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What a great interview--thanks! J.D. has many of the qualities that attract me to Don, including intelligence, a sharp sense of humor, and a thought-provoking way of expressing himself. No wonder J.D., Don and Glenn have remained such good friends and have collaborated so well together through all these years.
I completely agree, DF.Quote:
Originally Posted by DonFan
Found these with the eagles pictures on Backstage.. they deserve some recognition...
http://tickypages.com/picturebin/bac...backstage1.jpg
http://tickypages.com/picturebin/bac...backstage2.jpg
Wow. Now I really have to raid this website! Great, rare shots. I especially love the second one :heart:
This was just posted on JD's Myspace. Interesting read!
*************************************************
Monday, March 16, 2009
J.D. takes Souther-ly route back to stage
J.D. takes Souther-ly route back to stage
by Larry Rodgers - Mar. 15, 2009
The Arizona Republic
J.D. Souther, who wrote some of the Eagles' biggest hits, as well as
several songs for Linda Ronstadt, is considered one of the architects
of the Southern California country-rock sound of the '70s.
He played with the Byrds' Chris Hillman and Poco's Richie Furay in the
Souther Hillman Furay Band and has recorded five solo albums.
But, starting in 1985, Souther disappeared for 23 years as a performer.
He says the hiatus - which ended late last year with a solo CD, "If the
World Was You" - was a way to become a better musician and songwriter.
"I wanted to just stay home, practice, read and write," says Souther, 63, who called Tuesday from his farm near Nashville.
The new CD, which comes after recent songwriting collaborations with
Dixie Chicks, Bonnie Raitt, George Strait, Brian Wilson, Jimmy Buffett
and Glen Campbell, is a satisfying mix of rootsy rock, folk, jazz,
Latin and funk. Souther performs Friday in Phoenix.
Question: You lived in Japan, Ireland, New York, California and
Colorado over the past few decades. What made you settle in Nashville?
Answer: We're never permanently relocated to anyplace. As much as I
love LA, I had wanted a change, and the traffic was killing me. I had
some friends here (Tennessee) and wanted to live in the country for a
while.
Q: You mentioned reading during your hiatus. Did any particular books or poetry help you evolve as a songwriter?
A: Some of the American authors I have liked to read most for the past
20 years are friends of mine: Jim Harrison, Tom McGuane and Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, who is the father of American Beat poetry.
Tom has been an influence as far as economy and wit, and Harrison has
such facility with words. . . . Ferlinghetti has been writing great
poetry since before I was in high school.
Q: What types of music helped your songwriting evolve?
A: Oddly enough, I was listening to a lot of the same records before I
did this album that I was listening to before I cut my first
(self-titled) album in '72, which was a lot of late-'50s, early-'60s
Miles Davis Quintet and a lot of (country singer) George Jones.
George's voice reminds me a lot of Miles' trumpet tone.
Q: You recorded the new CD "live," with a five-piece ensemble including horns. Was there room for improvisation?
A: Of course. There's no point in hiring this kind of players if you're not going to let them play.
Q: You've recently played in concert with that ensemble, as well as
solo, as you will be in Phoenix. Do you enjoy the solo setting?
A: The great thing about playing alone is that it doesn't spook people.
They're pretty sure that they are going to hear some of their favorite
songs. I just wander around and play whatever comes into my head. It's
much more relaxed, and I get to chat with the audience and tell some
stories.
Q: Your album-closing song, "The Secret Handshake of Fate," tops 12 minutes and seems quite philosophical.
A: Almost all these songs end with something about personal
responsibility, because that's the rough bit about, not just American
civics and social life, but probably all of Western civilization now.
We seem to have abandoned the idea that the social responsibility of
one or even a small group of people can make a tremendous difference
and that your conscience is a valuable aspect of your character that
has to be nurtured.
"The Secret Handshake of Faith" is about trying to be cautious about
being so sure you're right. That's what most wars are predicated on -
two groups of people who are absolutely sure they're right.
Q: Is it intriguing to watch the country-rock sound you helped create make its way into Nashville in such a big way?
A: I'm not sure what "modern country" is. It certainly isn't very
rural. It has some accent, so I suppose it's just suburban music that,
a lot of it, originates in the South.
Q: It's interesting that when the Eagles decided to try to break into
modern-country radio in 2007, they released "How Long," a song you
wrote.
