Published September 24, 2024

I learned today that JD Souther died a week ago. He had a hand or a voice or a mind that shaped a lot of music I grew up listening to long ago.

Souther wrote and sang on my favorite Linda Ronstadt song, “Prisoner in Disguise,” from her album of the same name. Another duet of theirs on that album is “Silver Blue,” which I found myself drawn to after finding out he’d died.

You think you’re gonna live forever and somehow find me there. But you’ll be wearing golden wings and fall right through the air.”

I’d been listening to Karla Bonoff and songs from her time with Bryndle, a group I love for all kinds of reasons, especially its roots in the Southern California music scene where Souther found his footing. She is one of my favorites, and her version of “The Water is Wide” features backing vocals by Souther (and James Taylor).

Souther and Bonoff were to begin a tour together today.

There are too many to list here

Obituaries and tributes detail his influence and connections. I didn’t know the whole story behind “Her Town Too,” his 1981 duet with Taylor, until a few years ago. The harsh truths and introspection of that story doesn’t surprise me, nor that Souther helped shape the deeply personal JT song about his marriage to Carly Simon and its aftermath.

Souther’s relationship scars are in the song as well. That’s also not surprising.

Judee Sill wrote “Jesus Was a Cross Maker” about Souther.

One time, I trusted a stranger
‘Cause I heard his sweet song
And it was gently enticin’ me
Though there was somethin’ wrong
But, when I turned, he was gone

Blindin’ me, his song remains remindin’ me
He’s a bandit and a heart breaker
Oh, but Jesus was a cross maker”

The song begins: “Sweet silver angels over the sea / Please, come down flyin’ low for me.”

So much silver and blue in their songs.

They had dated, and he later wrote “Something in the Dark” about her.

There’s nothing you can say, you haven’t said already,

There’s nowhere you can go that you haven’t been.

You could have made a deal, when your hands were steady,

Before you shut the door on your only friend.”

My mind is everywhere as I remember him

There are too many places for my addled brain to land as pieces of memories float back to me today.

I’ve even found myself thinking about making the switch from writing his name as J.D. Souther instead of JD Souther, the stated preference on his website. It’s a thing journalists have long had to contend with: Are there or are there not periods in that person’s initials? And where do we get an official ruling? Aren’t periods pretty standard? I guess we have to ask them? Websites and social media eventually answered a lot of questions.

After I’d lost track of him, he turned up on a few episodes of “thirtysomething.” Today I am learning not just that he died, but more about how he lived in the preceding years.

Fans of the TV series “Nashville” knew him as Watty White.

If you don’t know about his connection to the Eagles and to others whose music anyone of a certain age knows, there is a lot out there to read about him today. His comfort with his songs being more famous than he was is not surprising, but I still find it interesting.

When I learned that he co-wrote “Heart of the Matter,” my reaction was, “Of course.” For better or worse, the man knew his way around relationship songs.

“I got the call today I didn’t want to hear” is the musical way I’ll remember learning the news today of Souther’s death, and in some ways an echo of waking up to the radio playing “I read the news today, oh boy,” and finding out after the song that John Lennon was gone.

The color of this day is a silver blue.

Guitar photo by Nik Waller Productions via Shutterstock.