Jeremy Tepper Death: Jeremy Evan, an American musician, journalist, and record industry executive has died of a heart attack at age 60. Jeremy was the program director of SiriusXM’s “Outlaw Country” channel. Tepper’s wife, Laura Cantrell confirmed the news on social media.
Who Was Jeremy Tepper?
Jeremy Evan Tepper was an American musician, journalist, and record industry executive. He was a former frontman of the band World Famous Blue Jays, he founded the record label Diesel Only Records in 1990, along with Jay Sherman-Godfrey and Albert Caiati. Along with Caiati, Tepper subsequently became the “head honcho” of Diesel Only. He was also the managing editor of the magazine Vending Times prior to 1992, and later became the publisher and editor-in-chief of the jukebox industry trade journal Street Beat. Prior to becoming format manager for Sirius Satellite Radio’s Outlaw Country channel in 2004, he had also worked for CDuctive and eMusic.com, and had served as the editor of the Journal of Country Music and as a country music critic for Pulse!.
Jeremy Tepper’s Education And Career
Tepper graduated from New York University. His father, Noel Tepper, was a lawyer in Poughkeepsie, New York, and his mother, Elly Tepper, was a third-grade teacher at Keolu Elementary School in Kailua, Honolulu County, Hawaii. In 1997, he married Laura Cantrell. With Cantrell, he had a daughter named Bella. He passed away from a heart attack on June 14, 2024.
In 1996, Peter Blackstock, co-founder of the groundbreaking Americana magazine No Depression, wrote of the label, “Jeremy Tepper has established himself as a unique and indispensable cog in the alt-country underground.” He remained one of that genre’s leading crusaders for more than three decades.
Earlier this year, singer and Tepper’s SiriusXM colleague Mojo Nixon passed away after a performance on the Outlaw Country Cruise. Tepper is survived by Cantrell, who he married in 1997, and their daughter, Bella.
Tributes
“Lost my good friend Jeremy Tepper last night,” Steven Van Zandt, guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and founder of “Underground Garage,” parent platform of Tepper’s radio show, wrote on social media Saturday. “An incredibly tragic loss so young. He ran my Outlaw Country station on SiriusXM brilliantly. It is actually quite a complicated format and he made it look easy. Our deepest love and condolences to Laura and his family and friends.”
Yet his greatest impact was unquestionably from “Outlaw Country,” which is described on its home page as “No borders, no b.s.— from country’s roots and legends to today’s outsiders that just won’t be fenced in.” He joined Sirius as format manager for its Outlaw Country channel in 2004, beginning a two-decade stint at the satellite radio service that also saw him working with the “Willie’s Roadhouse” and “Road Dog Trucking” channels.
Launched by Tepper as a vehicle for his band’s music, Diesel Only’s profile rose significantly in 1996 with the release of the compilation “Big Rig Deluxe,” featuring songs by Marty Stuart, Buck Owens, and Steve Earle. Initially focused on the strain of country sometimes called “trucker music,” the label released dozens of albums over the course of its 15-year run by artists including Cantrell, Dale Watson, Amy Allison, Ween, Will Rigby, Tammy Faye Starlite and many others.
