JD Souther

Souther's Tour Schedule

Mon11/03/08
Annapolis, MD
Rams Head On Stage http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifTue11/04/08
Falls Church, VA
State Theatre http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifWed11/05/08
Sellersville, PA
Sellersville Theater 1894 http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifFri11/07/08
Fairfield, CT
FTC Stage One http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifSat11/08/08
Amagansett, NY
The Stephen Talkhouse http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifSun11/09/08
Philadelphia, PA
Tin Angel http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifTue11/11/08
New York, NY
Joe's Pub http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifWed11/12/08
Somerville, MA
Johnny D's Restaurant & Music Club http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifSun11/16/08
Toronto, ON
Hugh's Room http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifTue11/18/08 http://images.pollstar.com/icons/new...ns/buytix3.gif Ferndale, MI
The Magic Bag http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifWed11/19/08
Cleveland Heights, OH
Nighttown http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifThu11/20/08
Chicago, IL
Abbey Pub http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifSun11/23/08
Minneapolis, MN
Cedar Cultural Center http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifTue11/25/08
Denver, CO
Soiled Dove Underground http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifWed12/03/08
Houston, TX
McGonigel's Mucky Duck http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifSat12/06/08
Dallas, TX
AllGood Cafe http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifMon12/08/08
Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Brewing Company http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifTue12/09/08 http://images.pollstar.com/icons/new...ns/buytix3.gif Phoenix, AZ
The Rhythm Room http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifWed12/10/08
San Diego, CA
Acoustic Music San Diego http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifFri12/12/08
Santa Monica, CA
McCabe's Guitar Shop http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifSat12/13/08
San Francisco, CA
Noe Valley Ministry http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifWed01/28/09
Tokyo, JPN
Billboard Live Tokyo http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifThu01/29/09
Tokyo, JPN
Billboard Live Tokyo http://images.pollstar.com/icons/dotclear.gifFri01/30/09
Osaka, JPN
Billboard Live Osaka

Nov. 20 Chicago - I'm there!!!

Soda enjoy! :D

I'm wishing and praying and asking JD if he wants to come to Europe.

I sure hope he plays The Last in Love.

Yeh, I'm hoping that too for you!

Or How Long would be also cool!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sodascouts

Nov. 20 Chicago - I'm there!!!

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I'm sure you'd catch it, but I think that Chicago is 11/23. I believe 11/20 is Cleveland.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MikeA

I'm sure you'd catch it, but I think that Chicago is 11/23. I believe 11/20 is Cleveland.

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Cleveland is the 19th.

No, it's the 20th. Minneapolis is on the 23rd. The alignment is just funky in the post. You can check it out on JD Souther's MySpace.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sodascouts

No, it's the 20th. Minneapolis is on the 23rd. The alignment is just funky in the post. You can check it out on JD Souther's MySpace.

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Oh, I believe you! I just cut and pasted that "spreadsheet" type format that Pollstar uses. I posted dates for Jackson Browne too.

I don't know if this will post. I got it in email but I'll try:

If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.

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New Album available now online and in stores

After 24 years, JD Souther returns with his first studio album in twenty-five: IF THE WORLD WAS YOU.

IF THE WORLD WAS YOU is both a bold step forward and a return to Souther's Amarillo, Texas roots, where the young multi-instrumentalist grew up listening closely to Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, and steeped in the improvisational sensibilities of John Coltrane, Thelonius Monk and Miles Davis as well as in the music of country and rock pioneers Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, and Roy Orbison, all of whose influences are evident.Recorded live in the studio fronting a five-piece ensemble, two horns, piano, bass, and drums, Souther has crafted an inventive new musical setting for his characteristically playful and literate musings on life, love, and politics. The work of a musician at the height of his considerable powers, IF THE WORLD WAS YOU is whip-smart, adventurous, seductive, and shot through with the sublime longing that characterizes Souther's finest work. And his voice -- one of the most plaintive and soulful in rock 'n roll -- has never sounded so immediate and so powerful.

IF THE WORLD WAS YOU is the long awaited return of a master singer/songwriter as well as the birth of a new and relevant artist who's creating music that is absolutely essential and entirely his own.

Twenty-five years in the making, JD Souther's triumphant return with IF THE WORLD WAS YOU has most definitely been worth the wait.

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New Tour Dates Added

12/5 - Cactus Cafe - Austin, TX
12/10 - Acoustic Music San Diego - San Diego, CA

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Reminder to Nashville Fans

I just wanted to make sure everyone knew about JD's show today at Grimey's Record Store in Nashville.

