Jan Howard: 1929-2020...

I came across an alert on one of the social media sites I visit concerning the recent passing of country music singer Jan Howard. If you're a dedicated fan of classic country music or if you call yourself a hardcore fan of all things Grand Ole Opry then you should already know of Jan Howard. Once married to songwriter Harlan Howard the two later divorced but she retained the last name in her professional career. She had a lengthy career as an artist/performer with the bulk of her commercial impact largely confined to the 1960s and early 1970s. She had several solo hit recordings but is much more known through her association with country music singer/songwriter, Bill Anderson. Her albums sold well...10 of her albums hit the Country chart with 9 of them reaching the Top-40...4 of those cracked the Top-10. Between the years of 1962 to 1970 she sent 12 singles into the Country Top-40; the biggest single release being "Evil on Your Mind", hitting the Top-10 in 1966. This was followed by another Top-10, "Bad Seed", the same year. She had her share of awards and nominations for solo recordings and for her duets with Bill Anderson.

Jan, at the start of the decade, at a Top-40 country hit with Wynn Stewart on a duet called "Wrong Company" in 1960. Her famed duets with Bill Anderson began in 1965. This is the same year that Bill began his long running syndicated television show. The Bill Anderson Show aired in syndication for 9 years...it's final season 1974. It is one of several syndicated country music television programs that used to fill the weekend airwaves and Jan was one of the show's regular performers for most of it's run. Their first duet album hit early in 1968 titled For Loving You and the lone single release was the title track which hit Number One on the Country chart in the latter half of 1967. Their next duet single arrived nearly two years later in the fall of 1969, "If It's All the Same To You", which hit the runner-up spot on the Country chart. Their album of the same name featured their first duet release from 1965, "Time Out", and another 1965 hit duet, "I Know You're Married But I Love You Still". In 1970-1971 the duo had two more Top-10 hits...beginning with "Someday We'll Be Together" and then in 1971, "Dis-Satisfied". Those last two releases come from the album, Bill and Jan (or Jan and Bill). She and Bill released one more album together...a gospel release in 1972 titled Singing His Praise.

In between her duets with Bill she continued releasing solo recordings...one of the most personal and hard to listen to given how emotional it is came along in 1968 titled "My Son". I knew of some of the personal hardships and emotional pains she went through in her life but after reading that she passed away I decided to look deeper and found so much more. I'm not going to re-post all of the things I discovered in my mini-research...I'm leaving that up to you readers to discover for yourselves. In one of her last appearances (which aired during the PBS documentary, Country Music, from Ken Burns) she was asked about the song and about the anti-war protests going on around the time that the single was issued. She's quoted in a lot of on-line sites as to what she'd do if another anti-war person rang her doorbell again asking to support their cause. The protesters were wanting to use her song to show the risks of war and based upon her commentary in that documentary she wasn't going to have any part of their anti-war sentiments. She wrote the song...one of several songs she wrote during her career. She and Bill Anderson wrote "I Never Once Stopped Loving You", a massive hit for Connie Smith. The two also wrote their "Dis-Satisfied" duet. She wrote Bill's hit, "Love is a Sometimes Thing". The Queen of Country Music, Kitty Wells, had a hit with Jan Howard's composition, "It's All Over but the Crying". Jan and Bill professionally parted ways not long after the success of "Dis-Satisfied". She also stepped away from her appearances on his television show.

Jan had become a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1971 and could be found appearing there on many Saturday and later, Friday, nights for the next 30 plus years. She was heard most often in the half hour portions hosted by Bill Anderson. It gave the two an opportunity to perform any number of their duets together. As the years went on she became part of an inner circle of female Opry members collectively referred to as the Grand Ladies of the Grand Ole Opry. It's arguable as to who fit into that distinctive collection but it was more or less the female Opry members who appeared regularly or semi-regularly every weekend: Wilma Lee Cooper, Minnie Pearl, Jean Sheppard, Jan Howard, Jeannie Seely, Connie Smith, Skeeter Davis, and Jeannie Pruett. Some may argue some of those weren't officially referred to as a 'Grand Lady' of the Opry but as far as my memory goes I recall all of them at one time or another being billed as a 'Grand Lady' many times over the years during their Opry appearances.

Some trivia is Jan was the female voice heard on the Johnny Cash hit, "Daddy Sang Bass". A lot of us, including myself, assumed it to be June Carter...but up until several years ago I didn't know Jan Howard was the one singing the line "Mama sang tenor...". The Statler Brothers are also on that record, too. I have not seen any details about visitation, funeral, or any of that kind of thing. I'm sure the Opry website and on-line sites centered around classic country music will have in depth information as the hours and days go by. The news broke only a couple of hours ago.

Jan Howard: 1929-2020