Biography

Iconic songwriter’s solo debut—expanded!

Before he was co-writing #1 Eagles hits like “Best Of My Love,” “New Kid In Town,” and “Heartache Tonight” with Glenn Frey and Don Henley, JD Souther formed Longbranch/Pennywhistle with Frey when they were roommates. Their downstairs neighbor was a fellow by the name of Jackson Browne, who took Souther to audition for his boss, David Geffen, who had recently formed the Asylum Records label. After hearing two songs, Geffen told Souther to “go make a record.” And, that’s exactly what he did.

John David Souther arrived in 1971, and was immediately a critical success and established Souther as a, if not the songwriter to watch. (He would later be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame 42 years later…)

Co-produced by Souther and Fred Catero (who had recently finished Santana’s Abraxas), John David Souther featured 10 originals—all stunning, and many of which would be covered by artists like Bonnie Raitt (“Run Like A Thief”) and his old friends the Eagles, who released “How Long” as the first single from their 2007 comeback and multi-platinum smash, Long Road Out Of Eden.

To reintroduce this album, Omnivore has added 7 previously unissued bonus tracks, expanded artwork and liner notes by Scott Schinder taken from new interviews with Souther himself.

John David Souther was, and is, the perfect introduction to the singer and performer behind the songs. Still relevant over 4 decades later, John David Souther shows the emergence of one of music’s most influential artists.