Leon Russell: 1942 - 2016 Remembering Leon, in His Own Words
by Michael Buffalo Smith The world lost a true, honest to God
rock star on Sunday, November 13, 2016 when the great Leon Russell passed away in his sleep. Leon rocked the world over the course of six decades, from his work with The Shindigs to Delaney & Bonnie, to the Concert for Bangladesh, to his work with Willie Nel- son, George Harrison, Elton John, Edgar Winter and so many others, he leaves behind a massive body of excellent work, including a personal favorite, his country classics album Hank Wilson’s Back. Back in 2001, I had the privilege of in-
terviewing Leon, one on one. As a tribute to his memory, we present that interview again in it’s entirety, including the original intro- duction. This interview is dedicated to the memory of “the Master of Space and Time,” Oklahoma’s own Leon Russell.
••• As I dialed up Leon’s number, my thought
process was still busy filtering the many ran- dom memories of Leon Russell's music that flooded my mind, from my first copy of Carny on 8-track; to the orange blacklight poster I had on my bedroom wall as a teenager-Leon wearing the "Holy Trinity" ttshirt; The single 45 of "Tightrope;" his country album Hank Wilson’s Back; and my discovery that The Carpenters' "A Song for You" was penned by the same man who rocked like a madman on hiscover of the Rolling Stones “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” I was pretty excited about this one, folks.
I've spoken with so many musicians over the years, and the two names that keep cropping up when we talk influ- ences are Dr. John and Leon Russell. Who influenced you to want to play music? I think originally it was probably just the music itself. I was pecking around on the piano when I was three, trying to figure it out. In later years there were all sorts of people I saw and heard that really influenced me. Chuck Berry was on the first rock and roll show I ever saw, and I thought he was really remarkable. I also studied classical music, and thought some of those guys were incredi- ble. I also thought Harpo Marx was pretty
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