter, Conway Twitty and Bobby Bare. In the late '60s, Lane briefly led Dottie West's band, and co-wrote more than 50 songs with her, including the hit "Country Girl."

In the early '70s, Lane did scriptwriting for The Johnny Cash Show and landed his own recording deal with RCA. But it was writing songs for others that he loved most, and he was soon back in the Music Row trenches, supplying hits for Waylon Jennings, Sammi Smith, Eddy Arnold and Tammy Wynette. During the '80s, Lane toured as a guitarist with Merle Haggard, also co-writing several songs with Haggard. Overall, Haggard has recorded 29 Red Lane songs. Cuts have continued with a new crop of artists, including George Strait, Trisha Yearwood and Kathy Mattea.

Throughout his songwriting career, Lane never lost his affection for airplanes, and since 1990 he has resided outside of Nashville in a 170-passenger Douglas DC-8 jet that he's converted into a house.

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Song Catalog

"'Til I Get it Right"

(written with Larry Henley)

Tammy Wynette1973 #1 country
Jean Shepard1973 
Kenny Rogers1976 
Engelbert Humperdinck1981 
Millie Jackson1981 
Highway 1011991 
Trisha Yearwood1995 
Solomon Burke2006 
Wynonna Judd2009 
 

"(You've Been Quite a Doll) Raggedy Ann"

Jimmie Dickens1970 #75 country
 

"Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All"

(written with Bucky Jones)

Merle Haggard1977 
George Jones1978 
Ray Charles1983 #82 country
Doug Stone1992 
Johnny Bush2006 
 

"Blackjack County Chains"

Willie Nelson1967 #21 country
Tex Williams1967 #57 country
Henson Cargill1968 
Jack Palance1969 
Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson1983 
Christy Moore1991 
Sanford Clark1994 
Del McCoury Band1996 
 

"Bogalusa Boogie Man"

(written with Danny Morrison)

Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown1976 
 

"Come See Me and Come Lonely"

Dottie West1978 #17 country
 

"Country Girl"

(written with Dottie West)

Dottie West1968 #15 country
 

"Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie"

(written with Wayne Kemp)

Conway Twitty1968 #2 country
Elvis Costello1994 
 

"Haven't You Heard"

(written with Wayne Kemp)

George Strait1985 

"He'll Be Back"

(written with Hank Cochran, Dale Dodson)

Lee Ann Womack2002 
Elvis Costello & Jamey Johnson2012 
 

"I Must Have Done Something Bad"

Merle Haggard1979 
George Jones1996 
 

"I'll Be a Hero (When I Strike)"

(written with Hank Cochran)

Merle Haggard1971 
Dick Curless1971 
 

"I've Seen Better Days"

(written with Danny Morrison)

Johnny Paycheck1976 
George Jones & Tammy Wynette1976 
Sammi Smith1977 
Reba McEntire1986 
 

"If I Had Any Sense Left at All"

(written with Hank Cochran, Dale Dodson)

Reba McEntire2003 
 

"If You Hated Me"

(written with Merle Haggard, Dean Holloway)

Merle Haggard1983 
 

"It Was Love While It Lasted"

Red Lane1972 #65 country
 

"Love Takes Two"

(written with Danny Morrison)

The Oak Ridge Boys1980 
Hank Snow & Kelly Foxton1981 
Roy Clark2000 
 

"Miss Emily's Picture"

John Conlee1981 #2 country
 

"My Friend on the Right"

(written with Faron Young)

Faron Young1964 #11 country

"My Own Kind of Hat"

(written with Merle Haggard)

Merle Haggard1979 #4 country
Alan Jackson1999 #71 country

"New Looks From an Old Lover"

(written with Gloria Thomas, Lathan Hudson)

B. J. Thomas1983 #1 country
 

"One Row at a Time"

(written with Dottie West)

Merle Haggard1971 

"Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa"

Merle Haggard1986 
Noel Haggard1997 #75 country
George Strait2003 #11 country
 

"The Eagle"

(written with Hank Cochran)

Waylon Jennings1991 #22 country
George Strait & Jamey Johnson2012 
 

"The World Needs a Melody"

(written with Johnny Slate, Larry Henley)

Red Lane1971 #32 country
Johnny Cash & the Carter Family1972 #35 country
George Jones & Tammy Wynette1973 
Jack Greene & Jeannie Seely1973 
The Kingston Trio1973 
Mother Maybelle Carter with Johnny Cash1974 
Bill Anderson1975 
 

"They Don't Make Love Like They Used To"

Eddy Arnold1969 #10 country
 

"Walk on Out of My Mind"

Waylon Jennings1968 #5 country
Jean Shepard1968 
Wanda Jackson1968 
Lee Hazelwood & Ann-Margret1969 
Anita Carter1972 
 

"We Found It in Each Other's Arms"

(written with Hank Cochran)

Roger Miller1972 #34 country
Jack Greene & Jeannie Seely1973 
 

"Workin' on a Feelin"

Tommy Cash1973 #37 country
 

"Would These Arms Be (Get) in Your Way"

(written with Vern Gosdin, Hank Cochran)

Keith Whitley1987 #36 country
Daryle Singletary1995 
Vern Gosdin1998 
Mark Chesnutt2004 
Jamey Johnson2012 

Other Media

Red Lane

Induction Year: 1993