The show starts at 6pm. JD will be performing a thirty minute set with his band.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Thanks for your continued support.

roject Daybreak P.O. Box 68424 | Nashville, TN 37206
JD Souther.net is maintained and operated by Project Daybreak

I also got an email about this today from Amazon. I had a listen and I liked it. Too bad he's not touring in my area :-(

So he will be in Austin on 12/5? is that correct? at the cactus cafe.

If so.. Im going!

Speaking of Souther, just found this on YouTube:

JD Souther does Doolin-Dalton

Some different lyrical choices. It's interesting.

If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online.

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Hey everyone,



Great first week thanks to the superb team here and especially to you; all of you. CD's are selling out, we're adding shows, and the two disc vinyl edition (due for the Holidays here) looks great and sounds fat and real...you know; like vinyl.



Here's the first really gone piece of response to the new work. Rich Dutch chocolate art. It used to be panties and poems. On occasion, both. Oh, well. Time passes. Things change. Anyway I love it and thanks go to Marjan Klink in The Netherlands and to her friends who came with her to the show in London last year. We'll see you all soon. It takes time to get around the world but that's where we're going.

I may throw down a little poetry from time to time as it's a more natural and less stilted form of expression for me.

Obviously I couldn't do it without you,
JD

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How nice! I really should get that album!

There is probably another JD Souther thread somewhere with tour dates, but I couldn't find it right off the bat:

Sat 11/22/08 Omaha, NE

Reviews of J. D. Souther's new album and tour continue to be peppered with references to his deep connection to the Eagles. This one is out of a Philadelphia paper. J.D. calls one song on the new album "Henley's favorite"--now I definitely want to hear that one.
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J. D. Souther performs solo at Tin Angel on Sunday with a new album full of gems like the heartstruck, "I'll Be Here at Closing Time," the dripping-in-sarcasm "A Chorus of Your Own," exotic "Journey Down the Nile" and evocative "House of Pride." It's all reminiscent of stuff he recorded on his own or gave to his friends Don Henley and Glenn Frey to sing in the Eagles.

Truth is, Souther's been surviving quite comfortably, thanks, on the royalties for hits like "New Kid in Town," "Best of My Love," "Heartache Tonight" and "Victim of Love" - work that's all over the Eagles' 16-million-selling "Hotel California" and 40-million-sold greatest hits albums.
A heck of an annuity. The guy's also done well with covers recorded by everyone from one-time flame Linda Ronstadt to Roy Orbison (a big influence), Brian Wilson, Jimmy Buffett, Joe Cocker, George Strait, Joe Walsh, India.Arie, Brooks & Dunn, Warren Zevon, James Taylor . . . Yeah, the list just goes on and on. We caught up yesterday in a phone chat.

Q: Do you remember that we met once, eons ago, in the basement of the Main Point? I was a fledgling reporter. We were supposed to be doing an interview. But Ronstadt - then quite a hottie - was sitting next to you, casually scratching your chest with her long finger nails and staring at me with those big doe eyes as we tried to talk. I don't think either of us could concentrate.
A: (Laughing) I'm sure that was so. Boy, did I love the Point. A beautiful place in every way. I felt so at home there that I even looked into buying a house that was for sale in the neighborhood. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't know anybody but the waitresses.

Q: I know you kind of gave up music for a spell for acting in movies like "Postcards From the Edge" and on TV shows like "thirtysomething." What finally got you back into writing?
A: I was in Cuba in 1998 with a bunch of songwriters under the aegis of Music Bridges. We were there to write with Cuban songwriters. I was sitting on the lawn at the Nacional Hotel and I started to write "Rain" [one of the songs on the new album]. That and a couple I'd previously started, like "Journey Down the Nile," now Henley's favorite, became the start of this project.

Q: I was struck by the jazzy, brassy orientation of the arrangements. Have you done stuff like that before?
A: There were some notable jazz players, like Stanley Clarke, on the "Black Rose" album in '76. But back then I was thinking guitars first, not horns. Truth is, this is a continuation of a whole life of music. I started playing violin at 10, then clarinet and saxophone and drums. I was a jazz drummer until I was 22. I never held a guitar until then. But guys like me and Henley - Texas transplants living in L.A. - were infatuated with the combination of country and rock-and-roll being done by bands like the Burrito Brothers, Dillard & Clark and Poco. So I started playing and writing on guitar. It was a lot easier than writing songs from a drum kit.

