Ben Harney, American pianist and composer (d. 1938)
Benjamin Robertson "Ben" Harney (March 6, 1872 – March 2, 1938) was an American songwriter, entertainer, and pioneer of ragtime music. His 1895 composition "You've Been a Good Old Wagon but You Done Broke Down" is regarded as among the earliest ragtime composition, but while he promoted himself as the inventor of ragtime, he "almost certainly was not." Though now probably more associated with Scott Joplin, in 1924 The New York Times wrote that Ben Harney "probably did more to popularize ragtime than any other person." Time magazine termed him "Ragtime's Father" in 1938.