Two weeks ago now I wrote a post dedicated to the late great highwayman Kris Kristofferson. At 88 I have no doubt he lived a long full life, so although it was sad he passed, you also have to have a little respect for the life he lived. I certainly hope I make it to at least 88.
If you go back and look at that post, you will find that one of Kris's main talents was that of a songwriter. Today, for this #threetunetuesday sponsored by @ablaze and some other fine folks, I am going to touch on another great song writer who we recently lost.
You may not know the name JD Souther, but I would almost bet you know at least one or two of the songs that he wrote. JD was born in 1945 and he just recently passed on September 17, 2024. I'm actually a bit ashamed of myself that it took me this long to highlight such an influential artist.
Especially given the fact that he is a Michigan boy just like me. I didn't know this, but according to Wikipedia, he was born in Detroit, MI just a couple hours down the road from where I live. Though born in Michigan, he was raised in Amarillo, TX, which I think shows in the sound of his songs as you will see in a little bit here.
In his earlier years as an artist, JD moved to Los Angeles and became friends and roommates with another young artist named Glenn Frey. Again, according to Wikipedia, they performed together as a folk duo in the early 70's named Longbranch and Pennywhistle.
JD's influence is probably most recognized with the iconic band The Eagles. He wrote or co-wrote many of their most famous songs like "New Kid In Town" that I shared above. He also had a hand in their hits "Best of My Love", "Heartache Tonight" and "How Long".
In fact, the Eagles used to be a backing band for Linda Ronstadt before they branched out on their own and when they did they offered JD a spot in the band.
JD was a long time collaborator with Linda Ronstadt and Glenn Fry once joked that JD would have probably been one of the most successful solo artists in the world if he hadn't given all his songs to Linda and The Eagles.
Probably one of his most famous collaborations was with James Taylor on the song "Her Town Too". This song has always been kind of special to me. I can't really say why, it just has a haunting story to it and the way that they deliver it is really well done.
Coming from a small town, I can really appreciate the idea of being with someone for a long time and then suddenly not, but still having to share the same space. Even the part in the song about how they had to split up their friends is kind of interesting. I've actually kind of been in that scenario and having the ride the line between the two groups is not fun.
I think part of what I like about this song is that it is so real and true to life in a lot of respects. JD didn't have a ton of luck when it came to love himself. He was married and divorced several times through the years.
When I was much younger, I probably would have gotten this "You're Only Lonely" confused with "Only The Lonely" By Roy Orbison. The fact is they are a vaguely similar to each other and the way they are delivered is also kind of the same. If you had asked me who sings "You're Only Lonely", I probably would have said Roy.
I think this song is one of the few songs that JD kept for himself and was actually
able to get on the charts topping at something like #4. The sound definitely shows off that Texas vibe that I was talking about earlier.
If you dig into JD's catalog of songs he wrote or had a hand in writing, I think you will be really surprised. Probably one of my favorites that I didn't share here would be after the Eagles took a hiatus and Don Henley went solo. "The Heart of the Matter" is one of my favorite Don Henley songs and it was co-written by JD Souther.
JD's songs have been sung by some of greats from John Waite, to Crosby, Stills & Nash, Glen Campbell, and Conway Twitty.
If you have never heard of JD before, I highly recommend you dig into his work. At the very least, you will get to listen to a lot of Eagles music, and there is never anything wrong with that!
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