Troy Martin
Musician · 1911–1977 · Danville, Virginia
Best known for
Songwriter
Troy Lee Martin was a mid-century Nashville music publisher, talent scout, and producer whose career ran from Depression-era medicine-show comedy through senior posts at Peer International, Driftwood Publishing, and his own Troy Martin Music. He is credited as co-writer on a string of bluegrass and country standards — including the Flatt & Scruggs sides “Crying My Heart Out Over You” and “I’d Rather Be Alone” — though some of those credits reflected the publisher-name-attachment practices common to the era as much as original authorship.
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- Born May 16, 1911, in Danville, Virginia.
- Contracted polio as a child, which affected his left side, but worked as a medicine-show comedian by his mid-teens and progressed into vaudeville and a touring Wild West show.
- Recorded for ARC in the early 1930s before moving into commercial radio.
- Joined Peer International in Nashville in 1949 and became a talent scout and production assistant for Don Law at Columbia Records.
- Partnered with Jim Denny, Webb Pierce, and Carl Smith in Driftwood Publishing while still on the Peer payroll; the conflict ended his first stint at Peer.
- Moved to Gene Autry’s Golden West Music and in 1956 placed Johnny Ray’s million-selling “Just Walking in the Rain.”
- Returned to Peer in 1958 and produced Billy Brown’s original recording of “He’ll Have to Go,” later a major Jim Reeves hit.
- Founded Troy Martin Music in 1960 with Cohen Williams, president of the Martha White Flour Company, the Grand Ole Opry’s flagship sponsor.
- Died February 20, 1977, in Nashville, Tennessee.
