Ray Pennington, 'I'm a Ramblin' Man' songwriter, dies in Tennessee house fire at 86

Country musician, songwriter and producer Ray Pennington — whose song, "I'm A Ramblin' Man," became a chart-topping hit for Waylon Jennings — died Wednesday at 86.

Pennington was killed in a house fire at his Sumner County, Tennessee, home. Officials believe the fire started at 2:30 p.m., and was caused by a golf cart in the garage. Pennington's wife was also inside the house at the time, and escaped.

“The word we got was smoke was coming in the house," said Shackle Island Fire Department Chief Marty Bowers, "so Mr. Pennington walked out to the garage to see what was going on, and the golf cart was on fire. The smoke was so bad that his wife couldn’t get to him."

Pennington established his country music career in Nashville in the 1960s. He first recorded "I'm A Ramblin' Man" in 1967 for Capitol Records, and his version rose to No. 29 on the charts. In 1974, Jennings scored a No. 1 hit with his version of the song, and it was also the namesake of his 1974 album, "The Ramblin' Man."

He also co-founded Step One Records, which released albums and singles by Ray Price, Kitty Wells, Faron Young and Hank Thompson through the 1980s and '90s.