Edward Morris

Edward Morris died on Thursday, September 17, 2026, at age 90. MusicRow reported the news on September 18, 2026. No place of death or cause was publicly specified. He is survived by daughters Erin Morris Huttlinger and Rachel Serrato, son Jason Morris, six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements had not been announced at the time of the MusicRow notice.

Edward "Ed" Morris was a Nashville-based entertainment journalist, author, poet and playwright best known for fourteen years at Billboard, including service as country music editor and chief Nashville columnist, and for about two decades writing for CMT online. He published eight books, liner notes for major country artists, poetry and a play, and continued a local newspaper column into his late 80s. He died on September 17, 2026, at age 90.

Morris grew up in Elkview, West Virginia. Without a family car he hitchhiked daily to Morris Harvey College (now the University of Charleston), edited The Comet, and earned a B.A. in English in 1958. Both of his brothers, David (class of 1962) and Roger (class of 1966), later attended the same school. He completed an M.A. in journalism at Ohio University, where he met Norma Chapman while she typed his thesis.

After teaching English and journalism at several colleges and editing at Writer's Digest, Morris freelanced for Billboard from 1972, relocated to Nashville in 1980, and joined Billboard's staff in 1981. He spent fourteen years there, rising to country music editor and chief Nashville columnist before leaving in 1995. He wrote for Music City News and The Nashvillian, then covered country music for CMT online from 1999 until COVID-era layoffs in 2020. His freelance bylines included Advertising Age, TV Guide, Hollywood Reporter, Bluegrass Unlimited and the Saturday Evening Post.

Morris wrote liner notes for The Judds, Keith Whitley, Eddy Arnold, Guy Clark, Hank Snow, Chet Atkins and others. Books included Alabama, Garth Brooks: Platinum Cowboy, Edward Morris' Complete Guide to Country Music Videos, At Carter Stanley's Grave, Scorched Mirth and Acid Reflux, and Stardust: An Alzheimer's Love Story. In 2016 he wrote The Passion of Ethel Rosenberg, produced in Nashville and Santa Fe and read at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.

Ed and Norma Morris married on February 6, 1960, at Morris Harvey College and shared three children: Erin Morris Huttlinger, Rachel Serrato and Jason Morris. Norma became a Music Row publicist whose clients included Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Ralph Stanley and Steve Wariner, and co-owned Morris Public Relations with Erin. After Norma was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in 2015, Ed moved in as her caregiver and later published Stardust from his Facebook posts. Norma died on August 20, 2021, at age 82.

The International Bluegrass Music Association named Morris Print Journalist of the Year in 1993. Belmont University's International Country Music Conference gave him the Charlie Lamb Journalist of the Year award in 2002. He guest-lectured at Belmont University, Vanderbilt University and Trevecca College in Nashville.