Remembering Ultra-American Musician Leon Russell
Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen
PRX
4.6 • 675 Ratings
🗓️ 21 November 2016
⏱️ 13 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Leon Russell passed away last week — he was 74. During the 1970s, he forged a musical career unlike almost anyone else’s before or since: an ultra-American mix of country, blues, gospel, and rock n’ roll, collaborating with musicians from all those genres.
Kurt spoke with Russell in the summer of 2015 when a 40-year-old documentary about Russell’s musical career was finally released. Director Les Blank filmed Russell at the height of his stardom in the 70s, but Russell held the release of the film until after Blank’s death. “Les Blank is a wonderful documentarian, but I felt like it had a lot of coverage that didn’t have to do with me — you know, a lot of sunsets,” he explained.
Russell also told Kurt about how a childhood injury influenced his artistic development, the provenance of Mick Jagger’s famous dance, and his collaboration with Elton John.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | from PRX |
| 0:03.4 | Studio 360 |
| 0:08.5 | Hi, it's Kurt with a special podcast segment. |
| 0:15.3 | I'm up on a tie wire. |
| 0:19.1 | Flamed by life and the funeral pile. |
| 0:23.1 | But hang on the show for you to see. |
| 0:28.4 | The summer I turned 18, this song was on the radio all the time, and I loved it. |
| 0:33.8 | It was one of Leon Russell's biggest hits. |
| 0:36.7 | I've continued to be charmed by his mix of country and blues and gospel and rock and roll. |
| 0:43.7 | You might be more familiar with other people's performances of some of his songs, |
| 0:48.4 | like Joe Cocker's rendition of The Letter, which Leon wrote for him. |
| 0:52.6 | Oh, the long lonely days are gone. |
| 0:56.2 | I'm coming home. |
| 0:59.4 | Well, my baby, she wrote me a letter. |
| 1:03.6 | Leon Russell died last week. |
| 1:05.7 | He was 74. |
| 1:07.2 | With his devilish smirk and the long gray mane of hair that he always had, even when he was young and until he was very old, he was a one-of-a-kind character and so American. |
| 1:22.6 | Back then, in 1974, the great documentarian Les Blank started following him around on tour, filming him on stage and off. |
| 1:31.9 | Even though that film was finished in the 70s, it didn't get released for more than 30 years until last year. |
| 1:40.1 | It's called A Poem is a Naked Person, and I talked with Leon Russell when it came out. |
| 1:45.6 | Welcome to Studio 360. |
| 1:47.1 | Thank you. |
... |
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