Ronnie Bowman, a bluegrass singer-songwriter who also collaborated with country music stars Chris Stapleton, Kenny Chesney and George Strait, died on Sunday after being involved in a motorcycle accident. He was 64.
Bowman was injured in Ashland, Tennessee, on Saturday and died from his injuries the next day at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville, Variety reported.
“Ronnie was beloved by so many in our music community, whom he loved so dearly … and we are beyond grateful for all of the love and outpouring toward us already,” Bowman’s family said in a statement shared by Rolling Stone and other media outlets. “Right now, as we process, we just covet your prayers. We have no words at this time, but thank you and graciously request that you honor our privacy while we try to put our heads around this and grieve.”
Ronnie Bowman, Leading Bluegrass Singer Who Wrote Hits for Chris Stapleton, Kenny Chesney and Other Country Stars, Dies at 64 https://t.co/bMHymVSXzi
— Variety (@Variety) March 23, 2026
Bowman was a star among bluegrass singers, winning the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Album of the Year Award, two IBMA Song of the Year Awards and and the Gospel Performance of the Year, WSMV reported.
He also won IBMA Songwriter of the Year honors in 2022 and Male Vocalist of the Year in 1999, 1998 and 1995, according to People.
Bowman won the Academy of Country Music Award for song of the year as co-writer for Chris Stapleton’s “Nobody to Blame,” according to Variety. It was one of three songs Bowman wrote for Stapleton’s breakout album in 2015.
Bowman and Stapleton also collaborated on Chesney’s chart-topping hit, “Never Wanted Nothing More,” and he co-wrote another No. 1 hit, “It’s Getting Better All the Time,” sung by Brooks & Dunn, according to Variety.
Strait recorded one of Bowman’s songs, “The Journey of Your Life,” according to Variety.
A North Carolina native, Bowman began playing music when he was 3 years old, The Tennessean reported. According to his official website, Bowman performed in a family band playing churches in North Carolina and Virginia.
Bowman began singing professionally in 1988 with the The Lost and Found, a bluegrass band, The Tennessean reported. He joined the Lonesome River Band as a singer and bassist from 1990 to 2001, according to the newspaper.
Fellow singer Dierks Bentley paid tribute to Bowman in an Instagram post.
“Going to take awhile for it to sink in that Ronnie Bowman is gone,” he wrote. “He was the favorite bluegrass and country singer of everyone I know. And he was everyone’s favorite hang.”
Bowman is survived by his wife, Garnet Imes Bowman, and their daughter, Chassidy Bowman, The Tennessean reported.
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