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Below is a partially rewritten article from 2012 that I'm reposting today due to the sad passing of singer-songwriter and actor, J. D. Souther. John David Souther has always been a much loved songwriter despite the fact he didn't have an extensive catalog of his own recorded music. There are only seven solo, studio albums in his name since 1972, but he always had a lot of success penning tunes for others, most notably the California soft-rockers of the 70s. Souther wrote for and with many of music's top flight acts including Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Glen Campbell, The Chicks, India.Arie, Roy Orbison, Warren Zevon, Brian Wilson, and especially Eagles. He also played in the Souther, Hillman, Furay Band during the same decade with Chris Hillman (The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, and The Desert Rose Band) and Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield and Poco). Souther's reputation as a songwriter rather than a pe

Diana Krall has always been underrated as a pianist. I've always loved her playing more than her singing, and that's saying a lot. On  Live In Paris , a twelve song album with eleven tracks recorded in concert at the Paris Olympia in November and December 2001 Krall is fully utilizing both of her superlative talents. Krall's band includes outstanding guitar work from Anthony Wilson with John Clayton on bass and Jeff Hamilton on drums. They're accompanied by Orchestre Symphonique European conducted by Alan Broadbent on "Let's Fall In Love" and "I've Got You Under My Skin." This concert mostly features straight-ahead, mainstream jazz and ballads from the Great American Songbook plus a couple of newer tunes.   Krall gets to show off her piano chops by churning up a great groove on "East Of The Sun (And West Of The Moon)" and "Devil May Care," proving that she can hang with the best jazzm

If you're a fan of inward looking folk-rockers with appealing but earthy baritone voices you need to look no further than  Lessons , David Luning 's new album. Luning is one of those unfortunate singer-songwriters who was born too late. He missed the genre's heyday of the 1970s through the 80s - that time in pop music history when albums like Lessons actually made the charts. Sometimes, they were even rewarded for their efforts with a top forty hit or two. On Luning's third long player he ponders his existence, and seems to view himself as a bit of an outlaw. The opening track, "Every Day I Am" conjures up images of The Grateful Dead's "Friend Of The Devil." Luning sings,  "I can't let them catch me, I'm a wanted man" and " if they catch me I’ll be fearing for my life . Every day I Am."   The very next track, "Down Below," is where the protagonist believes he'

Rick Murnane isn't a household name. I've just discovered him, but if you're a fan of Marshall Crenshaw - who hasn't released anything new in several years - you may discover that the Massachusetts native is a fine substitute. Murnane is a pop music veteran who makes vintage rock.  Summer Fun  is his sixth album. There is nothing progressive or alternative about this short, nine song set that clocks in at only 27:13. It's a mixture of hook filled power pop, garage rock, and British Invasion influences spiced with a little dose of country thrown in for variety. For several years Murnane released one new song online every summer that he always removed on Labor Day. Now, these cool little tunes are back and available at Bandcamp where you can name your own purchase price at the time you download it. Murnane explains where these songs came from. " While digging around in one of my external backup drives, I rediscovered

Just Backdated (Melody Maker: Seven Years In The Seventies)   - the brand new memoir by former Melody Maker writer and editor Chris Charlesworth - is a well-conceived, honest, first person history of what it was like to write about, befriend, and travel with the biggest bands in the world from 1970 until 1977. For four of those years Charlesworth was the weekly British music magazine's American editor. He worked briefly in Los Angeles before transfering to New York City for the remainder of his time here. Among the many acts Charlesworth toured with were Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and his favorite of them all, The Who, a band he saw in concert twenty-seven times. He shared airplanes, taxis, limousines, restaurant meals, and bar tabs with the most famous names in rock. In many ways, the book is really a truelife account of Cameron Crowe's 2000 hit movie,  Almost Famous , that is a fictionalized version of Crowe's life on the roa

The late R&B singer Al Wilson (1939 - 2008) had the same name as a hated car salesman who built his new Pontiac dealership on our town's beloved little league baseball fields despite organized protests from neighbors around the same time the star released a unique single called "The Snake." I wanted to hate the record but I couldn't, and I was one of the people who helped send it to #27 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1968. The great sixties vocalist, Johnny Rivers, produced the record and released it on his own Soul City label. Wilson - who reminds me of Lou Rawls - is better known for "Show and Tell," his #1 hit from 1973. Overall, he sent four singles into the top forty. The song's storyline is very similar to one of Aesop's ancient fables, The Farmer and The Viper . This fable tells us that even if you're kind to someone who is inherently evil they will eventu

I wasn't at Woodstock but here are my thoughts on the historic festival. I was only sixteen that summer of 1969. I didn't have a car or my driver's license yet, and I had no other means of getting to Max Yasgur's farm in rural Bethel, NY. Nor did I know anyone from my hometown or high school who ventured there for the infamous three day event. Even if I had been able to catch a ride with someone neither one of my usually easy-going parents would have allowed me to go. I don't blame them. It's fine that I wasn't there. I would have been miserable. I've never been a fan of standing in the rain or wallowing in mud, not bathing, going without adequate bathroom facilities, a lack of food, smoking mind altering plants or ingesting harmful chemicals. I was too straight for Woodstock but I was deeply fascinated by the whole 60s counterculture movement as a sideline spectator. A lot of it had to do with the music. I've

I was among the many visitors who went to see the now closed Paul McCartney photography exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum featuring 275 pictures the former Beatle took with his 35mm Pentax camera from late 1963 through early 1964. As it turns out I didn't have to take the train to Manhattan's Penn Station and then the subway to New York City's most populous borough because all of the photos shown at the exhibit can easily be found in 1964: Eyes Of The Storm , a perfectly executed, hard cover, coffee table book McCartney released in 2023. The star had a front row seat to everything that was happening to him and his newly world famous bandmates, so his photos were taken with an entirely personal perspective - one we rarely saw - as opposed to those with journalistic or business motives. It all began when the photos were discovered in the ex-Beatle's pe