American lyricist Don Schlitz, member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and author of the classic “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers, died Thursday April 16 in Nashville at the age of 73, following a sudden illness.
Don Schlitz, whose solo composition “The Gambler” became a crossover hit for Kenny Rogers in 1978, died Thursday. He was 73 years old. No cause was given, but the statement announcing his death said he died at a Nashville hospital following a sudden illness.
The genesis of the “Gambler”
“The Gambler,” the first song Schlitz ever had an artist record, recounted an encounter with an old card cheat on a “train bound for nowhere”. While the lyrics were full of card game imagery, the song was actually a parable about what to do in life. “You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run”wrote Schlitz in the chorus.
Schlitz composed “The Gambler” in 1976, when he was just 23, after three years of dead ends in Nashville. After a meeting with his mentor, lyricist Bob McDill — who had shown him how to play open tuning on the guitar — Schlitz, freshly inspired, walked back to his apartment, composing in his head the lyrics to what would become “The Gambler,” before typing them out on a typewriter.
From Johnny Cash to Kenny Rogers
“The Gambler” eventually made its way to producer Larry Butler, who oversaw recordings of the song by a range of artists, including Johnny Cash and Kenny Rogers. It was the crooner's version that stood out: he released it as the title track of his 1978 album. The song became a country number one, crossed over into pop and earned Rogers a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocal Performer. Schlitz won a Grammy for Best Country Song and the 1979 Song of the Year award from the Country Music Association.
From the Bluebird Cafe to the Grand Ole Opry
Born in 1952 in Durham, North Carolina, Schlitz moved to Nashville at age 20 to pursue a career as a lyricist. He was a regular at the Bluebird Cafe, the historic temple of Nashville songwriters. Throughout his life, Schlitz returned to play there, as well as other venues around town — including a 2015 residency at East Nashville's 5 Spot.
But Schlitz has always been more of an author than a performer. Such was the impact of his catalog on country music that he became, in 2022, the only non-artist lyricist ever inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. In addition to “The Gambler”, he co-wrote for Randy Travis “Forever and Ever, Amen”, “On the Other Hand” and “Deeper Than the Holler”. For Keith Whitley, “When You Say Nothing at All”. For Alabama, “40 Hour Week (For a Livin’).” For the Judds, “Turn It Loose.” And for Mary Chapin Carpenter, “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her.”
Schlitz has totaled 25 number one singles as a writer. His songs have also been recorded by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tanya Tucker and Garth Brooks, among others.
Triple induction into the Hall of Fame
In 2017, the Country Music Hall of Fame inducted Schlitz as a member, one of the few songwriters to be included. (This year, Schlitz's recurring writing partner, Paul Overstreet, will also be inducted.) Schlitz was also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which he joined in 2012, and was inducted a decade earlier into the Nashville Songwriters Association Hall of Fame.
Schlitz often marveled at the posterity of his most famous song. In addition to its radio ubiquity, “The Gambler” inspired a series of films, and its lyrics became ingrained in the cultural lexicon. Schlitz laughed as he recalled the times he heard an anchor quote the words during a newscast, without knowing the origin. “Oh, as the old saying goes: 'You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em'”recounted Schlitz. “And I said to myself: it wasn’t an old adage — it was me who wrote it. »
The country scene loses with Don Schlitz one of its most influential pillars – in the tradition of other tutelary figures of Nashville who have disappeared in recent years, such as keyboardist Hargus “Pig” Robbins.