A: I wrote it in 1972, so I don't know if I do (have an ear for newer
country). It seemed to work. Those guys always make great records of my
songs.
Q: It seems you've stayed in touch with the Eagles' Don Henley, playing on some of his solo albums.
A: None of us sees each other much anymore. We all live in different
towns and have very different lives. We have families. Don and I
probably (stay in touch) more so because we e-mail each other. We still
have the same sick sense of humor.
Q: You've done some acting in such films as "Postcards From the Edge"
and "To Cross the Rubicon" and on the TV series "thirtysomething." Are
you still pursuing it?
A: It's kind of hard to do from a farm in Tennessee. But if somebody
called me with an interesting part and I had time, I would certainly do
it. As hard work as it is . . . I like doing it. It's a great way to
lose yourself and experience some other facet of your personality and
your connection with humanity.
Another J.D. Interview from Myspace. He talks a lot about writing with Glenn and Don in this one! Great Read!!
Acoustic Storm Feature:
The Return of J.D. Souther
By Larry Coffman
While J.D. Souther may not be the face of rock and roll, he certainly has formed part of its backbone.
Though he has found moderate success as a vocalist, songwriting has been his forte, starting in the early 1970s. He has written or co-written songs for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and other major artists. Included on his resume are mega-hits like “Best Of My Love,” “New Kid In Town,” “Heartache Tonight” and "Heart of the Matter."
Currently Souther, 63, is in the midst of a tour to promote his CD “If The World Was You,” which was released in October and is his first vocal effort in 25 years.
Souther moved from the Los Angeles area to a farm in Tennessee in 2001. The Acoustic Storm recently spoke with him via telephone from Nashville.
ACOUSTIC STORM: What was the inspiration for “Best of My Love?”
J.D. SOUTHER: Glenn found the tune; the tune I think came from a Fred Neil record. I don’t know who wrote the first lines; we wrote it in London. We were working on that album ("On the Border") and came to London. The three of us were writing it and were on deadline to get it finished. I don’t know where we got the inspiration. I can rarely tell you where I get inspiration. I’ve been making music since I was 9. When I’m writing music it’s something that’s swirling around in my head or happens to live on scraps of paper or a score paper that’s sitting on my piano. Sometimes it’s something new. Sometimes it’s something that triggers an investigative search into something that’s a little bit old. There’s something on this new album that actually started in 1972. That’s a long non-answer. I have no idea where the inspiration for that song came from.
A.S.: You have written songs with Don Henley and Glenn Frey. How does the dynamic change when three songwriters are working together, as opposed to a solo effort?
JDS: Usually all three of us are writing all lyrics and music. "New Kid in Town" is probably a bit different because I had the chorus done for almost a year before I showed it to Glenn and Don. I don’t know that we had the first line, but I think we had the bridge changed. Glenn was a real proponent and great student of Motown Records and the Philadelphia sound – Gamble and Huff records. So Glenn always had the beat. So, that was mine and Don and Glenn and I sat up a lot of nights and banged on the lyrics. They were at Criteria Studios in Florida and they called me up and said there were still a few holes in the lyrics. So I came down and we finished that and “Victim Of Love.” It’s always a joint effort. I can’t speak for them, but as much music as I had in my background, it was mostly jazz and orchestral music. I wasn’t exposed to country music until I was almost grown. I’m a much better song writer today for having written with Glenn and Don, Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon. That group of people in southern California in the early ‘70s—we were working as hard as we could to become good writers.
A.S.: Where do you get your inspiration for song writing?
JDS: (Writing as a team) speeds things up a lot. When you’re writing with good writers like Jackson or Warren Zevon or Don and Glenn you’re so critical of each other that you don’t let anything pass that doesn’t feel like it’s A+. I like writing in a group. I don’t do it very often, there aren’t many groups I feel comfortable with. But with that bunch of guys, and that song that James Taylor and Waddy Wachtel and I wrote -- there have been a few others. It’s pretty rare that we’re bringing out the best in each other. We were all trying very hard to impress each other in a way, like young guys do. And also we had some pretty phenomenal women around like Joni Mitchell. Linda Ronstadt and I were together and she had the best ear for songs I’ve ever heard. She just was absolutely dead-on when she picked a song. She knew what was good and what wasn’t. And (the late) Judy Sill was a great writer who was pretty far ahead of us at the time. I think she was the first act that David Geffen signed to Asylum Records actually. Jackson was incredibly patient. We used to live in houses across the street from one another, and I would hear him banging on the same phrase for hours, just trying different stuff and making sure it really said what he wanted it to say. And it was inspirational because I’m much more of a – not slipshod – but one who kind of opens up and lets things pour through and kind of goes back later and revises. All those people were an inspiration to me, as well as all of the people ahead of us – kind of the graduating class ahead of us.
