South Carolina's Leon Everette came onto the country scene as one of the most promising artists of the late 1970s and early '80s... But despite a string of modest hits, he couldn't keep his major label mojo going forever. Still, he left behind some great recordings for his fans, although his albums have vanished from sight -- here's a quick look at his work...
Leon Everette "Goodbye King Of Rock 'N' Roll: (A Tribute To Elvis) The World's Greatest Star Has Gone Home Alone" (True Records, 1977) (LP)
(Produced by Howard A. Knight, Jr)
The title track was an Elvis Presley tribute song that helped launch the Top Forty career of South Carolina country singer Leon Everette. "Goodbye King Of Rock 'N' Roll" didn't chart as a single, but it gave Everette a peg to hang his hat on, and from here he started his slow rise from the back end of the country charts up to the Top Ten. If nothing else, this album might win the award for longest, most convoluted Elvis-tribute-record album title: the second half refers to a followup song embedded in Side Two, the equally maudlin "The World's Greatest Star Has Gone Home Alone." Also, one of the best examples of Elvis-looking-down-from-Heaven album art. The whole record isn't Presley-related, though... Indeed, one song, "I Love That Woman (Like The Devil Loves Sin)" was recycled on his next album, after emerging as Everette's first entry on the charts, coming in at a humble #84... But you gotta start somewhere!)
Leon Everette "I Don't Want To Lose" (Orlando Records, 1980) (LP)
(Produced by Jerry Foster, Bill Rice, Ronnie Dean & Leon Everette)
Although he did eventually break into the Top Forty scene, South Carolina's Leon Everette had real indie roots, as heard on this outsider-label, non-Nashville album, which yielded a few back forty singles, enough to get him onto the major-label radar. The sessions were produced under the patronage of the songwriter-producer team of Foster & Rice, whose composition, "Over," hit #10 on the charts, providing Everette with his entry into early '80s Nashville. All the songs on Side One were written or co-written by Roger Murrah, and they mostly seem like see-what-sticks, hoping-for-a-hit material -- slick but slightly jittery, uptempo country stuff with a generic '70s sound. Side Two provides more variety and perhaps a better picture of the possible directions Everette could have taken: the first song is more of the same, though "Over" changes the tone with a slower, more contemplative ballad, nudging Everette into the sound he would excel in on his RCA recordings. Perhaps even more telling was his version of Mark Knopfler's "Setting Me Up," which had been most recently recorded on Albert Lee's album Hiding, and Everette follows that template pretty closely. Indeed, he sounds quite a bit like Lee's country-rocker buddy Rodney Crowell on the next couple of tracks (including a poppy version of Hank Williams's "I Saw The Light") and though it was even better when Everette found his own voice and style on his RCA albums, this early allegiance to the Crowell sound is kinda cool. Definitely worth checking out.
Leon Everette "If I Keep On Going Crazy" (RCA, 1981) (LP)
Leon Everette "Hurricane" (RCA, 1981) (LP)
(Produced by Ronnie Dean & Leon Everette)
An adequate, workmanlike set of pop-country ballads, done early 'Eighties style. Everette's vocals are fine -- robust country crooning with echoes of Mickey Gilley, Conway Twitty and George Jones... or even Bill Anderson, if he were a more vigorous singer. The arrangements are pretty rote and pedestrian, though... Not "bad," but not terribly distinctive or inspired. A couple of tracks stand out, notably "Think It Over," one of several tunes from newcomer Keith Stegall, who had also recently signed to RCA around this time. Also of interest is a track by Dewayne Orender, one of those names bubbling around for years in the indie-twang demimonde -- the song, "Midnight Rodeo," isn't that great, but it's still fun to connect a few dots. Worth a spin, although the whole open-jacket, hairy chest, gold chain vibe on the cover art is genuinely horrifying.
Leon Everette "Maverick" (RCA, 1982) (LP)
Leon Everette "Leon Everette" (RCA, 1983) (LP)
Leon Everette "Doin' What I Feel" (RCA, 1984) (LP)
(Produced by Ronnie Dean & Leon Everette)
His last record for RCA wound up being a 6-song EP -- released twice the same year, with three different tracks on Side Two. This slapdash exit seems like a pretty ignominious parting of the ways for such a promising artist, especially since the material was pretty strong. Things kick off with "The Lady, She's Right," a robust, Merle Haggard-flavored track that featured harmony vocals by Vern Gosdin's brother, Rex, who apparently passed away before the EP was released. It was a modest hit, almost grazing the Top 30, and a Top Ten hit followed with, "I Coulda Had You," (off the second version of the EP...) But despite the strength of these two singles, the label still dropped him, and that was that. Regardless, there's some nice stuff on here. Everette returns to his Elvis years with the hearty bombast of "In A Letter Of Goodbye" (EP 1.0) where he soars above the string section in a way that would have made The King proud... Similarly the last track, "This Man And Woman Thing," has a Conway Twitty-esque croonerbilly feel that more than makes up for the thudding, inert uptempo pop-country of "No Man's Land" and its desperate-for-a-hit synth-country twin on Side One. The 2.0 disc was even better, but jeez, couldn't they have just waited a couple of months and put it all out at once? Oh, well.
Leon Everette "Where's The Fire" (Mercury Records, 1985) (LP)
Leon Everette "The Best Of Leon Everette" (RCA, 1984) (LP)
Leon Everette "Greatest Hits" (RCA, 1987) (LP)