Q: Weren't you in the Eagles for about five minutes - at the very beginning, when they were Linda Ronstadt's backup band? A: True. Working in a group is not what I was best at. The day I decided I wasn't going to be in the Eagles, I don't know who was more relieved, them or me. I still prefer to make my own music, though I have to tell you, this new effort was such a cooperative venture, with these amazing players, and equal parts of structure and freedom. That's how the best music is made. You can't have one without the other.

Another brief interview with JD Souther:

"Five Questions with JD Souther"

Can't believe I'm seeing him in just a few days!

Thanks for posting that, Soda. I'm very envious, especially as it's such an intimate venue. I'm sure you'll have a fantastic evening. We expect a full report!

Seeing JD Souther two days after the Eagles was a huge contrast - huge production and huge audiences to a one-man show in an intimate venue. Both shows were great!

It was an intimate venue indeed - basically, the back room of a small Irish pub. I'm not sure what the capacity was, but unfortunately, very few people were there. The set up was several small tables around a balcony, some tables and booths on the floor, and about ten rows of folding chairs, ten across. I would estimate it was about a third full. JD asked if it was the cold keeping everyone away - and it was DANG cold. It even got down to 14 degrees with wind chill before the night was through!

When my friend and I got there, the front row only had three people in it, and none of them were in the center (a lot of them were at tables eating)! We plopped down right there, of course! We noted with surprise that we were the only ones there under 40. Odd to feel young at my age. ;)

Still, JD enjoyed himself and said we were a great crowd - he called us the "elite group." lol His show was VERY laid back and casual. He played songs as they occurred to him, saying that he couldn't really remember the set list order. He also forgot the words to one of his newer songs, and asked for someone to bring the lyrics sheet up (I did wonder if that was a ploy to draw attention to his new album, though!)

He had no backing band - just three guitars and a piano. He tuned the guitars himself sometimes before - and in one case DURING a song (not missing a beat while doing it; just kept on trucking). His voice is amazing - just like on the records. He said he prided himself on not having to lower keys like a lot of his colleagues.

The Eagles came up in the context of "How Long," "New Kid in Town," and "Best of My Love," all of which he played. He also played an impromptu segment of "Doolin-Dalton," but not the whole song after teasing us to guess the Eagles song he was going to play next and taking everyone off-guard with the rarity! Regarding "How Long," he said that when Irving Azoff called to tell him that the Eagles were covering it, he replied, "Well, I guess I'll add it back to my setlist then." After "New Kid in Town," he said, "It took a long time to write that song. When we started it, we were writing about ourselves. By the time we finished it, we were writing about our replacements."

He did play "Last in Love," to my delight, saying that he was a romantic as well as a political type - that most of his songs were either about sex or death, lol.

Another rarity was that he did Talking to the Moon! He just sat down at the piano and played it - a stripped down, gorgeous version.

He did several songs from his new album, which fit seamlessly into his set as they have that same kind of classic Souther sound. Also, he started one of them - "Journey Down the Nile" - while in the Hillman, Souther, Furay band in 1973, but "they weren't ready for it." I liked it. I wound up buying his new CD, which he signed for me.

He also mentioned Jackson Browne while tuning, Waddy Wachtel and Jorge Calderon before "You're Only Lonely," and several other folks from around that time.

When he was tuning and apologized for boring us while he did so, someone yelled out "You can tell us a story about the Eagles while you do it!" He just shook his head and said "You can read about that anyplace." Someone yelled out "How about Warren Zevon?" And he said "I miss him," then told a story about how he did a great version of "Simple Man, Simple Dream."

The only sour moment for me was when he started rhapsodizing about Castro. Apparently he started several of the new songs while visiting Cuba with other songwriters such as Bert Bacharach and Bonnie Raitt. Even Woody Harrelson came (did you know that he was a songwriter too?) His words were, "Yeah, he probably did what they say he did - jailed and executed dissenters - but I guess that's what you have to do if you want to stay in power for 50 years." He continued, "He was really charming to us, gave us cigars, took us to a baseball game. We had a great time... he stood a head taller than everyone else, a very distinctive presence..." I was thinking, "How can you, as someone who has sung songs about social protest, be so blithe about protester's deaths, so enamored of their prosecuter?" Luckily he got off of that after about five minutes.

On the positive side, he congratulated Illinois on the election of Barack Obama and also complimented McCain's concession speech. He added that just because the Democrats were in charge now didn't mean we could all relax and assume everything would be fine - they still need to be pushed. He urged us to write our congresspeople when we were unhappy so they knew that if they didn't shape up, they wouldn't be able to "go back to Washington and get expensive haircuts and fancy dinners."

He's quite a talker; very conversational. That's cool though; I like it when they do more than sing and leave. He also had some "audience participation" - he encouraged us to sing "oooh, sweet darlin', you get the best of my love" while he sang over it, harmonizing and improving. Nice!