A.S.: How did “Heart Of The Matter” come about?
JDS: “Heart Of The Matter” began with Mike Campbell, Tom Petty’s guitar player. He’s an extraordinary writer, and he was also the writer on “Boys Of Summer,” and a lot of other stuff , as well, for Petty’s band. The first I heard of that song was Mike Campbell’s demo that Don played for me. And it was perfect. Don and I just banged on it for a long time and Don came up with that “forgiveness” thing. It’s not only the hook but the essential theme of the song. But we were looking for something to tie it together. We kept asking each other, “What’s it about, what’s the point of the song, what’s the central theme, what’s the heart of the matter?” And that was it. That song is very much inhabited by Don. I think it’s one of his greatest vocals. He did stuff in the vocal booth that I had never heard before.
A.S.: How did you get involved as a singer as well as the writer of Ronstadt’s ballad “Prisoner In Disguise?”
JDS: It’s hard to say, it took so long to write. It took about a year because it’s really what they call “through composed,” meaning I never went beyond the next part that was written. I had the first verse and two lines of the second verse for about five months. And I just carried it around and played it for people. I think I finished the second verse, and there was a line in it that I didn’t think was done. I played it for Joni Mitchell, and she said, “That’s great!” And I said, “I know but if I could just get something to go in that spot where it says ‘my my.’” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. And she said, “No, that’s a great part.” So I got myself to the bridge, and that sort of worked its way to the next part. I was looking for a particular chord – something unpredictable that would take it some place. I don’t remember if I was thinking about Linda and I singing it together because I don’t remember singing it without her. She was in the studio making a record, and I had cut it with the Souther (Hillman) Furay Band. I think we missed it and hadn’t got the essence of it. It wasn’t a great band song. Linda and I just sat across from each other in the studio and sang it live. It just worked great – it was just as easy as breathing.
A.S.: Have any of your songs contained autobiographical material?
JDS: Well, Faulkner said all fiction is autobiographical. But I wouldn’t tell you what. I don’t talk about my personal life anyway. There’s a very thin line between my life and fiction, but I’m not going to be one to say where it is.
A.S.: What has the success of the Eagles’ recording of your 1972 song “How Long” done to spark a rebirth of your career?
JDS: Absolutely nothing. My record was done eight months before I knew they had cut it.
A.S.: Is there anything that ties together the songs on “If The World Was You?”
JDS: The simplest answer is the material was there. There was a lot of stuff that sounded like it went together. And I had been sort of lonesome for some horns and piano, which I hadn’t utilized very much on records. I wanted to make a quintet or sextet record that was intimate enough and also that was sonically human enough that it would have that effect that those late ‘50s and early ‘60s Miles Davis records had. They’re quiet enough in the middle sonically that when someone speaks or when there’s a horn, oboe or my voice – there’s room for that musical moment to happen. And there’s enough support for it that everyone’s playing with conviction. There are some really skilled players in this band, so it works as an ensemble. It’s a powerful team. It came together because I was lonesome for that kind of music. I was going out to clubs and listening to jazz trios and quartets and sort of accumulating this little team of exceptional players because I hadn’t really played in these combinations since I was in high school. I just wanted to hear that kind of music, and I wanted to be a good band leader. We did
exactly what I intended to do.
A.S.: Was the album designed to be an all-acoustic production?
JDS: Oh, I have no idea. If it is, it was mostly subconscious. There are a couple of songs on there that are pure flights of romantic fantasy. I like every song to have humanity. It’s a point in my life when I wanted to make what to me was a soul album. In all the tracks everybody’s telling the truth. I’m just trying to make it sound good. I don’t have any thoughts about carving out new territory. It’s an unusual sounding record for a songwriter, but I really just wanted to make it sound good.
