Biography
Country music's foremost tunesmith, Harlan Howard assembled a catalog exceeding 4,000 compositions, among them such enduring standards as "I Fall to Pieces," "Life Turned Her That Way," and "Heartaches by the Number." Across every decade following World War II he placed major hits on the charts. Born September 8, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan, he relocated with his family to Lexington, Kentucky two years later. An avid listener of the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts, Howard idolized Ernest Tubb and attempted to transcribe the singer's lyrics line by line; missing words prompted him to supply his own phrases and occasionally whole verses, thereby launching his songwriting ambitions. Following high-school graduation, he completed a four-year stint as a paratrooper at Fort Benning, Georgia; during off-duty hours he acquired guitar skills and, each Friday evening, hitchhiked with a companion to Nashville to absorb live country performances.
After his discharge, Howard spent the latter half of the 1950s crisscrossing the nation in a succession of brief employments that carried him from Michigan to Arizona before he settled in California near Bakersfield. In that locale, where Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart were shaping the Bakersfield sound, Howard's emerging talent drew notice; Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond soon undertook publication of his material. Stewart's recording of "You Took Her off My Hands" instantly generated demand for Howard's work. With his wife, Jan Howard, herself an ascending country artist, supplying demonstration recordings, Charlie Walker cut "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" in 1958, and Jimmy Skinner soon followed with "What Makes a Man Wander." Kitty Wells achieved success in early 1959 with "Mommy for a Day," yet Howard's decisive breakthrough arrived later that year when Ray Price turned "Heartaches by the Number" into a blockbuster; Guy Mitchell's pop version likewise enjoyed massive sales.
Midway through 1960 the Howards moved to Nashville. Howard promptly supplied Price with another hit, "I Wish I Could Fall in Love Today," and contributed "Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache)" and "Above and Beyond" to Owens. In 1961 he and Hank Cochran crafted "I Fall to Pieces," which became a landmark crossover for Patsy Cline. After writing "Three Steps to the Phone (Millions of Miles)" for Jim Reeves, Howard offered the follow-up "He'll Have to Go"; Reeves declined it, George Hamilton IV recorded the song instead, and it scored a substantial hit, while Reeves achieved notable acclaim with Howard's "The Blizzard." Fifteen chart entries appeared under Howard's name that single year, including "Heartbreak U.S.A." for Wells and, for Owens, both "Under the Influence of Love" and "Foolin' Around." He maintained a daily quota of two or three new songs, roughly a dozen of which found recordings each week, and Billboard consequently named him Songwriter of the Year for two consecutive years.
Also in 1961, Harlan Howard Sings Harlan Howard appeared, the first of several solo albums; a decade later he even secured a modest hit with "Sunday Morning Christian," though a sustained performing career never constituted his primary goal. He continued as Nashville's most prolific writer. Between 1962 and 1963 his compositions yielded Johnny Cash's "Busted" (later a pop success for Ray Charles), Price's revival of "You Took Her off My Hands," George Jones's "You Comb Her Hair," Roy Drusky's "Second Hand Rose," and Johnny & Jonie Mosby's "Don't Call Me From a Honky Tonk." Howard launched Wilderness Music in 1964, and Jones scored again with "Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was on the Right)"; the following year Howard and Owens collaborated on the latter's number-one single "I've Got the Tiger by the Tail." In 1966 he and Tompall Glaser wrote the acclaimed "Streets of Baltimore" for Bobby Bare, and in 1967 Jan Howard reached the charts with "Evil on Your Mind."
Waylon Jennings devoted the 1967 album Sings Ol' Harlan entirely to Howard's songs. That same year Mel Tillis recorded "Life Turned Her That Way," one of Howard's signature pieces (later revived successfully by Ricky Van Shelton). Hank Williams, Jr. charted in 1968 with "It's All Over (But the Crying)," yet an acute bout of writer's block hampered Howard through much of the 1970s. Only scattered successes followed, among them the chart-toppers "No Charge" for Melba Montgomery and "She Called Me Baby" for Charlie Rich. By the 1980s Howard had entered semiretirement while still mentoring emerging writers at Tree Publishing. John Conlee revived "Busted" and reached the Top Ten in 1982; two years later Conway Twitty took "I Don't Know a Thing About Love (The Moon Song)" and the Judds took "Why Not Me" to number one. Additional contemporary artists who recorded Howard compositions to chart prominence include Reba McEntire, Highway 101, and k.d. lang. Howard died March 3, 2002, in Nashville.
