Garth Brooks Songwriter Larry Bastian Dies

A man who helped write two of Garth Brooks‘ most well-known songs has died. In fact, songwriter Larry Bastian is responsible for an iconic country music hook.

The story goes that Brooks and songwriter Pat Alger were writing a ballad meant to show gratitude for God’s wisdom. They had a sketch of what they wanted to say, but a chance meeting with Bastian brought it home.

“He looked at me and said, ‘Oh, that’s simple. This song should be called ‘Unanswered Prayers’ because some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers,'” Brooks recalled in the liner notes for his 1994 greatest hits compilation, The Hits.

“Unanswered Prayers” was the third of three genre-changing No. 1 hits for Brooks, following “The Dance” and “Friends in Low Places.” One year later, Brooks would take “Rodeo” to the top of the country music charts. It was another Larry Bastian song.

Conway Twitty (“Saturday Night Special”), Sammy Kershaw (“Yard Sale”) and Craig Morgan (“Look at Us”) are three more artists who had hits with a Bastian lyric.

A long list of famous hitmakers chose one of his songs for recording. Janie Fricke, David Frizzell (with Merle Haggard), Reba McEntire, George Jones, Neal McCoy and Rhett Akins are just a few more.

Bastian was a farmer’s son who spent 15 years as a biologist before chasing his songwriting dreams. Buck Owens, (frequent co-writer) Dewayne Blackwell and Brooks all encouraged him to do it ,and by the early ’80s, his songs began to catch on. While most of his best-known songs were released in the ’80s and early 1990s, his songs continued to get recorded through the early 2000s.

“If one looks down the list of music’s greatest writers of all time, I couldn’t imagine the list being complete without the name of Larry Bastian,” Brooks said in 1995 (per Major Bob Publishing).

Music Row‘s Robert K. Oermann shares that Bastian died on April 6 in Portervile, Calif. He was 90 years old.