Music |
Don Schlitz
By
Published: Jan 05, 2016
Category:
Country
UPDATE: Don Schlitz was one of three 2017 inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. How totally cool.
A few years after my parents moved to Nashville, my mother went to a real estate auction and bought, for a ridiculously low price, a townhouse directly across from her apartment. My father hadn’t been consulted. He wasn’t pleased. My mother assured him she’d rent it for serious money, and fast. And she put an ad in the paper.
Don Schlitz called.
MOM: “Can you afford this townhouse?”
DON: “I think so.”
MOM: “What do you do?”
DON: “I’m a songwriter.”
MOM (skeptical): “Have I heard any of your songs?”
DON: Do you know ‘The Gambler?’”
Thus began a friendship with my mother and then with me that is now in its 25th year.
Like this: At my father’s funeral, Don sang “(You Say It Best) When You Say Nothing At All.”
And like this: 2015 was the year I discovered how much I need my friends and how much I love them. And Don sent me this:
So if you’re looking for objectivity from me, this is not your day.
Kenny Rogers, who recorded “The Gambler,” said, “Don doesn’t just write songs. He writes careers.” That’s not hype. “The Gambler” put a line into the language: “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.” It won Rogers the Grammy for best male country vocal performance in 1980 and was the first of five consecutive #1 hits for him.
Don Schlitz was 23 years old when he wrote “The Gambler.”
He went on to write this:
And this:
And so many other hits that he has 2 Grammys and 4 Country Songwriter of the Year awards — which he won in 4 consecutive years. [To buy the CD and get a free MP3 download of Don Schlitz singing his Greatest Hits from Amazon, click here. For the MP3 download, click here. To buy the CD of “Allergic to Crazy,” click here. For the MP3 download of “Allergic to Crazy,” click here.]
If you’re in Nashville, you want to see Don at The Bluebird.
BONUS VIDEO
Don Schlitz singing with his wife Stacey
