Bill’s Leon Russell book is phenomenal. What a fascinating, inspiring, and perplexing character he was. Good god! The author talked to seemingly EVERYONE who ever spent 5 minutes with Russell, and every story fills in a puzzle piece. Just the woven thread of huge Tulsa gang of soulful, intuitive musicians who migrated to LA at the end of the 60s and de-slicked, deflowered and gospelized the music scene is well worth the long read. Highly recommended to anyone even marginally interested in the life of an undersung, but incredibly influential musician from the golden age. PS: Don’t do drugs.
Bill J told me that over Covid he caught many of these sources during lockdown that might have otherwise avoided him, he said it was like having a conversation with his record collection. Hope you like the interview.
Loved the interview, Tim. And your enthusiasm reminded me how much I enjoyed that read. I feel like I now know EVERYTHING about a fascinating and mysterious figure. I had a memorable and somewhat unsettling experience sitting across a table from Leon and his much happier doppelgänger John McCuen back in the day, at Emmylou and the Hot Band’s very first gig at The Palomino Club, Nov ‘75. Thanks for all the great work, Tim.
Bill’s Leon Russell book is phenomenal. What a fascinating, inspiring, and perplexing character he was. Good god! The author talked to seemingly EVERYONE who ever spent 5 minutes with Russell, and every story fills in a puzzle piece. Just the woven thread of huge Tulsa gang of soulful, intuitive musicians who migrated to LA at the end of the 60s and de-slicked, deflowered and gospelized the music scene is well worth the long read. Highly recommended to anyone even marginally interested in the life of an undersung, but incredibly influential musician from the golden age. PS: Don’t do drugs.
Bill J told me that over Covid he caught many of these sources during lockdown that might have otherwise avoided him, he said it was like having a conversation with his record collection. Hope you like the interview.
Loved the interview, Tim. And your enthusiasm reminded me how much I enjoyed that read. I feel like I now know EVERYTHING about a fascinating and mysterious figure. I had a memorable and somewhat unsettling experience sitting across a table from Leon and his much happier doppelgänger John McCuen back in the day, at Emmylou and the Hot Band’s very first gig at The Palomino Club, Nov ‘75. Thanks for all the great work, Tim.