But, for the most part, the focus is very much on the music, playfully performed with enthusiasm and the occasional ’60s rock star flair.īeck may raise his right arm, index finger pointing upwards, at the end of a song punctuate his more complex, high-speed flourishes with a subtle, low-impact fist pump or put both hands on his hips after hitting a particularly beefy chord. But the clearest sign that he’s still enjoying this, just three weeks shy of his 78th birthday, are the spontaneous smiles he shares with his band.Īnchored by bass player Rhonda Smith (whose CV includes Prince and Beyoncé), it also features cellist Vanessa Freebairn-Smith (who’s worked with everyone from Paul McCartney to Jay-Z), drummer Anika Nilles (clearly as comfortable laying down jazzy rhythms as electronica-influenced beats), and keyboard player Robert Adam Stevenson. Together they support Beck through 80 minutes of frequently complex and intricate music, including originals and well-worn cover versions cherry-picked from throughout his career. Star Cycle - alternating between power chords, the sing-song melodies Joe Satriani’s built a career on, and all-out shredding - has only grown in bombast through four decades of live performance since first appearing on There And Back. The familiar rendition of Mahavishnu Orchestra’s You Know You Know allows the musicians on stage to get a little darker - and Smith and Nilles to pull focus with individual solos. The muscular Stratus is all groove and Beck’s impossibly fast, fiery outbursts. Nitin Sawhney’s Nadia, with its drum & bass backbone, is even more jubilant than on 2001’s You Had It Coming. “I’ll Pin a Note on Your Pillow” was another hit in country for Royal.Ī third resurgence occurred for Royal in the 2000’s when his songs were regularly featured on oldies radio stations, and he toured regularly in North American, Europe, and Japan.īilly Joe Royal is survived by his ex-wife Michelle Royal and daughter Savannah.Big Block sounds way more nimble than a slab of ’80s blues-based hard rock has any right to. His 1987 album The Royal Treatment was eventually certified gold. But Billy Joe persevered, and put together a successful country career throughout the late 80’s. His song “Burned Like a Rocket” was on its way to becoming a big hit in country when the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster struck in January of 1986, and radio programmers pulled the single. Royal when out of the way at the time to say he didn’t particularly consider himself country, but he was embraced by the genre nonetheless. It was still songs that hearkened back to the golden age of rock and pop, with a cover of “Tell It Like It Is” being his greatest success, peaking at #2 on the country charts. Then in the 80’s, Billy Joe Royal made a comeback in the country realm, though his sound didn’t seem to change. He stayed there with songs such as “Hush,” which went on to be recorded by Deep Purple, and “I knew You When.” Royal became known as one of the premier singers in the blue-eyed soul scene, but his career began to fade in the 70’s as the popular styles began to change. But it was the sentiment of the poor kid trying to court a woman of high society in 1965’s “Down in the Boondocks” written by Joe South that put Billy Joe on the popular music map. It started when the singer began playing the Bamboo Ranch in Savannah, GA where he met Roy Orbison, who encouraged him to pursue singing as a career. According to reports, he passed away quietly in his sleep.īilly Joe Royal began his music career in the pop and rock worlds with some massive singles that have since become standards of the American songbook. The Valdosta, Georgia native and world renown singer was 73-years-old. The “boy from down in the boondocks,” Billy Joe Royal, died on Tuesday, October 6th at his home in Marietta, North Carolina. One of the most revered and recognizable voices in American pop and country music has passed away.
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