The songs he performed (out of order - may have forgotten some):
Jesus in 3/4 Time
How Long
Faithless Love
Simple Man, Simple Dream
Silver Blue
Lullaby
Little Victories
You're Only Lonely
If You Don't Want My Love
The Last in Love
White Rhythm and Blues
Trouble in Paradise
I'll Take Care of You
All I Want
I'll Be Here at Closing Time
Journey Down the Nile
In My Arms Tonight
Rain
A Chorus of Your Own
The Border Guard
The Secret Handshake of Fate
New Kid in Town
Best of My Love
Talking to the Moon
Doolin-Dalton (snippet)

As you can see, the show was quite long, and it didn't start until 9:30 (he had an opening act, April Smith, who was quite good). We left there at 12:00, which was brutal for me because I had three hours to drive and a time change to deal with as well. I wound up pulling into a gas station after two hours and sleeping for a half hour because I was so tired. Then, back to work at 9:30!

So, as you guys know, I was really hoping to get my Longbranch Pennywhistle album signed. Well, it happened! He was signing stuff afterwards and I handed it to him. He did a double take when he saw Glenn's signature and paused. "Well, I'll guess I'll sign it by me" (Glenn had signed by his picture on the album). His handwriting is little more than a scrawl, but I think he wrote "Best Wishes, JD Souther." lol He signed his new CD for me, too, and personalized it "To Nancy." I love that!

I also handed him a copy of the How Long video that I uploaded to YouTube - the one that Glenn's kids saw. He was delighted by that because he said he'd never seen it! We chatted a bit about Glenn and Taylor as well because apparently she is doing some kind of school project that involved JD or during which she hung out with JD (I was kind of unclear about that but didn't want to be nosy). I was just thrilled and left very happy! My friend who came with me took a photo of JD and me with her cell phone, and if it comes out I'll post it.

Well worth that excruciating drive!

JD says he'll be back in the summer with a full band. I'll be there!

Wow, thanks for the fantastic review Soda - it sounds like a really special night. I would have loved to have been there.

That's awesome that he did Talking To The Moon. What a treat!

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Originally Posted by sodascouts

So, as you guys know, I was really hoping to get my Longbranch Pennywhistle album signed. Well, it happened! He was signing stuff afterwards and I handed it to him. He did a double take when he saw Glenn's signature and paused. "Well, I'll guess I'll sign it by me" (Glenn had signed by his picture on the album). His handwriting is little more than a scrawl, but I think he wrote "Best Wishes, JD Souther." lol He signed his new CD for me, too, and personalized it "To Nancy." I love that!

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:yay::yay::yay: I am so glad to hear that!!! Now it is complete!!!! I was thinking about you last night and wondering if you would get to actually meet with him and get him to do it!! That is such a special album now. Will you get it framed? :D

I certainly will get it framed! Never thought I'd have BOTH signatures. I was so thrilled!

I'm so glad you enjoyed the show and now have both signatures on your album--quite a feat!
And I can't believe he sang Talking to the Moon--I forgot Don collaborated with JD on that one! That must have been amazing.

Wow, Soda. Glad you had such a great time. That is quite a thing to have both signatures on the album! I had never heard any of JD's recordings before I started following The Border, but I am glad that I have been introduced to him as a singer & not just as a co-writer of Eagles songs. I very much enjoy listening to his voice.

Nice review Soda - sometimes those intimate settings are the best!

Wow, Soda, that's terrific about getting to meet JD and getting his signature on your album.:thumbsup: How cool to chat about Glenn and Taylor as well. It sounds as if it was a great evening, and thanks for your review.

Wow Nanc - That is fantastic that you were able to get J.D.'s autograph on that album. I am going to go out on a limb and say there aren't too many of them around and the few that do exist were probably signed years ago. This is a rare collector's item that you definitely want to preserve. You need to take a picture of it to show Glenn at Pebble Beach if he plays in February.

