Possible Weather
Artist: JD Souther
Label: Sony
ASIN: B0000025GT

JD Souther is a pretty anonymous character in the stratosphere of superstars where he resides. An integral part of the Californian sounds of the early seventies, he lived with Linda Ronstadt, hung out with Jackson Browne and wrote massive hits for The Eagles. Though he threatened the charts with his album You're Only Lonely, it is the covers that have made him his fortune, and unless you're the anorak that some of us are who reads all the songwriting credits, you might never have heard of him. In a few weeks' time, one of the biggest releases of the year will feature him prominently, but once again, anonymously, as his song "How Long," from his 1971 debut album becomes The Eagles' first single since 1979! The big push to make Souther himself famous was in the launch of a super group to challenge Crosby, Stills and Nash, when David Geffen teamed him up with Richie Furay from Buffalo Springfield and Poco and Chris Hillman from the Byrds; it failed miserably. Indeed, Possible Weather is his first release for over two decades and is a limited edition EP to sell at gigs and give a wee taster for a full length album in the spring of 2008. He told us at a recent concert in Belfast that only one of the songs would be on that album as it is on the EP, another couple would be on it in a different arrangement and one would be limited to the 1000 EPs pressed.

Which ones will be on the album he never articulated, but in the midst of "New Kid In Town" and "Best Of My Love," two of the EP songs struck me as some of the best he did on the aforementioned Black Box gig; Border Guard and Journey Down the Nile. The latter is simply full of intrigue and image, and the former is that kind of love song that deals with the deeper questions of the heart with which Pop Idol winners never tend to bother. The Belfast concert was a solo gig and Souther, with just a guitar, is ropey to say the least. (There was also no need for the sound-man abuse, especially when the entire crowd knew that the problem lay with the pseudo celebrity on the stage and not the faithful man behind the desk.) It is the songs that carried the concert, not his guitar playing and so to hear this EP with a quality band and imagine the next time he might have that band on stage is very exciting. The touches of brass (trumpet on "Journey Down The Nile" is awesome!) and deftness of piano, the mature arrangements give Souther's quality writing the perfect frame. These are crafted lyrics in the hands of man who could fill every radio dial with melody, all played with experience and style. Probably the narrow road that leads to authenticity and deep eared satisfaction compared to his mates The Eagles, who will fill every chart on the broad road that leads to loss of the soul but satisfies the cash tills at Wal-Mart!

Steve Stockman

Steve Stockman is the Presbyterian Chaplain at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland, where he lives in community with 88 students. He has written two books Walk On; The Spiritual Journey of U2 which he is currently updating and The Rock Cries Out; Discovering Eternal Truth in Unlikely Music. He dabbles in poetry and songwriting and he has a weekly radio show on BBC Radio Ulster (listen anytime of day or night @ www.bbc.co.uk/ni/religion/rhythmandsoul). He has his own web page--Rhythms of Redemption at http://stocki.ni.org . He also tries to spend some time with his wife Janice and daughters Caitlin and Jasmine.