We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
The story goes that JD Souther was offered a job with the Eagles and turned it down as he considered himself more of a loner and didn’t think he would be a good fit in the band. That said, he collaborated with them over the years co-writing a number of their hit songs.
Souther did release his first solo record in 1972 after being part of a folk-rock duo called Longbranch Pennywhistle with Glenn Frey. Here they are doing the Souther song “Kite Woman” which would appear on the solo LP.
Frey would appear on the album singing harmonies and it’s uncanny how much they sound alike. The album also includes the song “How Long” which the Eagles would include in the live sets back in the day and which they won a Grammy for on their 2007 reunion LP “Long Road Out Of Eden”
This record shows Souther’s way with words and is a good example of the country-rock, singer-songwriter flavor of the day.
Stellar cuts include the aformentioned “Kite Woman”, “The Fast One” , “Some People Call It Music” and the bluesy “White Wing” whcih includes some solid harmonica from Joel Tepp.
The album also features a crack band including Ned Doheny, Bryan Garafalo, Gary Mallaber, Fred Catero and Gib Guilbeau.
Souther was one of the first signees by David Geffen to his new label, Asylum, which would come to include Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne and the Eagles. The LP didn’t do particularly well and Geffen would team Souther up with Chris Hillman and Richie Furay for a couple of solid country-rock efforts in the mid 70’s. he would later return to his solo career and is still touring today.
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