NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Mel McDaniel, a husky-voiced country music singer-songwriter with hits like “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On,” has died. He was 68.

Darleen Bieber of Schmidt Relations, publicist for the Grand Ole Opry, said Friday that McDaniel died of lung cancer Thursday night at his home in Hendersonville.

McDaniel’s other hits, most in the early and mid-1980s, included “Louisiana Saturday Night,” “Stand Up,” “Big Ole Brew” and “Let It Roll (Let It Rock).”

McDaniel was a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry beginning in 1986. He last appeared on the country music show in September.

He sang for oil field workers in Alaska in the 1970s before becoming successful in Nashville. He also made a living pumping gas.

“I’d pump gas and have my guitar in the car,” he said in a 1985 Associated Press interview.

The native of Checotah, Okla., wrote songs recorded by Kenny Rogers, Conway Twitty and others. He wrote “Goodbye Marie” for Rogers and “The Grandest Lady of Them All” for Twitty.

In the interview, McDaniel said “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On” related to average Americans.

“The main thing everybody says to me is, ‘I can picture that in my mind.”‘

He said his own picture was just like everyone else’s.

“What does anybody picture? Your eyes go to that one spot every time.”

McDaniel is survived by a daughter.

 

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