Glad you enjoyed the show. I would like to see him play as well, but right now he isn't scheduled to play anywhere near my home town. :(

Posted on Tue, Oct. 14, 2008



Tunes for all tastes

By JONATHAN TAKIFF
Philadelphia Daily News
takiffj@phillynews.com 215-854-5960
Rock, soul, jazz and classical are all well-represented with new CD releases this week.
OLD KID IN TOWN: Where's J.D. Souther been the last two decades? In Nashville, living off his songwriting royalties. (Yeah, all those Eagles' covers made him rich.)
Good news is that the guy's comeback, "If The World Was You" (MRI Associated, A-), is a near-perfect project, re-establishing where much of the Southern California country-rock-noir movement came from and how good that genre can still be.
Souther still sounds a lot like old playmate Glenn Frey after a hard night of carousing, with muted horn and piano-vamping arrangements that evoke jazz classics like "All Blues" and another Souther contemporary, Tom Waits.
Several tunes are stamped with his sultry, south-of-the-border rhythms and streetwise lyrics, like "Come On Up," wherein he reminds, "People tell you anything you want to hear/ The truth is always whispering in your ear." Also juicy are his biting appraisals of egotistical women ("A Chorus of Your Own"), his metaphoric example of a life spoiled by self-indulgence ("House of Pride") and well-turned declaration of love eternal, "I'll Be Here at Closing Time."

"Souther still sounds a lot like old playmate Glenn Frey after a hard night of carousing..."

Wow - now that's something I gotta see!!! :lol:

Another interview with Souther. This one's from SignOnSanDiego.com.

Back in the saddle

J.D. Souther took 24 years to deliver a new album. Why? 'I was doing a lot of other stuff' Um, what? Read on ...

By Mikel Toombs 1:01 p.m. December 4, 2008

Although he was only a member of the band for a single afternoon in 1970, J.D. Souther helped define the Eagles with such songs as “Best of My Love” and “New Kid in Town.” His partnership with Linda Ronstadt, at times more than musical, produced the likes of “Faithless Love” and “Prisoner in Disguise.”

Souther, who'd been in a band (Longbranch Pennywhistle) with roommate and Eagle-to-be Glenn Frey, also carved out a career as a 1970s singer-songwriter, with a detour into the not-so-super-group the Souther Hillman Furay Band.

But after his 1984 album, “Home by Dawn,” Souther stayed mostly at, well, home, in the Hollywood Hills. He became visible only as a writing credit on records by George Strait, the Dixie Chicks and once and future Eagle Don Henley.

Souther may have been gone, but he wasn't forgotten. The Eagles reached back to 1972 and his debut solo album for “How Long,” which became a single off of last year's reunion album, “Long Road Out of Eden.”

And now Souther, who performs a long-sold-out show Wednesday at AcousticMusic San Diego, has released a new album. Sophisticated and heavily jazz-influenced, “If the World Was You” raises many questions, starting with, Why did it take 24 years to produce a new album?

“I have no idea,” Souther said by phone from a tour stop in snowy Detroit, where he was born John David Souther 63 years ago. “Probably the question I could answer is: Why did I do it now? And the answer is that the material is there – by that I mean the material that I wanted to sing.

“I was always writing. Henley and I wrote a bunch of stuff in '89 that worked out pretty well. And George Strait had a great record with 'Last in Love' on it in '94 or so. And the Dixie Chicks, everyone knows how many records they sold. They had a song of mine on that 'Wide Open Spaces' album.

“It's not that I stopped writing, I was doing a lot of other stuff. I built a great house in the Hollywood Hills that I loved, and I loved being home there. I had two dogs that I'd rescued, and it was a relief to not be on the road and to not be trying to create whatever I thought the late '80s music was – it wasn't exactly turning me on.

“What I was doing musically was, I just went home to learn to try to play better. I built this house with a great studio in it, I set up both my drum kits, got my horns out and tried to reacquaint myself with being a student of music, which is what I always was.”

Souther had started studying music, and playing drums and horns, as a 10-year-old growing up in Amarillo, Texas.

“My parents were swing kids, my dad was a big-band singer,” he said. “So, we always had lots of those WWII big-band records in the house. We had a lot of Dorsey Brothers, a lot of Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw. And a lot of Sinatra. Both my parents loved Sinatra.”

Souther's love of Frank Sinatra is well-documented. When Ronstadt recorded her album of standards with Nelson Riddle, the story went that she'd been inspired after Souther had played her the aptly titled “(Sinatra Sings for) Only the Lonely,” also orchestrated by Riddle.

“To be perfectly fair,” he said, “(Ronstadt) had spent an equal, if not greater, amount of time playing me the Stanley Brothers, the Louvin Brothers and Jim and Jesse, the Carter Family. She really completed my country-music education.”

Souther's new album is remarkable in that his familiar songwriting voice comes through in a format that's radically different from the country-and folk-influenced recordings in the 1970s and early 1980s.

“I couldn't see the changes, from the inside anyway. From the outside, yes, it's a horn band instead of a guitar band. It's probably just because I got lonesome for horns,” Souther said.

“I had some of the greatest guitar bands in the world – certainly worked with one of the very greatest guitar bands in the world. And when I moved to the country in Tennessee, I got sort of lonesome for guys playing horns, because that's what I played when I was a kid.”

