Linda Patterson “Pat” Rolfe, a song publisher who helped launch the careers of multiple hall-of-fame songwriters and developed a community for women executives in Nashville’s music industry, has died.
Rolfe’s passing from cancer was made public in recent days. She was 77.
Twenty-six-time chart-topper Craig Wiseman noted via a statement that Rolfe, then at ASCAP as Director of Membership Relations, “was one of the first to treat me like a real hit songwriter” and that “her loyalty to the ones she loved was her legacy.”
Hill & Range Songs, early career
That loyalty was earned from the start for Rolfe, who, still a recently graduated teenager from Waverly Central High School in Waverly, Tennessee, moved 90 minutes east to Music City at the behest of Hill & Range Songs’ Lamar Fike. In Nashville, she joined the publishing company that brought Presley songs such as “Kentucky Rain,” “Indescribably Blue” and “It Hurts Me” as his film career was winding down and he restarted touring.
Working with Hill & Range alongside Fike put Rolfe into “The King’s” inner circle.
Elvis had a 50-50 publishing revenue split with the company that, at various times, employed Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, plus Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman, and Phil Spector as songwriters.
By 1972, Fike moved on to aid Presley as his touring lighting director. Thus, Wolfe became Hill & Range’s general manager until 1975, when Chappell Music purchased the company. The promotion made her one of the first women to head a major publishing company.
During her tenure as general manager, Hill & Range and Chappell Music earned ASCAP Publisher of the Year seven times. Rory Bourke and Charlie Black (Anne Murray’s “A Little Good News” in 1983, among many) were among many writers who benefitted from her leadership.
While general manager, Rolfe also worked with legends such as Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow, Eddie Rabbitt, Bill Monroe, and George Morgan.
Key to her longstanding support of women in Nashville’s music industry, she brought Celia Froehlig into the company.
Five decades later, Froehlig serves as the Vice President of Publishing at Nashville’s Black River Entertainment. This followed her rise to creative director at Chappell Music, which merged with Warner Brothers to form Warner/Chappell in 1987. She was vice president of the Southern Region of EMI Music Publishing until opening a joint venture company with Sony/ATV.
Modern legacy
When Warner/Chappell was formed in 1987, Rolfe moved to ASCAP at the urging of longtime ASCAP Nashville head Connie Bradley as the director of membership relations. Over three decades, Rolfe — who eventually rose to the position of vice president — ushered in the songwriting careers of current-era favorites like Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley and Old Dominion’s Trevor Rosen but also opened doors for Jason Aldean’s current producer and co-writer Michael Knox, plus Hall of Famers like Country Music Hall of Famer Wynonna Judd and 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Hillary Lindsey, among many.
Her career was also defined by her desire to grow Music City and Music Row’s female music industry leaders into a cohesive force through organizations like SOURCE Nashville, which she co-founded in 1991.
In that era, names including ASCAP’s Bradley, eventual BMG Music Publishing head Karen Conrad, BMG Music’s Judy Harris, Sony’s Donna Hilley, Leadership Music executive director Dale Franklin, NSAI executive director Pat Huber, SESAC vice president/creative Dianne Petty, BMI’s CEO Frances Preston, MCA Records senior vice president Sheila Shipley and Sony manager of A&R Administration Kay Smith, among many, joined a rising group of then two generations of Nashville-based female music industry executives.
What Shipley offers in a 1993 story began as a “support group of about 75 executives” educating each other about music marketing, promotion, sexual harassment in the workplace, and copyright infringement. It has evolved into a 501c6 nonprofit, invitation-only organization that supports women professionals working in all facets of Nashville’s entertainment industry.
In 2012, Rolfe was inducted into the SOURCE Hall of Fame in recognition of her contributions to the industry, which, outside of SOURCE, includes co-founding the Music Row Ladies Golf Tournament, plus serving on the boards of the Nashville Songwriters Association International, Nashville Music Association, Baptist Hospital, and the Copyright Society of the South.
Rolfe is survived by her loving husband of 54 years, Mack; her stepchildren, John (Vanessa), Jim (Mary K), and Dick (Michelle); seven grandchildren; and brothers, Jim, Mike, Joe, and Charlie Patterson, and sister, Margaret Simmons. She was preceded in death by her parents, Marie and George Patterson, and her brother, Jerry Patterson, and sister-in-law, Ann Patterson.
Visitation with the family will be held on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. CT at Green Hills Community Church. The funeral service will begin at 11:00 a.m. CT, with the Rev. Charles Moore officiating.
Instead of flowers, the family requests donations to the Bonaparte’s Retreat Dog Rescue, 3310 West End Ave. Suite 400, Nashville, TN, Green Hills Community Church, or a charity of one’s choosing.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Elvis Presley affiliated Nashville music industry exec Pat Rolfe dies