Bill WIthers dies at 81

[*jason*]

(04-04-2020, 05:29 PM)samhain Wrote: I got into his music recently, like 2107 or so. I heard Lovely Day at the end of a show I was watching on FX called Snowfall. The show was okay, but from the first time I heard that song, to the time I looked it up on Amazon music, to yesterday when his death prompted me to listen to it again, I feel like it's one of the most perfect songs I've ever heard.

I typically listen to the same music I've listened to since I was 15 or so with a few exceptions. This assortment is comprised mostly of punk, thrash metal, and lately (but steadily) a good dose of classic rock. Withers was one of the exceptions.

I can't really say why. It always just amazed me that something from a genre that I rarely ever listened to could just grab me like that and open my eyes. I've had a few other songs do that and I recall exactly where I was when I heard them. Black Hole Sun was one. Raining Blood another. The entire Crowd-Mags album Age of Quarrel was a big one. Not to Touch the Earth by the Doors. Somehow, though, Lovely Day gets in there with all of those songs for me. It was one that I knew I'd listen to consistently for as long as I'm alive.

I liked Withers even more when I read about his life and him walking away in what was probably the prime of his career. He just sounded like a hard-working dude with a real gift and ease about his craft.

RIP.

You and I share a lot of similar musical tastes... I'm a 45 year old father now, but at my core I'm still a punk rock loner type. Having said that; I think there are many rythem and blues/ soul artists that you'd really like. I was exposed to it early from my dad, but generally shied away from it til I was 23 or 24... Now it's right up there with my all time favorites.

I'd suggest Mavis Staples, Sam Cooke (for my money the greatest vocalist ever recorded), Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Charles Bradley (check out his cover of Changes by Black Sabbath), Stevie Wonder, Booker T and the MGs...