Welcome back to Country Music 4 Ever! I’m sure you have heard people say country music is three chords and the truth. I think that is very true, and I recently found out who came up with that saying. The legendary songwriter Harlan Howard was the person who came up with that saying. Today I am going to talk about Harlan and his amazing career in country music.

 

Harlan grew up in a poor family on a farm in Michigan. He loved listening to the “Grand Ole Opry” on the radio. He would try to write down the words to some of the songs he heard on the Opry. He didn’t always catch all the lyrics, so he would fill in the blanks with words he thought sounded good in the songs. That is how he fell in love with songwriting.

 

Harlan later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a songwriting career. Once he hit it big in L.A. he decided to move to Nashville. That is where he really hit it big. In 1961, Harlan sat down with Hank Cochran and wrote “I Fall to Pieces” which became a huge hit for Patsy Cline. In that year alone, Harlan had over 15 chart topping hits. He tried to become a country singer, but he was such a good songwriter, so he decided to focus only on his songwriting.

 

The country charts were full of songs Harlan wrote in both the 1960s and 1970s, and in 1980 he decided to retire from the music industry. Harlan wrote songs for Patty Loveless, John Conlee, The Judds, George Jones, Johnny Cash, and Buck Owens just to name a few.

 

Harlan was one of the best songwriters in country music. Country Music wouldn’t be the same without Harlan Howard. I don’t think songwriters get enough credit for the work they do. Without them there wouldn’t be country music or any other style of music either.

 

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back soon!