First of all, because there were no true southern Californians in that group except Jackson Browne, and he was from Orange County. Glenn is from Detroit, Henley’s from Texas, I’m from Texas, Linda’s from Arizona, Waddy (Wachtel) was from New York, Kooch (Danny Kortchmar) was from New York, James (Taylor) was from outside Boston, and Warren Zevon was from Mars. It was a really incredibly diverse bunch of people that moved there from everywhere else. The common denominator is that we were all hungry at the same time. We were all playing these open-mic nights at the Troubadour, hoot nights, and we became friends and had a real shared ethic about music being good, and about its being good being more important than it being temporarily popular. We tried to write songs that we felt would last a long time. At least that was my motivation.
Love your writing Bruce, and the depth and breadth of your knowledge. Linda Ronstadts soulful covers of and James Taylors duet with JD Souther were key features of the soundtrack of my search for self-in-relationship years. Thank you!
Thank you for this lovely, sad obituary. I've been following JD's music since the 1970s and was fortunate to see him perform numerous times (including World Cafe Live, and the xpoNential Fest). His songwriting and singing were so poignant and powerful. Linda Ronstadt's covers of his songs did them justice. It's ironic that he was about to tour with Karla Bonoff -- another fine singer/songwriter active since the 1970s. Ronstadt covered her tunes beautifully, too.
He was a craftsman. No one wrote about sadness and longing and love better than JD.
JD Souther quoted in Variety
First of all, because there were no true southern Californians in that group except Jackson Browne, and he was from Orange County. Glenn is from Detroit, Henley’s from Texas, I’m from Texas, Linda’s from Arizona, Waddy (Wachtel) was from New York, Kooch (Danny Kortchmar) was from New York, James (Taylor) was from outside Boston, and Warren Zevon was from Mars. It was a really incredibly diverse bunch of people that moved there from everywhere else. The common denominator is that we were all hungry at the same time. We were all playing these open-mic nights at the Troubadour, hoot nights, and we became friends and had a real shared ethic about music being good, and about its being good being more important than it being temporarily popular. We tried to write songs that we felt would last a long time. At least that was my motivation.
Love your writing Bruce, and the depth and breadth of your knowledge. Linda Ronstadts soulful covers of and James Taylors duet with JD Souther were key features of the soundtrack of my search for self-in-relationship years. Thank you!
Thank you for this lovely, sad obituary. I've been following JD's music since the 1970s and was fortunate to see him perform numerous times (including World Cafe Live, and the xpoNential Fest). His songwriting and singing were so poignant and powerful. Linda Ronstadt's covers of his songs did them justice. It's ironic that he was about to tour with Karla Bonoff -- another fine singer/songwriter active since the 1970s. Ronstadt covered her tunes beautifully, too.
Sad news indeed and thanks for an excellent playlist. The only song I missed was 'White Rhythm and Blues' with its beautiful harmony by Phil Everly.