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Songwriter Harlan Howard dies at 74

By ROBERT K. OERMANN
Special to The Tennessean

Country Music Hall of Fame member Harlan Howard, known as ''Mr. Songwriter,'' died yesterday at age 74.

Details of his death and funeral arrangements were not available last night.

The man behind such timeless songs as I Fall to Pieces, Busted, I've Got a Tiger by the Tail and Heartaches by the Number was once dubbed ''the Irving Berlin of country music'' because of the size of his catalog of classics. Mr. Howard provided hit songs to several generations of stars, from Kitty Wells to Patty Loveless, from Johnny Cash to Rodney Crowell, from Patsy Cline to Reba McEntire. He wrote for Mel Tillis, then endured to write for second-generation star Pam Tillis. In a career that spanned six decades, Mr. Howard penned more than 100 top-10 hits.

His name became so legendary on Music Row that for 12 years, 1983-95, the community celebrated the Harlan Howard Birthday Bash, an all-star concert and outdoor picnic. A who's who of the country music world has sung his compositions — George Jones, Buck Owens, Glen Campbell, Ricky Van Shelton, The Judds, Jimmy Dickens, Ray Price and Conway Twitty, to name just a few. But Mr. Howard's songs have also been interpreted by such R&B greats as Ray Charles, Joe Simon, Shirley Caesar and Candi Staton. Artists including Brenda Lee, The Kingston Trio, Kay Starr and Burl Ives have had pop hits with his songs, as well.

Harlan Perry Howard was born Sept. 8, 1927, in Detroit. After a difficult childhood in a number of foster homes, he dropped out of school in the ninth grade and became a manual laborer. After military service, he settled in Los Angeles in 1955 and began driving a forklift in a printing factory.

As a boy, he'd been captivated by the music of Ernest Tubb and had begun writing song lyrics. In California, he socialized with other country music lovers, who encouraged his aspirations.

''I'd come home from work sometimes with six songs,'' Mr. Howard once recalled. ''During that period of time, I never knew there was that much money in songwriting. I was just writing because I loved it. I never thought I'd be able to quit the factory and make a living full time as a writer.''

Cowboy stars Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond signed him to their song publishing company. Mr. Howard formed a songwriting team with West Coast singer Buck Owens that later resulted in five chart-topping hits.

Grand Ole Opry star Charlie Walker launched Mr. Howard's hit-writing career by recording Pick Me Up on Your Way Down in 1958. The following year, Heartaches by the Number topped both the country and the pop hit parades in versions by Ray Price and Guy Mitchell.

After writing successful songs for Kitty Wells, Warren Smith and Jan Howard, his wife from 1957 to 1967, Mr. Howard moved to Nashville in June 1960.

Along with figures such as Bill Anderson, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Willie Nelson, Mel Tillis, Danny Dill, Marijohn Wilkin, John D. Loudermilk and Roger Miller, he was among the first full-time songwriting professionals in the city.

''At the time, there were only a handful of songwriters writing tunes to feed this fiery furnace,'' Mr. Howard once said. ''Every record label had 30 great singers on its roster, all looking for hits. We all made each other write better. When I think back, it's amazing what happened.''

Working at Pamper Music, he collaborated on songs with Hank Cochran, with whom he co-wrote Patsy Cline's I Fall to Pieces and George Jones' You Comb Her Hair. Success came quickly in Music City.

At one point in 1961, Harlan Howard had 15 songs on the country popularity charts at the same time. That feat has never been equaled since. BMI gave him 10 songwriting awards that year and he was named Billboard's songwriter of the year in 1962 and 1963.

Prominence as a writer led to recording his own albums in 1961, 1965, 1967 and 1971. But the finest collection of his songs came with a 1967 tribute LP by Waylon Jennings, titled Waylon Sings Ol' Harlan. During his career, Jennings recorded more than 40 of Howard's songs, far more than any other artist.

Mr. Howard was Jennings' songwriting mentor, and his bonds with other artists were equally strong. He helped Bobby Bare obtain an RCA recording contract. He lobbied for Conway Twitty's transition from teen pop idol to country superstar. He also opened doors on Music Row for current star Sara Evans.

Howard's peers began calling him ''Mr. Songwriter'' after Ray Charles won a Grammy Award with Busted in 1963. Originally recorded by Johnny Cash, that song is one of a number of Harlan Howard compositions that have been recorded multiple times. Others include Life Turned Her That Way, The Chokin' Kind, Yours Love, Above and Beyond, I Fall to Pieces, The Key's in the Mailbox and Too Many Rivers.

He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973. But his career wound down after 1974 when Charlie Rich scored a hit with She Called Me Baby and Melba Montgomery introduced No Charge, which Shirley Caesar later turned into a gospel standard. Howard entered a long period of songwriting inactivity.

''I was getting a divorce and going through some bad times,'' Mr. Howard once said. ''It was burn-out time.''

That ended in 1982 when Opry star John Conlee revived Busted and introduced I Don't Remember Loving You and Nothing Behind You (Nothing in Sight as two new Harlan Howard creations. Thereafter, a new generation of Nashville stars began singing his songs. Reba McEntire (Somebody Should Leave), The Judds (Why Not Me), Highway 101 (Somewhere Tonight) and others extended Mr. Howard's hit streak through the 1980s.

In the 1990s Pam Tillis (Don't Tell Me What to Do), Doug Stone (These Lips Don't Know How to Say Goodbye), Collin Raye (All I Can Be) and more had hits with Harlan Howard songs. Trisha Yearwood and Aaron Neville won a Grammy Award for their 1994 revival of I Fall to Pieces. At the 1994 BMI awards banquet, Howard's Blame It on Your Heart, recorded by Patty Loveless, was named Song of the Year.

The annual Harlan Howard Birthday Bash raised funds for songwriter organizations. But declining health forced him to discontinue these events after 1995. He and fifth wife, Melanie, continued to run his song publishing business, however, and they aided such developing writers as Jackson Leap and Bobbie Cryner. He also continued to be a mentor, a raconteur and a gracious host to hundreds of hopefuls who sought him out, year after year.

Harlan Howard was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997.

''I was writing for the blue-collar man on the street,'' he once said. ''I always wanted to be a songwriter, and I knew I wanted to do it all my life.''

Staff Writer Peter Cooper contributed to this report.