Gary U.S. Bonds - Seven Day Weekend

 “Life would be so slick

I'd run around and have a ball”

Appeared as a Legrand Records 45 rpm – 1962

Gary Levone Anderson’s early releases on Legrand Records were attributed to U.S. Bonds and audiences assumed it was the name of a group.  Legrand soon changed to Gary U.S. Bonds.  Bonds was quick to have success with his first recorded song “New Orleans” (1960) selling over a million copies.  Gary U.S. Bonds placed 7 songs on Billboard’s Top 40 charts from 1960 – 1962.  He next resurfaced in the early 1980s with 2 albums recorded with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band resulting in 3 songs making the charts.

Ingemination…  “I wrote most of my songs back then - and then I started writing for other people. I had a couple of big country hits because country was another passion- love of mine. I had a number one country hit with Johnny Paycheck... with a tune called "Friend Don't Take Her, She's All I Got" – Gary U.S. Bonds quoted in interview (2014) with Robert von Bernewitz on MUSICGUY247

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And...

Thinking of Gary U.S. Bonds always brings to mind the closing number in the Blue Brothers 2000 movie and the group sing of Bonds’ first hit “New Orleans”.  The group, The Louisiana Gator Boys, included Jeff Baxter (guitar), Gary U.S. Bonds (vocals), Eric Clapton (guitar), Clarence Clemons (sax), Jacques de Johnette (drums), Bo Diddley (guitar), Jon Faddis (trumpet), Isaac Hayes (vocals), Dr. John (piano), B.B. King (guitar), Tommy McDonnell (vocals), Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica), Billy Preston (organ), Lou Rawls (vocals), Joshua Redman (sax), Koko Taylor (vocals), Travis Tritt (guitar), Jimmie Vaughan (guitar), Willie Weeks (bass).

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ETC...

BILLY JOEL AT 75: A LEGACY OF PIANO, PASSION, AND TIMELESS MUSIC

"Born in the Bronx and raised in Hicksville, New York, Joel’s journey from a struggling lounge pianist to a world-renowned star is a story of perseverance, raw talent, and an unyielding passion for music. His ability to weave deeply personal experiences with the universal emotions of hope, joy, nostalgia, and heartache has earned him a permanent place in the hearts of his listeners." - unattributed article on GRATEFUL WEB

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The band that signified a decline in music standards, according to George Harrison

"Tom Petty, who joined Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison in Traveling Wilburys in the late 1980s, saw a completely different side of the Beatle. “He never shut up,” Petty told Rolling Stone in 2011. “He was the best hang you could imagine.” Supposedly, if you steered a conversation towards spirituality or music, Harrison would whir into action and fire on all cylinders." - article by Jordan Potter on FAR OUT MAGAZINE

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Country music pioneer Alice Randall gets to the roots of the genre in ‘My Black Country’

"I had my first cut two years after I moved to Nashville, before I [signed with] Sony/ATV Tree. It was the Forester Sisters’ “Reckless Night,” a B-side of a No. 1 single. I had “Girls Ride Horses Too” [by Judy Rodman], which is a Top 10 song, and I had “Many Mansions” [by Moe Bandy], which was a Top 40. I was having success." - Alice Randall quoted in article/interview with Miles Marshall Lewis on THE GRIO

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Has your music taste died?

"Things may not be so cut and dry anymore. Music streaming services thrive on and encourage music discovery. This is pushing people to explore new artists and potentially even new genres no matter how old they are or how steadfast their tastes." - article by Jacca-RouteNote on ROUTENOTE BLOG

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Retro Album Review...

James Hunter – The Hard Way – Hear Music, 2008

“To listen to any of the albums that James Hunter has made is to tumble through the cracks of time and discover a world that many believed had slipped away long ago. His latest effort The Hard Way is no exception. It would, in fact, be quite forgivable to believe that the outing had been recorded in 1962 instead of 2008. In Hunter’s world, Beatle-mania and the psychedelic ’60s never happened, and thus, everything that followed from the punk and disco movements of the 1970s to the Brit-pop of the 1990s has been banished from ever having existed.” - album review by John Metzger on MUSIC BOX

(click on the above album pic to play full album)

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A day without music

is just cruel!