Called the "Hemingway of country music," by Nanci Griffith, who covered his tune "The Ballad of Robin Wintersmith," Richard Dobson is one of Texas' most literate songsmiths. David Allan Coe recorded his song "Piece of Wood and Steel," while Guy Clark used the tune "Old Friends," written with Dobson and Suzanne Clark, as the title track of his 1988 album.
A native of Tyler, Texas, Dobson dreamed of becoming a novelist from earliest memory. Graduating from Georgetown University in 1966 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Spanish, he spent two years in the Peace Corps in Chile,...