Country Artist Jeff Carson Dies at 58

Country music artist Jeff Carson passed away at Williamson Medical Center in Franklin, Tennessee at age 58 after suffering a heart attack. The Oklahoma native was known by his friends as family as his given name, Jeffrey Lee Herndon. He was born on December 16^th, 1963, and first fell in love with music at a young age when he began singing in his church.

Carson formed a band in Arkansas, then shortly after moved to Branson, MO. It was in Missouri where he spent most of his days writing songs and playing local shows before taking the leap to move to Nashville, TN – where he began turning those songs into demos. Some of these demos included Tracy Byrd’s “Walkin’ To Jerusalem,” Tracy Lawrence’s “I See it Now,” Reba McEntire’s “The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter,” Tim McGraw’s “I Wouldn’t Want It Any Other Way,” Faith Hill’s “It Matters To Me,” Mark Wills’ “Places I’ve Never Been,” and Diamond Rio’s “Mirror Mirror.”

After landing a recording contract with Curb Records in 1995, his first single, “Yeah Buddy,” was released to radio. The track topped the charts along with his second single, “The Car,” which became a top-five hit and won him his first Academy of Country Music award for “Video of the Year.” Carson’s career consisted of 14 singles charting the Billboard charts.

In 2009, Carson retired from music and spent his days as a law enforcement officer with Franklin Police Department in Williamson County, Tennessee. Ten years after announcing his retirement, in 2019, Carson signed a singles deal with C1 Nashville to rerecord the song “God Save The World,” which fell upon the Music Row Top 40 chart. He then signed to Encore Music Group where he worked with Buddy Hyatt to record a specialty album. Recording duets with country artists Michael Ray, Darryl Worley, Mark Wills, and Craig Morgan, the project is set to release later this year.

Jeff Carson is survived by his wife Kim Cooper Carson, son Dayton Grei Herndon Carson, mother Virginia Norton, brother Steve Herndon, sister Karen Spurlock, as well as aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.