A.S.: What is working for you in Nashville that wasn’t working in Los Angeles?
JDS: Everything worked fine for me in southern California, there just got to be too many cars. There was too much time spent in the car. I still have a place in California, but I want to live somewhere else for a while. Although, that said, the fact is I really like Nashville. It’s a very friendly town and it’s very easy to live in. There’s lot of musicians here, and we’ve got a gorgeous place in the country. I miss that ocean – I miss the West Coast.
A.S.: What’s on tap after this tour is over?
JDS: Another tour. We’ve got an album to sell. It’s a big world, we’ve got to get around it. I’ve already done most of America and Japan. We’ve still got to go around half of America again. We’ve gotta go to U.K. and Ireland and do some dates in northern Europe, then come back and do the West again, go back to Europe and tour some more. And that’s without having gone around the East Coast twice, Australia and New Zealand or southern Europe. We’ve got a lot left to do, plus there’s the show we did at the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville with the whole band, all six of us. It was just a great show. We shot it in HD to be made for DVD. So I have to take a month off to do that at some point. It’s going to be a busy year.
A.S.: Do you have a favorite song on the new album?
JDS: It’s very hard for me to choose. It would probably have to be “House Of Pride.” It’s got a little Aaron Copeland and Dave Brubeck, a little “Turkey In The Straw.” It’s got a little of everything in it, and it’s kind of an apocalyptic story. But, actually, the one I like listening to the best is “The Secret Handshake Of Fate,” which is the last song. It’s where the album leads to. But it’s very long –12 minutes or something. Of the songs that are normal length I think I like “Journey Down The Nile” best.
A.S.: Of all the songs you’ve written, do you have a favorite?
JDS: It also would be hard to pick. You mentioned “Prisoner In Disguise” – of all the songs I’ve written, I thought that musically was the most complete. It had more in it, I thought, than a lot. It’s a big, long looping circle that doesn’t feel like a circle until it gets back to where it started. But, that said, I usually say my favorite is “Simple Man, Simple Dreams.”
A.S.: If you hadn’t been successful as a songwriter or gotten burned out on it, what might you have tried?
JDS: I’ll never get burned out on songwriting. It never occurred to me to be burned out on it. I never stopped doing it. I stopped making records for a while because I didn’t hear what I thought was a really interesting full studio record of new things. I had done enough guitar band records to last a while, even though I had the best of guitar guys like Waddy Wachtel, Danny Kortchmar, Lowell George played on one, (Joe) Walsh played on one. I took some time off because I wanted to. I make an album every 20 years or so whether I need to or not.
A.S.: You have had acting roles in movies and TV shows. Could that been a viable career alternative?
JDS: The acting stuff came because someone asked me. I acted when I was a kid. I was an actor when I was in high school and college. I never thought of it much in L.A., although anybody who likes movies fantasizes about being in them. But great people asked me to be in their movies.
Steven Spielberg asked me to be in a movie, Ed Zwick asked me to do this arc of episodes on “thirtysomething” and Mike Nichols asked me to be in “Postcards From The Edge.” There’s absolutely no reason to say no to people of that quality when they ask you to be in their films. I had an agent, but I don’t know that I really read for any of those roles. I may have read for the one in “thirtysomething,” although I think Ed just wanted me to do it. I think I read a page or two. I left and then my agent called and she asked me how I did. I said, “I sucked, it was terrible.” She said, “That’s funny, because just you got the part.” So much for self-evaluation.
A.S.: Since you had a songwriting relationship with Frey and Henley early in
your career, did you ever have a chance to join the Eagles?
JDS: Yeah, I had a moment. I think I was in the band for one day. David Geffen thought it that would be “four songwriters, good; five songwriters better.” So we put together a set and played it at the Troubadour in the afternoon for the management team. I just remember them looking down the front line and seeing four of us bashing away at stringed instruments. And, to be frank, they didn’t need me. They were a perfectly well-rounded, self-contained band. I figured we were going to keep writing together anyway, so I think we all got the best of that situation, the best possible outcome. Frankly, when I said, “No, I don’t think I really want to be in the band,” I’ve never seen four guys more relieved. I think they were more delighted than I was.
