Bill Denny
Musician
Best known for
Songwriter
Bill Denny is the Nashville music publisher who, with brother John, ran Cedarwood Music — the Music Row catalog his father Jim Denny founded with Webb Pierce and Carl Smith in 1953 — from 1962 until the brothers sold it to Mel Tillis in 1983. Cedarwood’s catalog under his presidency held some of the era’s biggest country copyrights, including “I’ll Go Stepping Too,” and “Detroit City.”
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- Son of Grand Ole Opry executive and Cedarwood founder Jim Denny.
- Took over as President and Chairman of Cedarwood Music Publishing in 1962, the year before his father’s death.
- Ran Cedarwood — with brother John as a key partner — through its peak Music Row years.
- Sold the Cedarwood catalog to Mel Tillis in 1983.
- Left publishing for a long run in the utilities industry; served as President of Nashville Gas and as a director of Tennessee Natural Gas Lines from 1978 until the 1985 acquisition by Piedmont Natural Gas, where he then served as Tennessee Corporate Vice President.
- Retired from Piedmont in 1998.
- Owns Denny Properties, a Nashville real-estate investment firm.
