Harry Chapin's star burned brightly during his brief ‘70s pop career, which was dense with up-close snapshots of everyday life—its frustrations, its triumphs, even its mundane moments. His raspy voice added intimacy and resonance to song-stories like the world-weary parenting lament “Cat's In the Cradle” and the traveling-DJ chronicle “W.O.L.D.” The ornate arrangements and sweeping scope of tracks like the wistful “Taxi” and its follow-up, “Sequel,” gave dramatic heft to his plainly told tales, which were rooted in folk music but had the grand ambition of musical theater.