We wrote new songs for what would be the "Hurry Sundown" album while we kept a busy touring schedule. We went into Bayshore studio in Coconut Grove just south of Miami in the winter of 76. The sessions were quite exciting and working with Bill  as a producer was just incredible. He was so generous and one of the greatest hangs on the planet. During these sessions we were introduced to Monty Python's Flying Circus. Bill had the entire collection on video cassette and we memorized the highlights of the different shows. The Eagles were in and out of the studio around the same time we were recording and we hung out with them and Joe Walsh. There was a bar next door to the studio and both bands would hang out between sessions and have cocktails. The house band at the club was a great top forty dance and light jazz group and John the bass player in the group would later wind up in Nashville playing with Tim McGraw. Needless to say he and I had many stories to tell from this time period and we got a chance to share those stories with our fellow band mates of the Mcgraw Blackhawk tour in 94.  During these sessions we took Flornoy Holmes who had a graphic art company called Wonder Graphics from Atlanta and his photo assistant Shane on the road for a little swing through Texas. The photos on the inside sleeve of that record were shot on the bus at truckstops, and backstage over a two week window. The cover shot was shot in Houston at the Hyatt hotel where we were staying New Years eve 1976. The inside sleeve photos are still some of my favorites. The record would come out later in 77 and I would leave the band by September of that year. My leaving  would bring to an end an era of the original groups run in the world of rock and Roll. The band would continue with varying degrees of success but the spirit of the local band made good from Tampa would be gone forever. 

Story Behind The Song:  Heavenly Blues

On the Hurry Sundown album I wrote the song "Heavenly Blues" by myself and it was my first experiment in writing a title. It was an exercise in connecting a common phrase to an emotion. There was a lose association of separation to the lyric but basically it was just a visual color connected to the emotion of sadness. It's a good song and I intend to record it again.

Story Behind the Song:  Gunsmoke

"Gunsmoke" was written at the Essex House Hotel on Central Park South in N.Y.C. at three in the morning after a show in the winter of 76.  It was an attempt to write a song with an outlaw theme but it's based on many of my own life experiences.  It was ironic that Hughie wrote "Hurry Sundown" during the same time frame and neither of us were aware that we were creating similar musical themes. Monty tagged in a little later and helped me finish it. I think this was one of my better songs and it certainly played into our group's image. There was some debate as to it being the title track.