Don Schlitz on 'The Gambler's' global legacy, Opry induction, remaining humble and focused

Over nearly five decades, Don Schlitz's Nashville career has evolved from being an overnight computer operator at Vanderbilt by day and a regular performer at the songwriters' night at Frank N' Stein Rathskeller to being inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame, Country Music Hall of Fame and now the Grand Ole Opry.

"I used to just worry about what three songs I had to play each week," he tells The Tennessean. However, as he stated in a 1979 interview with American Top 40's Casey Kasem, divine intervention eventually intervened.

"Something more than me wrote that song," he said of his 1976 song "The Gambler." "There was something going through my head, which was my father. It was just a song, and it somehow filtered through me."

In an almost nonplussed manner, Don Schlitz continues in the call to discuss the epic nature of the global reach of his four-decade-long songwriting career: entire stadiums in Thailand and legendary Jamaican reggae artists have sung songs that he's written.

"All music is local," says Schlitz regarding why he feels his music connects with fans worldwide. "When music you love reaches you, it causes a joyous feeling in your heart, and you make it your own. If that feeling expands from the Grand Ole Opry or Bluebird Cafe in Nashville to a wedding in Zimbabwe, that was my intention. Again, it's all local. It's all impacting someone personally. That's the most local level there is."

Two months ago on Twitter, an account called The Zimbabwean posted a thread highlighting country music's popularity across Africa. Cellphone footage posted included a man in a cowboy hat moonwalking to "The Gambler" while at a wedding.

Schlitz pays great deference to Kenny Rogers' "charismatic" star power and pop appeal in his November 1978 rendition of the song as key to "The Gambler" achieving renown in sub-Saharan Africa. "Kenny singing 'The Gambler' is like Johnny Cash singing 'Ring of Fire' or Dolly Parton singing 'Jolene,'" adds the vaunted song-crafter.

Rogers, Schlitz recalls, was "probably the seventh" person to cut "The Gambler" as a track. Notably, Bobby Bare's version was never released, while Johnny Cash's version — recorded the same day as Rogers' take — never charted. Schlitz released it himself, charting it at No. 65 on the Billboard Hot Country countdown.

The "Coward of the County" singer's version was a No. 1 country hit that crossed over into the Top 20 of Billboard's all-genre Hot 100 chart. In 1980, he was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for the song.

"I believed in the journey the song could take people on," noted Rogers in a 2019 interview. The Country Music Hall of Famer elevates the song's meaning. "Knowing when to get in and out of something or stay completely away from something doesn't just describe poker; it's a philosophy on life."

"'The Gambler' opened doors for me far beyond country music in Nashville. It made my work important on an international level," Schlitz adds. "It's added so many unexpected joys to my life.

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For Schlitz, having a song achieve that level of renown is "fun," but as much as he's a writer of iconic music, he's more a working professional in Music City.

"I'm always just working on and playing music that people like and that I want to hear."

Durham, North Carolina, native Schlitz cites everything from The Beatles ("they'd be played on country radio now") to Bare, The Rolling Stones, and Motown favorites like The Four Tops as artists who have influenced him in crafting hits for artists including Mary Chapin Carpenter, Randy Travis, Keith Whitley, and numerous others during his career.

Regarding his anthemic turn with "The Gambler," he continues to describe how he considers the song's legacy. More than anything, he feels that a decade before the hand he played in Randy Travis' ascension as a "neo-traditionalist" superstar via his co-writing credit on 1987's "Forever and Ever, Amen," Kenny Rogers' body of work served as a bridge to the era.

"Kenny had already released 'Lucille' in 1977, and that's a great neo-traditional song. Of course, 'The Gambler' follows it and is this up-tempo song that also established his persona as a quintessential American icon for decades to come, so it gets more credit and inspired people [for a few more years]," notes Schlitz.

"I only saw Kenny probably five times in person," says Schlitz. "He was always very kind and loyal to me, plus he cut four or five of my songs. One of the times we saw each other in person was in 2012 when I was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He didn't have to do that."

Since being offered induction into the Grand Ole Opry by Vince Gill on June 11, Schlitz has made a few appearances at the venue. His reverence for the space is palpable.

"Everyone comes to the Opry to love you. It's best if you appear as yourself. You don't have to put on any airs there. Sometimes, I walk out there, and people — even though I'm introduced — have no idea who I am. But by the time I get to 'The Gambler,' they love me!"

Schlitz concludes the call with a note and some levity:

"I'm glad that the Opry is informing people that people actually do write some of these great songs. Of course, Vince Gill always tells me that when I'm playing the Opry, before every song, tell the crowd you wrote it — or else they'll just think that you're a bad singer on karaoke night."

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 'The Gambler' songwriter Don Schlitz on Opry induction, global legacy