ALBUM: Joe South’s Greatest Vol 1 (1969); Joe South (self-titled).
MVC Rating: Greatest, 4.5/ $$$; self-titled 3.0/$$$.
Now this is what I’m here for. Dusting off old music I grew up on – music probably unknown to most under 40.
Joe South, Georgia singer-songwriter is one of those somewhat forgotten artists whose songs you know but the name just can’t come to you. He’s kind of a southern Jim Croce or maybe a more serious Joe Stafford. Croce with “Operator,” “I’ve Got a Name’’ and ‘Bad Leroy Brown’ obviously sold a ton of records.
So did South. ‘Games People Play’ which had the line: ‘Oh the games people play now, every night and every day now, never meaning what they say Lord, Never saying what they mean.’
How about these songs by South: “Hush,’ (a huge hard-rock hit for Deep Purple); Down in the Boondocks (a giant hit for Billy Joe Royal}; the surprisingly well written nostalgia piece, “Don’t it Make You Want to Go Home.” ‘Delta Dawn,’ a smash for country star Lynne Anderson. And, the classic, “Walk a Mile in My Shoes,’ are others, but you can see there’s some meat and potatoes in his discography. (Vegetarians, ‘Hush.’} The greatest hits should be sufficient for all your Joe South needs. Joe South’s talent was apparent but his creative output froze up on him. He lived in Hawaii for years before coming back to Georgia where he died in 2012.