A.L. "Doodle" Owens

Arthur Leo "Doodle" Owens (November 28, 1930 – October 4, 1999) was an American country music songwriter and singer. He had a long songwriting partnership with Dallas Frazier, with whom he wrote "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)" (1969), "(I'm So) Afraid of Losing You Again" (1969), "I Can't Believe That You've Stopped Loving Me" (1970) and "Then Who Am I" (1974), all #1 country hits for Charlie Pride. In the 1980s, Owens wrote many songs with fellow songwriter Dennis Knutson for George Jones and other artists.

Owens was born is Waco, Texas. As a singer, his only charting hit was "Honky Tonk Toys", written by Owens with Gene Vowell, which made it to #78 on the country charts in 1978.

Charley Pride's version of "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1970. Owens was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.^[1]

Owens died in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 68.

Other charting songs by Owens

• "Get This Stranger Out of Me" (Owens) - #63 country, Lefty Frizzell, 1967
• "Barbara" (Owens) - #55 country, George Morgan, 1968 (title song of album)
• "Johnny One Time" (Owens, Frazier) - #36 country, Willie Nelson, 1968; #3 Adult Contemporary, Brenda Lee, 1969
• "Raggedy Ann" (Owens, Frazier) - #45 country, Charlie Rich, 1968
• "True Love Travels on a Gravel Road" (Owens, Frazier) - #58 country, Duane Dee, 1968
• "What Are Those Things (With Big Black Wings)" (Owens, Frazier) - #19 country, Charlie Louvin, 1969
• "Chain Don't Take to Me" (Owens, Frazier) - #30 country, Bob Luman, 1971
• "She's as Close as I Can Get to Loving You" (Owens, Frazier) - #61 country, Hank Locklin, 1971
• "She Wakes Me with a Kiss Every Morning (And She Loves Me to Sleep Every Night)" (Owens, Frazier) - #11 country, Nat Stuckey, 1971
• "Touching Home" (Owens, Frazier) - #3 country, Jerry Lee Lewis, 1971 (title song of album)
• "When He Walks On You (Like You Have Walked On Me)" (Owens, Frazier) - #11 country, Jerry Lee Lewis, 1971
• "Just for What I Am" (Owens, Frazier) - #5 country, Connie Smith, 1972
• "Hank and Lefty Raised My Country Soul" (Owens, Frazier) - #39 country, Stoney Edwards, 1973
• "Some Old California Memory" (Owens, Warren Robb) - #28 country, Henson Cargill, 1973
• "Would You Walk With Me, Jimmy?" (Owens, Whitey Shafer) - #22 country, Arlene Harden, 1973
• "Champagne Ladies and Blue Ribbon Babies" (Owens, Frazier) - #34 country, Ferlin Husky, 1974 (title song of album)
• "I Just Started Hatin' Cheatin' Songs Today" (Owens, Shafer) - #17 country, Moe Bandy, 1974
• "Freckles and Polliwog Days" (Owens, Frazier) - #26 country, Ferlin Husky, 1974
• "There's Still a Lot of Love in San Antone" (Owens, Lou Rochelle) - #48 country, Darrell McCall, 1974; #64 country, Connie Hanson and Friend, 1982
• "Falling" (Owens, Shafer) - #50 country, Lefty Frizzell, 1975
• "It Was Always So Easy (To Find An Unhappy Woman)" (Owens, Shafer) - #7 country, Moe Bandy, 1975
• "Because You Believed in Me" (Owens, Shorty Hall, Gene Vowell) - #20 country, Gene Watson, 1976
• "Cowboys Ain't Supposed to Cry" (Owens) - #13 country, Moe Bandy, 1977
• "She Just Loved the Cheatin' Out of Me" (Owens, Shafer) - #11 country, Moe Bandy, 1977
• "You Still Get to Me in My Dreams" (Owens, Bill Shore) - #16 country, Tammy Wynette, 1982
• "Cold Summer Day in Georgia" (Owens, Dennis Knutson) - #24 country, Gene Watson, 1985
• "Somebody Wants Me Out of the Way" (Owens, Knutson) - #9 country, George Jones, 1986
• "Wine Colored Roses" (Owens, Knutson) - #10 country, George Jones, 1986
• "The Bird" (Owens, Knutson) - #26 country, George Jones, 1987
• "The Right Left Hand" (Owens, Knutson) - #8 country, George Jones, 1987
• "Fourteen Minutes Old" (Owens, Knutson) - #6 country, Doug Stone, 1990

(Darrell McCall was the "Friend" in the 1982 release of "There's Still a Lot of Love in San Antone". The single was released at the end of 1982, but reached #64 on the country charts in February 1983.)^[2]

References

1. "Nashville Songwriters Foundation". Nashville Songwriters Foundation. 1999-10-04. Retrieved 2014-08-11.
2. Billboard, Feb. 12, 1983