J. D. Souther Dies at 78

[Pink Freud]

I read his obit with decidedly mixed feelings. He was a Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame songwriter with a beautiful voice, featured in his big hit "You're Only Lonely" and alongside James Taylor in "Her Town Too".

He gave me one of the best radio interviews of my life, a solid live 30 minutes on the phone despite lightning strikes that necessitated two very patient callbacks. He was performing that night at the Museum of the Musical Instrument in Phoenix, then two nights later in my town, Prescott.

When he brought his show to the beautiful Prescott (AZ) Elks Theater four years ago, though, he lost a lot of fans. He didn't come to the stage when announced. When a second announcement came 20 minutes later, it took him 5 minutes to get to it, and it quickly became apparent why. My associate at the Elks Theater said one word: "Patron". As in tequila.

His Elks Theater concert meandered all over the place with some of his song intros droning on for 15 minutes, becoming disjointed non sequiturs about politics, fame, and his friends in the SoCal country-rock royalty. After two watch-checking hours he took an intermission, and only about 1/3 of the audience returned. Even I didn't stay for its entirety, since my wife was waiting in the car.

No cause of Johm David Souther's death has been announced, though he appeared recently to be in good enough health for a new tour starting next week in Phoenix. I was so hoping to catch him in concert again, hopefully sober.

But I'll always have that wonderful, warm interview and many great songs to remember him by.

[edwin drood]

J. D. wrote, played guitar and sang harmony on this fine song from Linda Ronstadt's excellent #1 album, Heart Like a Wheel.

And as Willie Nelson once said, "Either you had a crush on Linda Ronstadt or you never heard of her."

https://youtu.be/NGmUYlsXTD4?si=_eO2jw5xIKFq1zHU