After his discharge, Howard spent the latter half of the 1950s crisscrossing the nation in a succession of brief employments that carried him from Michigan to Arizona before he settled in California near Bakersfield. In that locale, where Buck Owens and Wynn Stewart were shaping the Bakersfield sound, Howard's emerging talent drew notice; Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond soon undertook publication of his material. Stewart's recording of "You Took Her off My Hands" instantly generated demand for Howard's work. With his wife, Jan Howard, herself an ascending country artist, supplying demonstration recordings, Charlie Walker cut "Pick Me Up on Your Way Down" in 1958, and Jimmy Skinner soon followed with "What Makes a Man Wander." Kitty Wells achieved success in early 1959 with "Mommy for a Day," yet Howard's decisive breakthrough arrived later that year when Ray Price turned "Heartaches by the Number" into a blockbuster; Guy Mitchell's pop version likewise enjoyed massive sales.
Midway through 1960 the Howards moved to Nashville. Howard promptly supplied Price with another hit, "I Wish I Could Fall in Love Today," and contributed "Excuse Me (I Think I've Got a Heartache)" and "Above and Beyond" to Owens. In 1961 he and Hank Cochran crafted "I Fall to Pieces," which became a landmark crossover for Patsy Cline. After writing "Three Steps to the Phone (Millions of Miles)" for Jim Reeves, Howard offered the follow-up "He'll Have to Go"; Reeves declined it, George Hamilton IV recorded the song instead, and it scored a substantial hit, while Reeves achieved notable acclaim with Howard's "The Blizzard." Fifteen chart entries appeared under Howard's name that single year, including "Heartbreak U.S.A." for Wells and, for Owens, both "Under the Influence of Love" and "Foolin' Around." He maintained a daily quota of two or three new songs, roughly a dozen of which found recordings each week, and Billboard consequently named him Songwriter of the Year for two consecutive years.
Also in 1961, Harlan Howard Sings Harlan Howard appeared, the first of several solo albums; a decade later he even secured a modest hit with "Sunday Morning Christian," though a sustained performing career never constituted his primary goal. He continued as Nashville's most prolific writer. Between 1962 and 1963 his compositions yielded Johnny Cash's "Busted" (later a pop success for Ray Charles), Price's revival of "You Took Her off My Hands," George Jones's "You Comb Her Hair," Roy Drusky's "Second Hand Rose," and Johnny & Jonie Mosby's "Don't Call Me From a Honky Tonk." Howard launched Wilderness Music in 1964, and Jones scored again with "Your Heart Turned Left (And I Was on the Right)"; the following year Howard and Owens collaborated on the latter's number-one single "I've Got the Tiger by the Tail." In 1966 he and Tompall Glaser wrote the acclaimed "Streets of Baltimore" for Bobby Bare, and in 1967 Jan Howard reached the charts with "Evil on Your Mind."
Waylon Jennings devoted the 1967 album Sings Ol' Harlan entirely to Howard's songs. That same year Mel Tillis recorded "Life Turned Her That Way," one of Howard's signature pieces (later revived successfully by Ricky Van Shelton). Hank Williams, Jr. charted in 1968 with "It's All Over (But the Crying)," yet an acute bout of writer's block hampered Howard through much of the 1970s. Only scattered successes followed, among them the chart-toppers "No Charge" for Melba Montgomery and "She Called Me Baby" for Charlie Rich. By the 1980s Howard had entered semiretirement while still mentoring emerging writers at Tree Publishing. John Conlee revived "Busted" and reached the Top Ten in 1982; two years later Conway Twitty took "I Don't Know a Thing About Love (The Moon Song)" and the Judds took "Why Not Me" to number one. Additional contemporary artists who recorded Howard compositions to chart prominence include Reba McEntire, Highway 101, and k.d. lang. Howard died March 3, 2002, in Nashville.
Albums