In fact, Souther, now a family man with a wife and two kids who has lived just outside Nashville since 2002, didn't even play guitar when he moved to Los Angeles in the late 1960s. Falling in with Frey, a fellow Detroit native (Souther's family moved when he was 3), and neighbor Jackson Browne, he soon remedied that situation, even briefly becoming a guitarist for the fledgling Eagles.

“I was, for one day. (Asylum Records founder) David Geffen talked us into working up a set,” Souther recalled. “We played a set one afternoon at the Troubadour. And I just remember looking down this line of acoustic guitar players and thinking, I am just the fifth wheel here. These guys do not need me in this band.”

Souther went on to write some of the Eagles' most indelible songs, and in the process seemed responsible for helping to create the band's musical image.

“Thelonius Monk was asked a similar question about how he felt about redefining jazz,” Souther said. “And he said, 'Man, I was just trying to make it sound good.' That's my answer. I had no notions about creating any kind of a niche or being the architect of anything. I was new at the acoustic guitar.”

Souther was more at home, so to speak, when crafting songs for Ronstadt.
“Yes, I didn't live with the Eagles,” he deadpanned. “I don't know that I wrote songs so much for her. We had kind of a collective consciousness together that resulted in great music.

“I always encouraged Linda to write – I don't know why she didn't. I always thought she certainly had the ability. But she had such an astonishing instrument, and she was so good at interpreting songs.”

Mikel Toombs is a Seattle writer.

DETAILS
J.D. SoutherWhen: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.Where: AcousticMusic San Diego, 4650 Mansfield St., Normal HeightsTickets: Sold outPhone: (619) 303-8176Online: AcousticMusicSanDiego.com

Three choice ones
J.D. Souther talks about three of his favorite songs, two he wrote and one from Frank Sinatra's “Only the Lonely.”

Linda Ronstadt, “Prisoner in Disguise”: Souther calls the duet “just about the zenith of our working together.” “We did that three or four times together in the studio live, just sitting across from each other with a guitar. And we didn't think we had it,” he recalled. “We came in the next day and (producer) Peter Asher says, 'You should hear this.' And we went, 'Really? You got it.'”

The Eagles, “New Kid in Town”: “Those guys are the absolute masters of making layered records, where you cut a rhythm track and you overdub and you overdub and you overdub,” Souther said. “We really worked on that song. I bet it took us eight months or a year to finish that song.”

Frank Sinatra, “Angel Eyes”: “The first time Sinatra retired, the last thing he sang was 'Angel Eyes.' If you recall, at the end of the coda where he sings Excuse me while I disappear, the spot(light) closes out on him and that was it. He walks off the stage and, as far as the public knew at that moment, his career was over. I thought that was high drama and perfect.”

– MIKEL TOOMBS

From SFgate.com

JD Souther, the man who co-wrote some of the Eagles' biggest hits, returns with a solo album

Derk Richardson, special to SF Gate
Thursday, December 11, 2008


If it seems like the Eagles and Jackson Browne are the last men (and Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt the last women) standing from the golden age of Southern California country-rock, think again. Although he hadn't surfaced as a performer for two decades, and more than that as a recording artist, JD Souther is quietly reaffirming his position as a key player in a movement that changed the sound of American popular music — not just from the canyons of Los Angeles, but from today's country hit-making factories of Nashville, as well.

A Detroit-born, Amarillo, Texas-raised musician who moved to Los Angeles and started making music with roommate Glenn Frey (living in the same building as Jackson Browne), Souther co-wrote such early-'70s chart-topping Eagles hits as "Best of My Love," "New Kid in Town" and "Heartache Tonight" (as well as last year's Eagles smash "How Long"). Linda Ronstadt recorded Souther's "Faithless Love," "Prisoner in Disguise," "Silver Blue," "Simple Man, Simple Dream" and more. As a recording artist, Souther teamed with Chris Hillman of the Byrds and Richie Furay of Poco in Souther, Hillman, Furay; recorded four albums under his own name; and scored a major hit with the title track of his 1979 album, "You're Only Lonely."

But after recording a duet with James Taylor ("Her Town Too") and the 1984 album "Home By Dawn," Souther retreated from the limelight. While his songs (and co-compositions) have been recorded by India.Arie, Brooks & Dunn, Jimmy Buffet, Joe Cocker, Crosby Stills & Nash, Raul Malo, the Dixie Chicks, Don Henley, Roy Orbison, Brian Wilson, Warren Zevon and others, only this October did Souther release his fifth solo album, "If the World Was You," on his own Slow Curve Records label.

