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- Dixie Lullaby
- Stranger in The Strange Land
- Roller Derby
- This Masquerade
- Hummingbird
- Roll Away The Stone
- Lady Blue
- Tight Rope
- Delta Lady
- A Song For You
Before Russell decided to make his switch to Americana permanent, he was already giving us a taste of what was to come on Dixie Lullaby. A freewheeling, bar room blitz built around Russell’s drawling vocals, a piano, and not much else, it’s got Southern comfort down to a T.
Ultimateclassicrock.comhas described Stranger in the Strange Land as one of Russell’s best ballads. Considering his prowess in that particular area, that’s no mean small claim, but it’s far from unjustified. Using a title borrowed from Robert A. Heinlein’s famous novel, Russell builds an exquisitely crafted tune that serves as an exploration of the...
Like a lot of his contemporaries, Russell was heavily influenced by Little Richardgrowing up. In 1972, he reached back to those early sounds to craft the deliciously raucous Roller Derby. It might sound like a typical piece of Southern rock on the surface, but it’s pure rock and roll at its heart, with a verve and a pace that even Chuck Berry would...
Despite his gruff southern persona, Russell could be sweet. On Lady Blue, he’s at his sugary best, creating what All Music describesas one of the finest wedding songs of the era. This Masquerade flips the coin and looks at what happens after the honeymoon period has ended. It’s tender but cutting, taking a moody, unsentimental look at the slow disi...
In fairness, B.B. King did a better version, but there’s still an awful lot to be said for Russell’s original cut of Hummingbird. His vocals are as distinctive as ever, leading the charge as the song marches from its tender, bluesy opening to its exhilarating, gospel-infused climax. It’s not necessarily the most lovely voice in the world, but that ...
After making its debut on Russell’s self-titled 1970 album, Roll Away the Stone got a second life on the 1972 triple-disc live album, Leon Live. If the studio version was good, the live version was better, catching Russell at his most freewheeling, roof-raising best. It sounds less of a song than it does a revival, with Russell doing his best impre...
When Russell wanted to go tender, he went tender. Lady Blue caches him in a particularly romantic mood. The lyrics – direct and to the point as always – are the opposite of the song’s grumpier musical cousin, This Masquerade. Whereas This Masquerade captures the bitterness of the end of a relationship, Lady Blue captures its first flush. It’s a war...
In the middle of cutting Carney, Russell ran into a problem – he still had space to fill on the album but was fresh out of songs to fill it with. As he started to pack up and leave the recording studio, inspiration struck in the form of Mary Hopkins’ Apple-era recordings with Paul McCartney. The end result was Tight Rope, a jaunty piece of ragtime ...
As Joe Cocker was turning Russell’s Delta Lady into a timeless standard in 1969, Russell was still figuring out if he wanted to be a sideman or the main event. By 1970, he’d decided to give it a bash. His self-titled debut is a treasure trove of classics, Delta Lady being one of them. Written about Russell’s then-girlfriend Rita Coolidge, the song ...
Of all the songs Russell ever wrote, A Song for You is perhaps his best remembered. A painfully impassioned plea for clemency from one lover to another, it’s since been recorded by over 200 artists, including Ray Charles, who earned a Grammy Award for it in 1994, and Donny Hathaway, whose gospel-inflected interpretation is, of all the cover version...
Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and roll, [1] country, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, southern rock, [2] blues rock, [3] folk, surf a...
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Jan 26, 2023 · Photo by Robert Knight Archive/Redferns. Throughout his 60-year career, genre-defying composer Leon Russell made songs that became standards. Here are 10 songs he wrote for others.
- Staff Writer
- 3 min
Leon Russell - piano (9-11) Sonny Curtis - vocals (9-11) Jerry Allison - vocals (9-11) Stephen Stills - guitar (11), vocals (11) Duane Allman - guitar (14,15) Disc Three. Eric Clapton - vocals (1-4,6-16), guitar, dobro (6) Carl Radle - bass; Jim Gordon - drums (1-5) Bobby Whitlock - piano (2-5) George Terry - guitar (6,8-16), vocals (6)
Russell was born in Austin, Texas, on November 1, 1948. The sixth in a family of nine, Calvin Russell spent his first five years virtually behind the counter at Sho Nuff Café, where his father Red cooked and his mother Daisy was a waitress. At twelve, Calvin took up guitar and joined his first group, The Cavemen.
