for B.B. King, Jerry Butler, Suzy Bogguss, and Irma Thomas, among others. At least two Carson Whitsett collaborations are considered modern day Blues standards in Joe Louis Walker's "Blues of the Month Club" and the W.C. Handy Award winning "One Foot in the Blues" recorded by Johnny Adams. In 2002, Whitsett served as arranger for the highest selling female Pop artist of the 1950s, Patti Page, on her Sweet Sounds of Christmas CD, and in 2006, played on Janis Ian's Folk Is the New Black. He teamed again with producer Dan Penn and Hoy Lindsey, writing a dozen songs, arranging, and playing on the Better to Have It CD by Bobby Purify in 2005. He played on several Tony Joe White albums including The Heroines in 2004 with singers Lucinda Williams, Shelby Lynne, Jessi Colter, and Emmylou Harris and 2006's Uncovered, which featured guest appearances by Eric Clapton, J. J. Cale, Michael McDonald, Mark Knopfler, and also Waylon Jennings in one of his last performances. For several years he served as keyboardist for country music star Kathy Mattea and became very close with Mattea's husband, songwriter Jon Vezner. Vezner's skills inspired Whitsett to new heights as an arranger, composer, and musician. During this time, Whitsett also recorded three solo piano projects. In November 2005, he was interviewed along with fellow famed Southern soul keyboardist Spooner Oldham in Keyboard Player Magazine. Carson Whitsett died in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 8, 2007, after a sixteen-month bout with brain cancer. Southern soul musician Dan Penn said of his collaborator of the past three decades that, "...he played with the most authentic R&B feel of anybody I ever worked with" References Soulsville USA: The Story of Stax Records By Rob Bowman The Last Soul Company: Malaco, A Thirty Year Retrospective By Rob Bowman Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music By Greg Haynes All Shook Up By Christine Wilson External links Keyboard Ace Carson Whitsett (The Tennessean) Southern Music legend passes Remembering legendary musician (Jackson Clarion-Ledger) (The B Side) (Barnes & Noble) [ (Recording Credits)] [ (Songwriting Credits)] 1945 births 2007 deaths Songwriters from Mississippi Musicians from Jackson, Mississippi American session musicians Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Booker T. & the M.G.'s members American rock keyboardists American organists 20th-century American keyboardists Record producers from Mississippi American rhythm and blues keyboardists American soul keyboardists