Michael’s comment the other day about Down In The Boondocks got me thinking about the guy who made it famous, Billy Joe Royal.

Royal, who was born in Marietta, GA in 1942, was a local sensation at a very young age, known throughout Georgia well before Joe South convinced him to record Down In The Boondocks, his first and best-known hit. After Boondocks went to #9 in 1965, he released I Knew You When (which peaked at #14) and I’ve Got To Be Somebody (which cracked the Top 40 in early 1966).

After a trio of singles that languished in the cellar of the Top 100 (including a version of Hush, later a hit for Deep Purple), he bounced back in 1969 with Cherry Hill Park. After a quiet time of it in the 1970’s, Royal returned to popularity as a country singer, scoring a number of hits through the 1980’s.

He’s still a regular on the bar and club circuit, doing a couple of shows a month (including one in late November in Franklin, TN).

Three out of four of Royal’s hits were written by the Joe South. Fellow Georgian and 2 years the senior of Royal, South started his career in Atlanta as a staff guitarist for the National Recording Company (along with Ray Stevens and Jerry Reed).

Along with writing Royal’s first three hits, he also wrote Rose Garden (made famous by Lynn Anderson) and the Osmond’s hit, Yo-Yo. He two big hits of his own, Walk A Mile In My Shoes and his biggest smash, Games People Play.

South was also a highly respected session player, whose distinct sound can be heard on Aretha Franklin’s Chain of Fools and Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde album.

Billy Joe Royal – Down In The Boondocks

Billy Joe Royal – I Knew Your When

Billy Joe Royal – Cherry Hill Park

Joe South – Games People Play

Joe South – Walk A Mile In My Shoes

Lynn Anderson – Rose Garden

The Osmonds – Yo-Yo

Artwork: Mrs. Hovey’s Old Shed (Photograph) by Alan Adams on Art Exchange

Recorded in dirty distorted stereo at The Buddha Barn, Wednesday night, June 27, 2007

• Stealer’s Wheel – Star (Ferguslie Park, A and M, 1973)
• Tom Waits – Cold Cold Ground (Big Time, Island, 1988)
• George Jones – Lifetime to Regret (Sings the Songs of Leon Payne, Musicor, 1971)
• Loggins and Messina – Back to Georgia (On Stage, Columbia, 1974)
• The Doobie Brothers – Double Dealin’ Floor Flusher (Stampede, Warner Bros., 1975)
• Willie Nelson – Unchained Melody (Stardust, Columbia, 1978)
• Hank Williams – Cold Cold Heart (Single, MGM, 1951)
• Dave Mason – Pearly Queen (Headkeeper, Blue Thumb, 1972)
• Bob Dylan – The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (The Times They Are A-Changin’, Columbia, 1964)
• Mark-Almond – Song For You (Mark-Almond, Blue Thumb, 1971)
• Lynn Anderson – No Love At All (No Love At All, Columbia, 1970)
• Pearls Before Swine – Uncle John (One Nation Underground, ESP, 1967)

Fusion 45, No. 33 – The Cat’s Still Away (And I Miss her)