Longtime AP country music chronicler Joe Edwards dies at 75

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Joe Edwards, who chronicled Tennessee news for more than 40 years as a newsman for The Associated Press and helped “Rocky Top” become a state song, has died. He was 75. Edwards’ longtime AP colleague, Paul Randall Dickerson, said Edwards’ wife called him on Friday to share the news. Edwards wrote about country music, sports and a variety of other topics during his AP career, which was spent entirely in Nashville. Edwards documented the ascent of country music through interviews with stars ranging from Dolly Parton to Taylor Swift. He wrote the AP’s Nashville Sound country music column from 1975 to 1992 and did commentary for The Nashville Network cable TV station in the 1980s.