NASHVILLE, TN — Dorothy “Dottie” Leonard Miller, born August 10, 1945, passed away on October 11, 2024, at the age of 79. She was an incredibly generous and gracious woman who impacted countless lives with the Gospel through her entrepreneurial pursuits in Christian music and distribution.
Guided by the Holy Spirit and giving glory to God for all she achieved, she used her communication skills and unwavering determination to build several businesses whose products and services helped spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world, always surrounding herself with talented people to help accomplish her goals.
From humble beginnings in Wilmington, Delaware, the eldest child of William and Dorothy Golt discovered her true calling later in life. As a single mother raising two children in Hendersonville, Tennessee, Dottie learned about business through her clerical work at an accounting firm and a law firm, gained sales experience selling Jhirmack hair products throughout Nashville, and honed her communication skills working for the Democratic Party of Nashville on successful campaigns for Senator Jim Sasser, President Jimmy Carter, and others. Throughout this time, she worked a second job in ER admissions at Hendersonville Hospital to make ends meet. With no prior experience in music, she took a receptionist position at Calvary Records, building it into positions in radio promotions and sales to Christian bookstores.
She followed producer Ronnie Drake to Windchime Records to continue her sales efforts before starting her own company in her garage in 1981 with a small amount of funding from her father, William Golt, her brother, Bill Golt, and family friend, Ray Lorrig. New Day Christian Distributors focused initially on sales of sheet music and albums by independent artists like Mike Adkins and Jimmy Swaggart and eventually became a one-stop distributor for major labels like Word/Curb, Capitol Christian, Provident, Gotee, Centricity, Integrity, Fair Trade, as well as offering many other Christ-centered products to Christian bookstores from offices on Shivel Drive in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Needing products of her own, she reunited with Ronnie Drake to start DayWind Soundtracks and Daywind Records, providing resources to church singers and bringing the music of great artists like Opryland’s Gospel Quartet, the Cumberland Boys, the Steeles, the New Hinsons, Greater Vision, the Crabb Family, Gold City, Karen Peck and New River, Brian Free and Assurance, Triumphant Quartet, Down East Boys, the Perrys, the Hoppers, Tribute Quartet, the Guardians, Jonathan Wilburn, the Steeles, Joseph Habedank, Scotty Inman, the Blackwood Brothers, the Nelons, Southbound, Lefevre Quartet, The Sound, High Road, Michael English, Truesong, Legacy Five, and more to the world..
Dottie later added Daywind Music Publishing, now the predominant music publisher in Southern Gospel and Bluegrass music genres with renowned songwriters like Lee Black, Jason Cox, Sue C. Smith, Bill Whyte, Jonathan Smith, and more, two recording studios, and a cd manufacturing facility. Lately, her business expansions include Daywind Worship (choral products), Spiritus Distribution (Catholic products), Daywind Music Foundation (Tree Radio), a 24/7 broadcaster of Southern Gospel music, and Billy Blue and Billy Jam Records whose artists include Appalachian Road Show, Authentic Unlimited, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Alex Miler, Darin and Brooke Aldridge, Tennessee Bluegrass Band, Carson Peters and Iron Mountain, Kristy Cox and Grasstime, Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers, Bob Minner, Dave Adkins, Alan Bibey and Grasstowne, Caroline Owens, Marty Raybon, and more.
Dottie’s impressive career received recognition in the form of Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Gospel Music Association, BMI, the Southern Gospel Music Guild, the Singing News Magazine, and Absolutely Gospel Music. She has been inducted into the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Her artists and songwriters have received countless Dove Awards, Singing News Fan Awards, BMI Christian Music Awards, Grammy® nominations and one Grammy® Award (Jason Crabb), and over 125 #1 songs.
One of the most accomplished female music business executives in history, Dottie would quickly point to those who used their talents to help her along the way, including Ronnie Drake, Sylvia Mays, Wayne Haun, Marty Funderburk, Rick Shelton, Norman Holland, Brenda Wilcox, Lisa West, Dusty Wells, Vince Wehby, Janice Hoback, Theresa Richards, and many more.
Dottie’s greatest joy in life has been her family. She is survived by her daughter, Susan Leonard Sovine and grandchildren, Taylor McKellar and Kennedy Sovine; her son, Ed Leonard, his wife Kathleen, and their children Eddie Leonard, Mary Leonard, Evan Leonard, Aidan Leonard (Caroline Leonard), Rachael Zuckett (Joey Zuckett), Caroline Leonard, Ian Leonard, Liam Leonard, and Emily Leonard; her great-grandchildren Leo Zuckett and Eloise Joyce; her sister, Cynthia Paranczak; and Jere Miller. Dottie was preceded in death by her brother, Bill Golt, and her parents, William and Dorothy Golt.
Dottie became an avid bridge player after moving to Hendersonville, Tennessee, from Wilmington, Delaware, in 1972. She loved spending time in Florida where she would read and listen to the ocean and at her cabin in Lafayette, Tennessee, where she would enjoy her alpacas, donkeys, goats, and chickens. She was blessed to travel throughout the United States, Europe, and the Caribbean, but mostly enjoyed time spent with family, her co-workers, friends, and artists. She will be remembered by all as a warm, loving, generous woman with a flair for fashion and who could light up every room she was in with her engaging personality.
A celebration of Dottie’s life will be held at a later date in lieu of a funeral.
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