As a married couple, Joe and Audrey Allison were part of the songwriter scene in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, they wrote Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young for
Faron Young.
Their biggest hit He'll Have To Go they wrote for
Jim Reeves:
The inspiration for Allison's most successful song came in 1959 while talking to his wife on the phone. She had been unable to hear him clearly, and wrote on note pad: Put your sweet lips a little closer to the phone. When Allison found these words, he wrote the remainder of He'll Have to Go around them. (Source: Ronald D. Lankford Jr for www.musiciangude.com)
Their collaboration ended after the couple split.