Recorded live in a Nashville studio with five accomplished, jazz-steeped musicians, "If the World Was You" moves fluidly between classic soft country-rock and jazz-flavored songs that tap Cuban music and the blues. The CD cover explicitly mimics the vertical-bar pattern of jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard's classic "Hub-Tones." "Jordan, the designer, and I probably looked at 200 old Blue Note and Prestige jazz covers," Souther explains, "because I have all those records — that's what I grew up listening to."
Like his contemporary Jesse Winchester, Souther has maintained most of the sweet youthful high range of his tenor voice — "I probably owe that to having quit smoking," he says. "I used to go on the road and sing two hours a night and smoke two packs of Luckys a day." His singing and guitar playing will be on naked display when he performs Saturday, Dec. 13 at the Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco, as Souther is performing solo on this first tour in support of the new album.

"I've forgotten how much fun it is," he says. "There's no set list. I can do anything in any order I want — grab a different guitar, sit down at the piano and go wherever it takes me. It's very liberating and also I think most people find it's very audience-friendly and intimate. I think it makes the audience feel really comfortable to know that they're likely to hear any song from my whole career."

The evening before our conversation, with Souther nursing a "full-on travel cold" with tea and honey in the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas, KQED-TV in the Bay Area screened the 1988 special "Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night," for which Souther played guitar, sang and organized and arranged the backup vocal section of k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt and Jennifer Warnes. "It must be pledge drive time again," Souther commented with a laugh. "It's the number one fundraiser for PBS stations."

DR: How are the songs from the new album being received on tour?
JDS: Perfectly. It couldn't be better — sometimes with greater attention than the older ones. It's really gratifying. I didn't really have any misgivings about it. I'm a lifer. I've been playing music since I was 10, so it's all just one long curve to me.

When did you decide to make a new record?
I suppose the simplest answer is, when the material was there. Not that I wasn't writing all that time in between, because I was, but I hadn't stumbled upon the right set of circumstances to feel like I had a lot of material that I wanted to sing. Meeting these musicians had a lot to do with it. As the band came together, four or five of the songs that weren't finished came together, because I knew exactly how we were going to play them.

Was there a pivotal song in the making of the new album?
Probably "Rain," which I started in Havana in 1998. I was in Cuba for a week. Actually, "The Border Guard" might have been a little earlier, but starting that song "Rain" was what really set this bunch in motion.

Do songs come to you all at once or do you have to work on them for a while?
I don't have any particular methodology, to tell you the truth. "Silver Blue" took exactly the amount of time to write that it takes to sing it, and "Prisoner in Disguise" took about a year and a half. So you just never know. I'm always writing something. There's always some structure sitting around someplace. There's always things on the computer, things scratched on score paper, legal tablets full of lyrics. It's never not buzzing around me all the time. I'm always doing it. But I think about three years ago I just got fascinated with the idea of being a bandleader again. I had a couple of really great guitar bands, but I've never had a band like the bands I grew up playing in. I was sax player and a drummer when I was a kid. I was a jazz drummer most of my life. I just got lonesome to hear those sounds, that timbre, to try to write in those keys that guitar players don't write in — E flat and B flat. I don't know why it presented itself. Poetry comes up when it can.

The album's live feel — its spaciousness and warmth — sounds like it was recorded very differently from the pop of the 1970s and '80s.
It's quite different, yeah. There's a lot of space in the middle. For one thing, if you take the incessant sawing of rhythm guitars out of the middle of record, it leaves quite a sonic gap. At first, for some people, it's a little discomfiting to have this sort of convex shape in there. But I frankly love it. Only three songs, I think, even have the snares of the snare drums turned on. So there's quite a big amount of sonic noise that's taken out of the middle, and I just love the sound of it. The template for it was the shape of the sonic curve of those '58,'59 to '61,'62 Miles Davis albums. I thought, well, no one's really done that with a vocalist's record, and I thought these are the songs to do it with.

Although I've read one reference to Tim Hardin in reviews of "If the World Was You," I'm reminded even more of Fred Neil.

Well, out of Fred Neil sort of comes Tim Hardin, and those guys, particularly Timmy, were really an important linkage between jazz and acoustic guitarist/songwriters. He played pretty simply. It's not like he was a man of a lot of chords or intricate voicings, but he had a very beautiful, relaxed, back-of-the-beat feel, and a beautiful way of sliding in and out of notes. Tim Hardin was big influence on me.