Hey Rhonda, those were really interesting interviews...thanks for posting. I see that he will be coming out East eventually, so hopefully I will be able to catch him on tour. Those of you who have seen him made it seem worthwhile!
Thanks for posting that. Interesting to hear how songs like Best Of My Love and New Kid in Town came about, even in generalized terms.
I finally read these interviews and checked out the pics. Great stuff--Thanks Rhonda!!!
That was a very interesting read - thanks ticky.
Yippeeee!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by ticky
I enjoyed that, too. Thanks ticky.
According to JD's site and Pollstar, he's scheduled a few more dates in America:
May 27 Londonderry, NH at Tupelo Music Hall.
May 28 New York City at the City Winery
May 29 Natik, Massachusetts at the Center For The Arts
June 4 Kansas City, MO at Knuckleheads Saloon
June 6 Dallas, TX at the Sons of Hermann Hall
June 7 Austin, TX at Threadgill’s World HQ
June 10 San Diego, CA
June 11 San Juan Capistrano, CA
June 13 Los Angeles, CA
June 14 Santa Barbara, CA
June 15 San Francisco, CA
June 17 Denver, CO
OOH, have to look into the City Winery...haven't heard of that spot yet.
exclusive live download!
Sign up today for the Official JD Souther mailing list and receive your exclusive free mp3 download of the Souther/Frey/Henley penned classic hit, New Kid In Town, recently recorded by JD at the Belcourt Theater in Nashville, TN.
Don't miss a great opportunity to download this previously unreleased live classic for a limited time only.
By signing up for JD's mailing list you will be the first to receive the latest information on JD's upcoming tour dates and special offers.
Click here to receive your download!
JD's on twitter now!!
http://twitter.com/JDSouther
and HE's following ME! how cool is that? *G*
WOW --Rhonda how cool is that?? I love that! How'd that happen?
I guess when I posted the free download for his song that he had posted on Myspace, somehow it got back to him or whoever does his Twitter, and he added me to thank me! *G* pretty cool! *happy happy*
So cool! I wouldn't mind him stalk... er, following me.
You are One of only Four he's following! Pretty elite company! But then, you are a pretty elite gal!
Awe gawrsh, Thanks Mikey!
Here's his latest interview he posted on twitter
The Newtown Bee- Click on Features
there's also an audio interview!
Ticky, I still say he's just after your cousin! :nahnah:
Today I found this article
Rocker is right back on song after all these years
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/...hese_years.php
He hasn't made an album for a quarter of a century and, like a schoolboy desperately trying to account for his tardy homework, he's toying with a variety of explanations. "I'm making up different answers for everybody," says J D Souther, whose last record was the somewhat overcooked Home by Dawn, released in 1984. "I think it was probably a psychotic break from the reality of being a recording artist." Really? "I don't know, it sounds as good as any reason."
Well, just how do you explain an absence of 25 years? A protracted move from Los Angeles to Nashville and a smattering of acting and soundtrack work doesn't quite fill in the gaps. Largely, it's been a matter of professional priorities. With only five solo albums to his name, Souther has always been a songwriter first and a recording artist second. Not only has he written with and for Warren Zevon, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt et al, he also composed songs such as New Kid in Town, Best of My Love and Heartache Tonight with the Eagles, while turning down a place in the band.
"My report cards from school always said, Does not work well with others'," he laughs. "I don't want to hang on to anybody's coat-tails." His subsequent spell in country-rock "supergroup", the Souther- Hillman-Furay Band, also proved unsatisfactory. He describes the experience as "six guys going in different directions. You couldn't have had more disparate personalities. We were set up, like an arranged marriage, and I was a hothead. I didn't know how to be in a band."
Clearly not one of life's joiners, Souther will nevertheless forever be associated with the astonishingly febrile southern California scene that sprang up in the early 1970s, spawning not only the Eagles but also the likes of Joni Mitchell, Browne and Taylor. Despite gently mocking their collective output as "precious, oh-my-God-my-sensitive-heart s***", Souther seems content enough to have been an integral part of it all.
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"They're great writers and friends, and it's a time I've really not seen repeated by any group," he says. "I can't say that life was hard for us, but work was hard because we were all obsessed with doing it better than anyone else. There was a very competitive edge."
