"Country music's preeminent composer"......yeah, I think he was all of that.

Gene, you make a strong case and though I am sure some will argue, I would tend to agree. If he wasn't the best, than he does have the best tales and the stories of Harlan Howard are legendary. Most come from other songwriters who I think would all agree with you, some from former wife Jan, and a lot of them from the horse's mouth.

I'd be willing to bet that he wrote more songs or the germs of songs on bar napkins than others write in a lifetime. I remember hearing him tell about being pretty well gone in some bar or another one night and he was listening to the two people behind him talking. One of them used a phrase that might have been missed by the rest of us at our best, but Harlan Howard was never quite like the rest of us. He heard that one phrase and had no idea exactly how it fit into the conversation really, but he knew he liked it so immediately wrote it down on the cocktail napkin---"Pick me up on your way down."

John Prine agrees with you too Gene......So who am I to disagree with either you or John Prine?

Was it "I Fall to Pieces" that he brought home and had Jan sing but she knew she'd never get it? Anyway, a good thread here Gene and a nice post from you to start it off.

Spaw