“We wanted to get these three albums put out close together so that they could be felt as a progression and a representation of the time.” “We went into my massive tape vault and pulled a bunch of stuff,” Souther reports.

They’re all also loaded with a number of bonus tracks, demos, and live takes. (Oops, did I just bury the lead?)Īnd now, thanks to Omnivore Records and label head/reissue co-producer Cheryl Pawelski, we get to revisit Souther’s own recorded canon with the triple-threat CD reissuing of his first three heretofore hard-to-find solo albums: John David Souther (1972), Black Rose (1976), and Home by Dawn (1984). And yes, you’re probably also aware of his uber-catchy, Roy Orbisonesque single “You’re Only Lonely.” In short, JD Souther could very well be the unsung VIP of American music. Not only was Souther at the forefront of the singer/songwriter movement that emerged in the early 1970s, but if you sift through some prime album credits, you’ll find he’s co-written some of the biggest songs of the modern rock era, including the Eagles’ “Best of My Love,” “New Kid in Town,” “Victim of Love,” and “Heartache Tonight.” On his own, he wrote “Run Like a Thief,” which Bonnie Raitt hit out of the park on 1975’s Home Plate, and he was also a chief collaborator of onetime paramour Linda Ronstadt, having produced Don’t Cry Now (1973), penned “Faithless Love” (on 1974’s Heart Like a Wheel), and then sang with her on the title tracks for Prisoner in Disguise (1975) and Hasten Down the Wind (1976). (More on that in a bit.) By now, your wheels are turning as to what you personally know of Souther’s CV. Souther also has an uncanny knack for making a melody all his own, and he has a critical ear for just how good the finished product has to sound. I’m sure bits of it come out in everything I write.”

“But it’s just at certain times, not all at once. “I can’t consciously put my finger on it, but I can remember probably every piece of music I’ve ever heard,” he admits. Photo by Just Loomis.Ĭonsummate singer/songwriter JD Souther pours a lot of history into every line he writes and records. Rhapsody in Blue: Souther and model Alyssa Sarno, getting closer in 1985.

Vocals for hasten down the wind