Souther was able to immerse himself in the mainstream (as well as the Eagles, he wrote, recorded and duetted with Ronstadt throughout the seventies, when she, too, was selling millions of records), and yet instinctively he seems to gravitate towards the margins. He formed an intense alliance with cult singer-songwriter Judee Sill, who wrote her classic song Jesus Was a Cross Maker after Souther left her - "She came around, played it to me and said, It's about you, you ******!'" - and then later died from a drug overdose.
"We were a couple of odd ducks," he says. "We were madly in love, but I thought she was more highly evolved as a songwriter than any of us, by far."
He's still in contact with many of his peers. "I see Glenn Frey hardly ever, but Don Henley and I e-mail, and I was with Jackson Browne recently in Norway at Bergenfest," but, at 63, Souther is living very much in the present.
His new record, If the World Was You, is a considerable achievement. Although nothing on it suggests he's spent the past quarter-century radically rehoning his country-rock modus operandi, the addition of horns adds a breath of Gil Evans's cool jazz to the conventional band format, while elsewhere there are Cuban rhythms, wah-wah trumpets, blues riffs, tales of bruised love and several songs that already sound like standards. And he's still moving forward, describing the semi-improvised "word jazz" of the 13-minute closer, The Secret Handshake of Fate, as "the favourite of all my songs - it's where I'm going next".
The album is the sound of one of America's most accomplished yet understated songwriters once again hitting his stride. His voice, too, has never sounded better. With hindsight, Souther felt Home by Dawn was muddied by the production values of the era, and this time he was determined to make an ensemble record that didn't rely on technical trickery. "I'm happy with this album, I like what it does," he says. "I really wanted to make a record where we go into the studio and play it the way we wanted to hear it. I just wanted to give everybody a chance to have some input. It has dynamics. It doesn't come at you all at once like a rock'n'roll record."
Part of the reason the album took so long is that the writing process has always involved a lot of time spent "in a room just groping around". Some of the songs date back to a visit to Cuba in the late 1990s where Souther wrote the song, Rain, which became a springboard for planning a new album. But it was slow work.
"I have so many pieces lying about waiting for the next thread to fall into place, and now and again I get on a roll, look up and see the pattern," he says. "Then I can whittle out the rest of the piece. It's always in the back of my mind that I need to get it finished, but at what cost to the song?
"It's meandering in a sort of pleasurable way, like walking at night."
It's obvious that Souther isn't a typical ageing rocker. He's "addicted to papers and books"; while in the UK his idea of a perfect day out is to visit the British Museum and gaze longingly at the Bach manuscripts. "They're works of art, and the music is fabulous. It's inspiring to see what can be done with just a pen, a piece of paper and a harpsichord."
A classicist by nature, his high water-line for what can be achieved as a songwriter has remained constant for nearly four decades. "Before I made this album I was listening to exactly the same music I was listening to before I made my first album in 1971: Miles Davis, Hank Williams and George Jones. Just for clarity."
Clarity isn't something he lacks. A question about the state of the music industry gets short shrift - "what industry?" - and he can be entertainingly irascible. Like many Americans, however, Scotland is his soft spot. His mother's family are Finlays from Invercauld, and he has "happy memories of Kippen and Fintry. At Loch Lomond, I dropped to my knees and wept".
It may be the closest he has ever felt to truly belonging. Born in Detroit but raised in Texas, Souther relocated to Los Angeles in the late 1960s but eventually found he was "beat to death with the traffic". Home is currently a farm outside Nashville, but he doesn't seem to be settled, contemplating another move to the wide, open spaces of northern California or Montana. Even now, it seems, he has little desire to follow the herd. "I always feel I'm homesick for a place I've never seen," he sighs. "There's some gipsy in me that I can't quite shake."
Sounds like the cue for a song.
If The World was You (Rhino) is released today.
hehehe PM.. I wouldnt doubt it *G* THATS why he keeps asking me "Where's Susan?"
*G* this was on twitter today.. nice live interview video
NBC San Diego.com Interview with J.D. Souther it's a pretty good interview.
Another interesting article:
JD Souther Goes It Alone in O.C.
Writer of several of Eagles' big hits plays solo acoustic show.
Thanks for that, Soda. I would so love to see JD live. The last couple of sentences made me wistful!
