UWF announces gift honoring local musician Larry Butler

Gifts made by Butler’s family and friends led to the establishment of the Larry Butler Memorial Music Award. This award will be used to support UWF music students in academic competitions or performance-related travel.

Butler was an award-winning songwriter and producer who worked with top-recording artists such as Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers. Yet as successful as his career in Nashville became, his love for his hometown was evident in the ways he gave back – including the benefit concert he produced to raise money to rebuild following Hurricane Ivan.

“Larry Butler was a great musician, producer and friend to the University of West Florida,” said Dr. Brendan Kelly, vice president for University Advancement. “We could not be more pleased to have the support of Peggy Butler and the Frank Brown Songwriters Festival in allowing his memory to live on in new generations of musicians.”

For more information on the Larry Butler Memorial Music Award, please contact the UWF Foundation, Inc. at 850.474.3118.