Jeremy Tepper, Program Director of SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country, Dies at 60

Mitchell Peters and Ed Christman
·6 min read
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Jeremy Tepper, a musician, journalist and the program director of SiriusXM’s Outlaw Country channel, has died. He was 60.

Tepper passed away on Friday (June 14) from a heart attack at a hospital in New York City, according to a social media post by his wife, singer-songwriter Laura Cantrell.

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“Lost my good friend Jeremy Tepper last night,” Steven Van Zandt, guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and founder of Underground Garage, wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “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.”

Born in 1963, the New York native graduated with a degree in journalism from NYU and served as the frontman for the band World Famous Blue Jays.

During his career, Tepper founded independent country label Diesel Only Records and held A&R and marketing positions for CDuctive and eMusic.com. He was also a journalist, having previously served as managing editor of Vending Times, editor of The Journal of Country Music and as a country music critic for Tower Records’ Pulse! magazine.

Before joining Sirius, Tepper made his mark on the music industry through his Brooklyn, NY-based Diesel Only Records. In the Feb. 9, 1991 issue of Billboard, Grass Route columnist Deborah Russell wrote that Tepper “should get an award for best niche marketing campaign. Here’s a guy who has launched a label on the very deathbed of the 7-inch vinyl single. He deals exclusively in rig rock singles, (i.e., music for truckers) and markets it to truck stops and vinyl jukebox operators across the U.S. Diesel Only Records even has its own truck-shaped jukebox title streets to promote ‘impulse play,’” Russell says. “Jukeboxes account for the majority of 45 sales and they are not being serviced with enough new product from the major label.”

A 1995 story noted that “those truck-driving fools” at Diesel Only had issued more than 40 7-inch 45 singles since its inception.

News of Tepper’s death quickly spread across Facebook and other social media platforms as friends from across the music industry remembered his many special qualities.

Cary Baker, retired longtime music publicist who is about to release his first book Down On the Corner: Adventures in Busking and Street Music via Jawbone Press, hailed Tepper as a visionary because of his contribution to Outlaw Country in a Facebook past. “Jeremy was a true blue music fan, an early galvanizer of the Americana genre, a gifted spotter of talent, cruise impresario, lover of truck-drivin’ country music and jukeboxes, and all-around mensch. Many of Americana’s emerging stars owe Jeremy their break.”

Many coupled their remembrances with that of Mojo Nixon, the rocker who doubled as a DJ on the Outlaw Country station who died on Feb. 7, also from a cardiac event, a day after performing on the Outlaw Country Cruise. In fact, Tepper was in Ohio last week to help celebrate Mojo Nixon Day as designated by the Ohio House of Representatives and for the unveiling of the Nixon display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Music business journalist and former Billboard columnist and news reporter Chris Morris posted on Facebook, “RIP Jeremy Tepper, Americana god, Siriux XM kingpin, and all-around wonderful man. Coming so close on the heels of Mojo Nixon’s passing, this is like a one-two gut punch.”

Scott Ambrose Reilly, the Orchard’s senior vp of content and longtime manager of Mojo Nixon, posted a series of pictures on his Instagram account showing Nixon and Tepper defiantly together, labeling them collectively “outlaws in the sky,” He also reminded, “Out past Mars, ain’t no speed limit…and go fast my dearest friends! The man is never gonna catch you now.”

In 2004, he joined Sirius as format manager of the radio giant’s Outlaw Country channel, which was created by Van Zandt, who served as its executive producer. A March 5, 2005 Billboard story on the origin of the Country Outlaw concept begins noting that Tepper was serving as DJ one night in March 2004 and as he was finishing with his customary closer, C.W. McCall’s “Convey,” Van Zandt “leaped up from his seat in the VIP lounge and walked over to Tepper, put his arm around him and muttered ‘You’re my guy.’ Tepper had no idea what Van Zandt was talking about” but the next day Tepper, who worked as a Sirius DJ for its Border concept, found himself in a meeting with Van Zandt and SiriusXM senior vp/GM of music programming Steve Blatter. It seems Sirius staffers couldn’t find the songs from Van Zandt’s “impossibly long list” to fuel his Outlaw Country concept, but Tepper, with a 50,000 title collection at home, said he had the songs Van Zandt wanted for the channel.

The channel mixes music by country and Americana artists such as Waylon Jennings, Dale Watson, Dwight Yoakam, Johnny Cash and Lucinda Williams with rockers Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and the Band.

Tepper’s two-decade run with Sirius also found him working on the Willie’s Roadhouse and Road Dog Trucking channels.

“Jeremy Tepper, a beloved member of SiriusXM, profoundly influenced us with his unwavering dedication to music and innovative spirit,” SiriusXM wrote on X. “His contributions, in shaping Outlaw Country and Willie’s Roadhouse, are beyond measure. Our thoughts are with his loved ones during this time.”

But other music executives remembered that beyond his contributions to the industry, Tepper was a good friend to anyone who was lucky enough to be in his orbit. Or as Sony Music director of visual A&R and content development Gretchen Brennison put it in a Facebook post: “I’m so glad I had a friend in him. He was the real deal. Larger than life, energetic, fun, funny, authentic, and an overall awesome human being. We had a lot of fun nights out, but my favorite memory is when he convinced me to bring my son to join him and Bella at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, in 2015…not as spectators, but as parade participants! He said, ‘It’s such a trip! Don’t stand on the sidelines with everyone else…it’s only a $15 entry fee to BE IN the parade!’ He always knew about the coolest things happening, which also made him the coolest guy in the room, even when the “room” was a parade along the Coney Island boardwalk. Rest easy to the Rig Rocker.”

Tepper is survived by his wife, Cantrell, and their daughter, Bella.

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