Somehow missed this article from the Daily Sound:
J.D. Souther interview
By STEVE LIBOWITZ — June 12, 2009
J.D. Souther’s last solo album before “If the World Was You,” which was released last winter, came out 25 years ago. But such pedestrian things as time and money don’t hold the same level of import for the Texas-raised singer-songwriter who helped fashion the El Lay country-rock sound back in the early 1970s.
Souther, who plays Soho on Sunday night in a double-bill with quirky, topical singer-songwriter Jill Sobule, hobnobbed with the likes of future Eagle Glenn Frey (they shared an apartment together in Echo Park) and Jackson Browne (who lived downstairs), eventually collaborating on some of the Eagles’ biggest hits, including “Best of My Love,” “Victim of Love," "Heartache Tonight," and "New Kid in Town."
But he turned down joining the supergroup in order to pursue the Souther-Hillman-Furay band (with former Byrd Chris Hillman and Poco’s Richie Furay) as well as a solo career.
Now back on the road for a second leg of a national tour promoting the “If the World Was You,” Souther talked about he new record and his career over the telephone earlier this week.
Q. OK, you know I have to ask: why 25 years between albums? How does somebody go that long without needing to make a record?
A. Oh, I played music during that time. I just didn’t make any studio albums. I made a lot of music. But let’s ask the question I’d be willing to answer, since you’re not a trained professional psychiatrist: Why now? And the answer is, because the material is there. I started writing in earnest along these lines in 1998 on a trip to Cuba and the end result is this album.
Q. So is there a thematic link for you?
A. Mechanically I tend to write song in sets of three, like novellas. But I couldn’t tell you what prompts them. It takes that many songs in one vein to get what I want out of it, to get the subject covered. Like on my first solo album, that was true, there were groups of three songs that were related to each other. And on “Black Rose” period, there was “Faithless Love” and “Doors Swing Open” and “Prisoner of Love” – which Linda (ronstadt) and I did on her album – were a sort of gloomy novella.
Q. But you were a lot more prolific back in the early days.
A. No I never was. You’ve probably heard most of the songs I’ve finished. I have hundreds of songs in pieces on legal pads and scratched on score paper, or in the computer or old cassettes. There are always things sitting unfinished on the piano. I’ve got more yellow legal pads than staples.
Q. Why didn’t you finish them?
A. I can’t really say. It’s like when you have a big studio of canvasses. Some you walk away from right away, others at different times, when you think the timing is right. Some times you’re tapped on shoulder and just know it’s done. Other times you abandon it, it’s just not there. With any work of art, it’s never really finished, it’s just abandoned.
Q. does it feel different with the new songs under your belt?
A. It’s always different. But I’m not a particularly nostalgic person. I always like what I’m doing at the moment best… This part of the tour was supposed to be with a trio, but the timing was off. But it turned out better, just me and a bunch of Gibson guitars and grand piano. Just doing it alone makes it more audience friendly. They don’t have to have any doubts that they’re going to hear songs from throughout your career.
Q. Do you still enjoy playing your old songs?
A. Usually yes. With very rare exceptions. Except the fast songs, which are harder to play. I don’t play them all the same every night, anyway. I’ve always like the way Bob Dylan runs his tours, and Van Morrison’s the same – you’re never sure what you’re going to hear. It’s just what that artist is going to do that night. There’s a little risk involved. I like that element. It works for me. I think people are delighted to see things that are happening spontaneously. For me it needs to be fresh every night. I’m just trying to do the best I can do with each song.
Q. Do you still like to sing your classic songs people know from the Eagles? I mean, do you have to take yourself back to relate to what you were thinking and feeling when you wrote them?
A. Look, I’m a lifer. I’ve been playing music since I was 9. I grew up in the school orchestra. And English lit classes. It’s not mechanical, but it’s what I do. I can’t fake it. If I feel like singing something that night, there are all sorts of reason. I like the chemistry of what happens when you put yourself into it. A little bit of anxiety before you go on is good. And being present in the middle of each song is the key….. There’s a million ways to get pulled off the cushion, but only one way to stay on it.
Q. You’re described as one of the architects of California country-rock. Does that seem accurate to you? How did the scene develop?
A. There were some powerful musicians who also happened to be working in similar circumstances at same place and same time and we had enormous effects on each other. Particularly with my writing, it was (the late singer-songwriter) Judee Sill and Jackson Browne. Although I would not be as good a writer as I am without having spent hours and hours thrashing things over with Henley & Frey. We just spent so much time working things out together.
