singer/songwriter Penny Jay dies
wazzzy
'Little Miss Helen,' who grew up to write hits, dies
There were three people inside of Helen Florence Moyers.
In all cases she was Ms. Moyers, wife of a Nashville policeman and
mother of Sherry Chambers.
In her Knoxville days, she was Little Miss Helen, who began singing and
playing guitar and bass on the Cas Walker Show at age 12.
As her musical career progressed, she moved to Nashville and became
Penny Jay, a singer and songwriter who hobnobbed with country music's
biggest names and had a No. 1 hit song that was recorded by numerous
stars.
Ms. Moyers died Wednesday. She was 80.
Chambers described her mother as a woman who was "outgoing and loving"
and one who loved her nation.
"Now she's singing with the angels," she said.
While still a child, Ms. Moyers sang in church and acquired a spot on
Cas Walker's show and continued in that until she reached her early
20s, Chambers said.
She also performed on the Midday Merry-Go-Round in Knoxville.
Reaching womanhood, Ms. Moyers decided to put aside the "Little Miss
Helen" persona and relocated to country music's hometown of Nashville
to try her hand as both a performer and composer.
She selected the name Penny, her daughter said, because she liked the
connection with things "shiny and bright."
As Penny Jay, Ms. Moyers became friends with the elite of country
music. Chambers said she remembers barbecues at home where the guest
list included Dottie West, Loretta Lynn, Marty Robbins, Stringbean and
others.
"I played with Loretta's older children backstage at the (Grand Ole)
Opry," she said.
Ms. Moyers played bass and sang high tenor with bluegrass great Jimmy
Martin's band.
"She traveled with him for five years," Chambers said, "then went out
on her own."
Ms. Moyers composed "Don't Let Me Cross Over," which became a No. 1
hit, recorded by her childhood friend, Carl Butler.
The song was covered by many other country music stars later on,
including Dolly Parton.
That was in 1963, and the next year she wrote and recorded an answering
song, as was the fashion in those days, called "Just Over the Line."
For that, she was named the Country Music Association's 1964 Female
Songwriter of the Year, Chambers said.
She also wrote one of Martin's biggest hits, "Widow Maker."
Ms. Moyers traveled extensively with the USO in the 1940s, 50s and 60s,
Chambers said.
"She loved her country," she said. And when she went to entertain the
troops in Korea, Vietnam and other places, "she would go back into the
bush where the soldiers were. She went places Bob Hope would not go."
She also traveled to Thailand, Scotland, Greenland, Iceland and "all
over Japan," her daughter said.
Chambers said that after her father died about 10 years about, Ms.
Moyers moved to Nashville, Ark., to be near her daughter.
Chambers said she has "boxes and boxes" of her mother's songs that have
never been recorded.