Brian "Nashville" Duckworth, the country singer who performed alongside his siblings in the family band Taylor Made, has died at his home at the age of 56, leaving behind a wife, six children, and a musical legacy rooted in fairs and festivals.
Duckworth died on September 7, his family confirmed through an obituary shared by Bartlett Funeral Home in West Virginia. No cause of death was listed. He will be laid to rest at Floral Hills Memorial Garden on Monday.
The singer earned his nickname "Nashville" the old-fashioned way, by never turning down a chance to perform. His family's obituary put it plainly: "Brian never passed up an opportunity to share his voice, earning him the affectionate nickname 'Nashville.'"
Duckworth, his brother Greg Duckworth, and his sister Wendy Williams grew up singing together. In 2008, the three siblings formalized what had been a lifelong habit and launched a band called I-79. Their first performance under that name came at the Colgate Country Showdown. The group later changed its name to Taylor Made.
Taylor Made found real traction. Their song "Things You Don't Grow Out Of" climbed to No. 36 on the Billboard Indicator chart, a genuine mark for a family act that never left its roots behind. The band played fairs and festivals, the kind of circuit where country music still belongs to the people who show up to hear it.
Brianna Duckworth Kazner, Duckworth's niece, shared a video on Facebook from her wedding, what she now believes was the last time Taylor Made performed together. Her words carried the weight of someone who grew up inside the music, not just listening to it.
Kazner, as Fox News Digital reported, wrote that she was "having a hard time believing" that performance was "the last time Taylor Made sang together."
"I grew up watching my dad, Aunt Wendy, and Uncle Brian perform at fairs and festivals until I was finally old enough to join them on a few occasions."
She described Duckworth as the person she called whenever her own songwriting hit a wall. He had a gift for lyrics, she said, and she trusted him to pull her through.
"As I've gotten older and started writing my own music, I knew the guy to call whenever I got creatively 'stuck.' He truly had such a way with song lyrics that I knew without a doubt Uncle Brian would pull me out of the songwriter's slump."
Kazner said the two had recently spoken on the phone about a song idea he had. She closed her tribute with a line that needed no polish: "I can't count the number of times we got to sing together but it will have never been enough."
Duckworth was not a full-time Nashville act chasing a record deal from a tour bus. He drove a dump truck for Wolfe's Excavating, and by his family's account, he loved it. The obituary said he "truly enjoyed" the work "because it allowed him to spend his days outdoors." His coworkers knew him as "Truck Boss."
That combination, a man who hauled gravel during the week and sang country music on weekends with his brother and sister, says more about the life than any Billboard number does. He married his wife Tina, and the two were together for nearly 16 years. He leaves behind six children: Zach, Ashton, Logan, Kayla, Michael, and Matt. He also had four grandchildren and five surviving siblings.
His family's obituary summed up the man without reaching for anything fancy:
"Above all, Brian treasured his family and the special memories they created together. He also dearly loved his faithful fur family, who were constant companions and brought him great comfort and happiness. Brian's love of family, music, and the outdoors will forever remain in the hearts of all who knew and loved him."
Country music at its best has always been about people like Brian Duckworth, folks who work hard, love their families, and sing because they can't help it, not because someone handed them a contract.