When did you become a singer as well as a songwriter?
When I started writing songs. I never even held a guitar until I was 22. I was a drummer and a sax player. I think that's just a serendipitous confluence of events and personnel. There was a lot of acoustic music going around. I had just moved to California, and I didn't know any jazz guys, and I wasn't getting any work as a drummer, and there were acoustic guitars all around, and somebody carelessly left one unattended in my apartment for a few weeks, and I found I could do something with it.
I grew up with singers. My father's mother sang opera. My dad was a big band singer. I can't remember a time there wasn't music in the house, so I grew up listening to great songwriters — George Gershwin, Cole Porter — and my grandma was playing opera for me before I was 3. I don't think I ever thought of growing up to be anything other than a musician. There really wasn't a plan B. Well, a kind of a distant plan B was to be a Formula One driver, but there really wasn't an entry point.

When you moved to L.A. and fell in with Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne, what was the shared musical aesthetic?
We were all fascinated with this sort of interface of traditional country music and whatever you want to call it — our generation's hippie rock 'n' roll. The year before we began to make albums, we spent most of the year at the Troubadour doing open mic nights and really low-paying opening gigs. We were broke, so we were in the bar all the time. That year of 1969, almost every singer-songwriter passed through there. I saw Joni Mitchell and Laura Nyro and Tim Hardin and James Taylor and Kris Kristofferson, Elton John, Carole King, the [Flying] Burrito Brothers. Then at the end of the summer, CSNY played their first gig at the Greek Theatre, so it was a university of songwriting.

When did you write "How Long"?
I wrote "How Long" probably in 1972, when we were in Vietnam and I was very unhappy about that, and now country radio's playing it and we're in two wars again.

How is it that it came to the fore 35 years later?
Actually, Glenn's wife Cindy liked it. I think the story is that she and Deacon, Glenn's son, were watching YouTube and were looking at an old Eagles' concert from Holland and "How Long" was part of the set. And she said, "Glenn, what is this?" and he said, "That's an old song that JD and I wrote." And she said, "I think that's a classic Eagles hit." So that means I owe Cindy one. She was right.

What's your perspective on the music business, which has changed so much since what one might call the heyday of Southern California country-rock and singer-songwriter folk in the 1970s?
Well, I didn't do bad last year. I've never done badly as a writer, really. The Dixie Chicks album was a pretty big record too, the same year I was in Cuba — '98.

Maybe being a writer whose songs get recorded by others insulates you a bit from the fickleness of the industry.
I don't know about that. I think it's absolutely unpredictable. I think probably if you've got it down to some sort of predictable science, it's just at that point that it ceases to be art. I guess a couple of times I've known things were hits even when I writing them, but for the most part I'm just scuttling along in the dark trying to make things sound good.

When did you leave L.A. for Nashville?
I've never really left L.A. I moved to Nashville in 2003, and I lived there for a while, and I went to Ireland for a month and ended up living there for six months, and I met the woman who's my wife now and we moved to Nashville. But I tell you, there's a small part of me that feels a little tingle anytime any part of the West Coast is mentioned. Part of me is just at home anywhere between Mexico and, god, all the way up to Mendocino. I know California really well, and I love it. One of my best friends has a ranch between Petaluma and Point Reyes, and that's just some of my favorite countryside anywhere in the world. And there's that ocean, man. There's just nothing like that ocean. Don't get me wrong, Nashville's a nice town, it's a great place to be; we live out in the country and we have a beautiful place, but I do miss that ocean.

JD Souther performs Sat., Dec. 13, in the Noe Valley Music Series at the Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez St., S.F., 8:15 p.m., $25. April Smith opens. For more information, call (415) 454-5238 or click here. For JD Souther's itinerary, click here.

Nice read.

Thank you Cindy Frey!! Glad she found that old clip!

So true, TBF - and thank you Soda for putting that clip up on YouTube for Cindy to find. :wink:

But Glenn did not co-write How Long. Why has J.D. stated that Glenn told Cindy 'that's an old song that J.D. and I co-wrote'?

Finally got a photo of that signed LP:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b1...misc/LPSig.jpg

That is an amazing treasure!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ive always been a dreamer

So true, TBF - and thank you Soda for putting that clip up on YouTube for Cindy to find. :wink:

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Wow Soda, maybe this belongs in the 6 degrees thread! And thanks for posting the pic of the autographed album - fantastic! I wonder how many of those are around?

I was thinking the same thing. Good grief Nanc, you have what must be a very rare piece of memorabilia. The only other ones around are probably owned my Glenn and J.D.'s mothers. :wink: Well, on second thought, Irving probably has one locked away in a vault somewhere! :thumbsup:

Soda, that is just way too cool! :thumbsup:

I didn't know you went to see JD. Did I miss your review somewhere?