James Taylor Rocks Out On ‘Honey Don’t Leave L.A.’ From 1979 Concert
The song was written by Taylor’s longtime compadre and collaborator Danny ‘Kootch’ Kortchmar.
James Taylor’s official YouTube channel has shared the latest clip from his performance with his stellar band at the Blossom Music Festival, on July 18, 1979. It features their barnstorming rendition of the rocking “Honey Don’t Leave L.A.,” from 1977’s J.T. album.
Shop the best of James Taylor’s discography on vinyl and more.
The song was written by Taylor’s longtime compadre and collaborator Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, who played guitar on the album recording and features prominently in the live version here. There are also particularly notable on-stage contributions from longtime drummer Russ Kunkel and celebrated saxophonist David Sanborn, reprising his spot on the LP track.
The 1979 concert was one of the star’s record-breaking 26 appearances at the Blossom Music Festival in Cuyahoga Falls, OH over a five-decade span. Numerous other tracks from this 1979 show are also available on the channel, including “Carolina In My Mind,” “Handy Man,” “Blossom,” “Your Smiling Face,” “Walking Man,” and “Mexico.” The concert was filmed and became Taylor’s first-ever commercial video release, produced by Peter Asher (his manager and producer, who also played cowbell on the JT version) and Stanley Dorman.
The JT album, his eighth studio release, reached No.4 in the US and swiftly went gold and then platinum there, advancing to double platinum in 1989 and triple in 1997. “Honey Don‘t Leave L.A.” was released as a single in the US in early 1978, after the success of “Your Smiling Face” and Taylor’s cover of Sam Cooke’s “(What A) Wonderful World” with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. The Kortchmar song peaked at No.61 in a six-week run on the Hot 100.
“Kootch” had previously recorded “Honey…” in 1976 as a member of the band Attitudes, from their self-titled album of that year. The group also featured Paul Stallworth, esteemed drummer Jim Keltner, and future A-list producer-writer David Foster, who met while playing on George Harrison’s Extra Texture (Read All About It) album.
Buy or stream James Taylor’s American Standard album.