Q. Did you guys have any idea at the time that what you were creating would be as influential and popular as it was?
A. I’m going to tell you what Thelonius Monk was said to an interviewer who was asking him about his influence on pianists: We were just trying to make it sound good. You can get a sense a song has resonance, and that people might relate. I think we did know about “New Kid in Town” and “Best of My Love” after they were done. But it really was just about trying to make good music. It didn’t really matter to me who was gong to sing them. It was just about trying to write songs that would last.
Q. Of course the Eagles got filthy rich and hugely popular. You turned down joining the band. Why? Any regrets?
A. I just didn’t want to do it. The day that I told David Geffen that I didn’t want to be an Eagle, I think they were more relieved than I was. They had a perfect band with those four guys and Don and Glen had a vision for that band from Day One which was different from the vision of what I wanted to do to.
Q. Does it mean something special for you now when you tour through Southern California?
A. I love it here. You can take the guy out of LA but you can’t take LA out of the guy. The first thing I always want to do when I get here is get my feet into the ocean. There’s nothing like the big Pacific.
Q. So will it be another 25 years before we have the next new JD Souther album?
A. No. The songs are all done, and I’m already working on the one after that.
Thanks for posting, Soda. I always love reading these interviews.
JULY 7, 2009
Here's a copy of the eMail I received this morning. I'll be in a meeting unfortunately, but some of you may be able to listen in!
http://e2ma.net/images/buttons/fwdbutton.gif
http://e2ma.net/userdata/25288/assets/emmhdr.jpgGreetings Friends and Fans,
Tune Nashville's WPLN (90.1) Live In Studio C this Tuesday 7/7 (11am/cst) to hear a special in-studio performance from JD Souther, featuring special guest Chris Walters.
For those of you who are not in the middle Tennessee area, you can listen online by clicking here. Also, visit the Live In Studio C website prior to the broadcast to stream or see pictures from the performance.
Pictures and streaming will only be available for the week following the broadcast.
Thanks for your support,
Team Souther
Project Daybreak P.O. Box 68424 | Nashville, TN 37206
JD Souther.net is maintained and operated by Project Daybreak
No fresh news, just some shameless gawking. I came across this while I was searching for... er, JD Souther... and can I just say - yum! Something very Don-ish about this, don't you think? :drool:
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...utherdogs2.jpg
Now that is one very gorgeous picture!!! Wonder how old it is. Great find Lou!
Willie, according to Wikipedia, JD was born November 2, 1945 so he'll be 64 years young in a few months. See I even did the math for ya! :wink: That means he and Glenn were both born in Detroit almost exactly 3 years apart.
And thanks for posting that Troub.
Thanks Dreamer but I was actually wondering how old the picture is, not JD. :hilarious:
Oh :doh: Willie - upon further review, you did say "it", didn't you? Oh well, I learned something here even if I didn't help you out one little bit. :lol:
Just got an announcement in my email. JD's got a new Live Album coming on October 6th called Rain! YAY!!! also he's receiving the Golden Note Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers at the ASCAP Country Music Awards on October 19th.
Congrats JD!
Excellent! I wonder which songs he'll include? Can't wait to hear more!
Congrats to him! Glad that he is getting the recognition.
this was posted on his web site this morning...
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JD Souther releases first live recording - 10/6
http://my.musiccitynetworks.com/doma...full_73376.jpg
On October 6th, JD Souther will be releasing his first ever live recording, 'Rain'.
The digital only release will be available on itunes, and feature songs from JD's past and present including, You're Only Lonely, House Of Pride, and New Kid In Town.
The live concert, recorded at the historic Belcourt Theatre in Nashville, TN will include solo performances as well as feature many of the great artists that helped create the sound for JD's most recent album 'If The World Was You'.
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Cool!!! I wonder who all the special guest artists will be!!
Thanks for posting! I can't wait to see what the track list will be!
I think my favorite JD song is "Go Ahead and Rain"....
kind of the Beach Boys meet the Eagles at Roy Orbison....
super lush... we used to do it in our band... but a change in membership messed up the harmonies... his voice has such a wonderful character....
his duet with LR on Prisoner in Disguise is spellbinding.