In all there were 10 Howard songs recorded by John over the years. The first was "Busted," done in August 1962 for the album "Blood, Sweat and Tears." John had moved to California from Memphis in 1958 and, although he did most of his recording for Columbia in Nashville, he remained firmly outside the mainstream country movement. In fact, he was not even considered a "country" artist; he had evolved from a rockabilly to a folkie, hanging out with people like Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi and Richard Farina, and Phil Ochs in New York City. That perception would begin to change by late 1962. Mind you, he really never got "in," but this was the beginning of the change in his folk image, which would nevertheless remain through, say, 1966, especially due to the "Orange Blossom Special" album and the 1965 El Paso drug arrest, which of course was something those nutty New York folk singers would do, after all.

The change was precipitated by John's teaming up in 1962 with the famous Carter Family. The middle girl, 32 year old June, was also pursuing a solo career in addition to her work with her sisters and mother, the great Maybelle Carter. John had a touring package show which included people like Tex Ritter, Johnny Western, Merle Kilgore and Patsy Cline, and June joined the show for the first time on December 7, 1961 at a performance in Dallas. In July 1962, John used the Carters--who who had taken on the name The Carter Family (they were previously billed as The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle) the previous year after the November 7, 1960 death of patriarch A.P. Carter (Maybelle's brother-in-law; her husband Ezra was A.P.'s brother)--for the first time as backup on Tommy Dorsey's gospel song "Peace In the Valley." The Carters were under contract to Liberty Records and had just recorded "The Carter Family Album" for that label; they weren't supposed to be doing projects for Columbia or anyone else. In fact, their presence was not even officially recognized in the documents of the session, nor the one three weeks later which included "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord."

That latter session, on August 21, 1962, also produced "Busted." Harlan Howard was married to one of June Carter's best friends, Jan Howard. (They would divorce in 1967 after ten years of marriage. She would be June's maid of honor at June and John's March 1, 1968 wedding in Franklin, KY and join the Carter Family for a while in the late 1970s.) That session would also include John's first (more or less) duet, "Another Man Done Gone," with ANITA Carter, who was featured prominently on "Were You There" as well. (His first duet with June would not occur until 1964.) Unfortunately, "Busted" would only spend three weeks on the charts in April 1963. On the other hand, Ray Charles took the song to #4 on the pop charts, a source of great frustration for John, who had had zero records on any charts for over six months, and who had not had a top 5 record in 2 1/2 years. (Of course, all this would change with his next chart record, a song Anita Carter had recorded in November 1962 in Nashville, which her sister and Kilgore had written, called "Love's Ring of Fire. Kilgore would be John's best man at the wedding.) 

"Busted" would appear on the "Blood, Sweat and Tears" concept album, as did another Harlan Howard song recorded the next day called "Chain Gang." Howard's "Still In Town" was done the next year at the same session as "Ring of Fire's" sound-alike follow-up single, "The Matador," but it was not released. In 1964, "The Wall" appeared on "Orange Blossom Special," and 1965 saw John do two Howard songs, a cover of Jim Reeves' "The Blizzard" for "Mean As Hell," and "You Comb Her Hair" on the much-maligned "Happiness is You" album.

That would be it for ten years, when John covered Melba Montgomery's take of Howard's "No Charge" on "Look At Them Beans," although Columbia did capture John's performance of "Mississippi Delta Land" during a "Ride This Train" segment on the TV show in 1970 and included it on the soundtrack album. In the last 26 years, John did not record any Howard songs for himself. He did join Waylon Jennings--who recorded more Howard songs than any other artist, including a whole album full of them on "Waylon Sings Ol' Harlan"--for a duet on "Be Careful Who You Love" and John Schneider and Jennings again on "Better Class of Loser."

I am always fascinated by how personalities and relationships drive history. Although Harlan Howard was an icon (he went into the Hall of Fame in 1997), he and John did not travel in the same circles, and his connection (ultimately a severed one) with June's best friend in the 60s and 70s also seemed to preclude a close relationship such as the one he had with Jennings. So the Cash/Howard saga is limited at best. Harlan Howard was a giant songwriter (although he actually recorded a few albums, they basically proved that he was a giant songwriter), and his passing and loss is significant indeed.

- Mark