John David “J.D.” Souther is one of those names music fans know well, but sometimes aren’t sure why.
Souther — born in Detroit but moved young and was raised mostly in Amarillo, Texas — is a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee who’s co-written hits for the Eagles (“Best of My Love,” “New Kid in Town,” “Heartache Tonight” and more), Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt and others. He was in the band Longbranch Pennywhistle with the late Glenn Frey and was part of the all-star Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. He’s also released eight albums of his own and has appeared in “Thirtysomething” and “Nashville” on TV and in the film “Postcards From the Edge.”
Souther, 76, has returned to the road to play solo shows, spotlighting his songs as well as some personal favorites by others and telling stories — and rest assured there are no shortage of those….
- Though he “mellowed and then rotted” during the pandemic lockdown, Souther says by phone from his current home in New Mexico that he felt it was important to get himself back into live performance as soon as possible. “I fear if I don’t start, I might never do it. “I’ve got to start doing it sometime, if I’m gonna get back on the horse completely. I didn’t do what some people did, which was stay home and write an album or work on a novel or work out until they were buff — all the smart things you do if you’re confined to quarters. I just stayed home and read books, watched movies — most of which I can’t remember.”
- Planning shows is always a challenge, Souther says, to balance what he knows the audience wants to hear and songs, many by other writers, that he likes to play beyond his hits. “I usually stray off into some Duke Ellington and Mose Allison. I might do a Hank Williams some nights. I used to always do a Fats Waller song. I just like to do something new. After you play something 2,000 times it’s really hard to find something fresh in ’em. I have to remind myself not to act like I’m sick of them. Jimmy Webb said, “Listen, man, at this point we’re so old they’re standards. Just…sing ’em and love ’em.” He’s right, so I’m gonna largely just do songs people want to hear.”
- Among those memorable songs is “New Kid in Town,” which was a NO. 1 hit for the Eagles in 1977. “I had the chorus of ‘New Kid in Town’ for about a year, and when we were having our pre-‘Hotel California’ (album) meeting, they were like, ‘Hey, we need a first single? What do you got?’ I played ’em that (song) and Glenn went, ‘(expletive), great chorus! Let’s write some verses to it, a story.’ So we did. It wasn’t about anybody in particular; It was just us approaching our 30s and feeling older than all the kids who were coming up. There’s always a new kid in town.”
- “Heartache Tonight” from 1979, which also hit No. 1, added another Detroiter (Bob Seger) to the team of Souther, Frey and the Eagles’ Don Henley. “Glenn and I were sitting at my house listening to some Sam Cooke songs one day…walking around my swimming pool, smoking and snapping our fingers, and we just sang that first verse — no instrument. And we wrote two verses and thought, ‘Damn, I think we have something here that’s pretty good.’ We couldn’t think of a chorus…and I think Glenn had Seger on the phone and played it for him, then he picked up the phone and Bob sings the chorus and (Frey) was like, ‘OK, you’re in.’ He calls me and says, ‘How do you feel about four writers on this song instead of three?’ I said, ‘Well, that’s cutting the money (share) thin,’ and he goes, ‘Yeah, but not if it’s a real big hit.’ I said, ‘That’s true. Who’s the fourth.’ He said, ‘Seger,’ and I went, ‘OK…’ The next time I actually heard it was over the radio.”
- Despite his track record, Souther says he seldom know if songs will be a hit or not when he’s writing them. “There have been a couple of times, but not until they’re already in progress and you can kind of feel it. I knew ‘You’re Only Lonely’ was a hit years before I cut it. I kinda felt the same way while we were writing ‘New Kid in Town.’ I knew that was gonna be a hit. But generally you’re just fly fishing. You hope you catch a little ripple in the stream and there’s a fish in it, but there’s a lot of sort of aimless casting and experimenting. It takes a certain longing to really get it done.”
J.D. Souther performs “All the Hits, Some of the Stories” on Tuesday, March 15 at the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave. Audra Kubat opens. Doors at 7 p.m. $40. 248-544-19991 or themagicbag.com.
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