NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rockabilly Hall of Famer Billy Adams, 79, who wrote and recorded the rockabilly staple “Rock, Pretty Mama,” died Saturday in Westmoreland, Tenn. His funeral was held Monday in Spring Hill, Tenn., said Clif Doyal, Adams’ publicist and manager.

Born in Redbush, Ky., Adams was one of 14 children and the son of a coal miner who worked in the Van Lear coal mine, the one Loretta Lynn sings about in “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”

Adams once told public radio that with no money for instruments, he strummed a lard bucket like a guitar and listened to Grand Ole Opry.