Music Row titan Don Schlitz, the prolific songwriter responsible for a raft of modern classics including "The Gambler" and "Forever and Ever, Amen," died this week in Nashville. He was 73.
The big picture: Schlitz, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017, turned the daily lives of ordinary people into poetry.
- Many of his songs became massive commercial hits, but they were also deeply soulful, slyly funny and emotionally devastating.
