Chick Rains, 83, pens final verse

Jan. 25—Muskogee native Chick Rains wrote hits for Reba McEntire and Michael Martin Murphey, but many remember him more for his humility.

The veteran songwriter and graduate of Muskogee Central High School died Friday at age 83.

Among the most notable of the songs written by the 2008 Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame inductee was "Paradise Knife and Gun Club," which was sung by Roy Clark. He also wrote Mickey Gilley's "Headache Tomorrow (Or a Heartache Tonight)" and Johnny Lee's top-seller, "One in a Million.

"Chick was one of the kindest and most talented humans you'll ever meet," said Amy Love, former OMHOF executive director. "He was very humble, and he was a regular visitor here since he retired and came back to Muskogee."

Love said Rains visited the museum about once a month and "regale us with the stories of just songwriting and performing."

Local banker and musician Max Boydstun recalled some of the stories Rains told.

"It was kind of amazing because of all the names he had worked with in the industry," Boydstun said. "I'm talking about people from Linda Ronstadt back in the '70s, all the way up through Nashville people in current times.

"I think one of his later hits he wrote was for, then, a young singer named Wade Hayes, who had a big hit, 'Old Enough to Know Better, but Still Young Enough to Care,'" Boydstun said. "He had hits with Reba McEntire, and the list just goes on and on."

Rains co-wrote McEntire's hit "Somebody Should Leave."

Boydstun said Rains often talked about traveling with cowboy singer Michael Martin Murphey.

In a Facebook tribute, Murphey described Rains as the genius behind "Cowboy Logic." Murphey said he and Rains collaborated on "Disenchanted," "Radio Land" and "Land of Enchantment."

"If anyone ever truly understood the concept of 'Three Chords and the Truth,' it was Chick Rains," Murphey wrote. "He studied the masters of music row and became one himself."

Opera singer Barbara McAlester, a Central High classmate, also recalled Rains' humility.

"I never knew him to be anything but humble about his music he composed," she said. "When I lived in Hollywood, he was living there, I had a party and he came to that party. He was just sweet as can be and very quiet."

Love said Rains donated many of his items to the museum and continued supporting fellow musicians.

"He came to all our shows," Love said. "And all our traveling musicians ... who were coming from outside Muskogee and outside the state were always so thrilled at the opportunity to get to meet Chick Rains."