A.L. "Doodle" Owens

Arthur Leo Owens (also known as "Doodle Owens"), born November 28, 1930 in Waco, Texas; died October 4, 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee, 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.

As a singer, Owens' 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]

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. ^ http://www.nashvillesongwritersfoundation.com/l-o/al-doodle-owens.aspx Nashville Songwriters Foundation page for Owens
2. ^ Billboard, Feb. 12, 1983