Donnie Fritts RIP

Sorry to hear of the death of Donnie Fritts, the 'legendary Alabama leaning man'. a great songwriter and one of the best country/ soul singers around. His 1974 album 'Prone To Lean' is one I often go back to, with classics such as 'Rainbow Road (I also love the version by Arthur Alexander), 'We Had It All (first recorded by Dobie Gray but covered by many others) and 'Winner Take All, co-written as were many of his songs, with Dan Penn. Other songs he wrote included 'Breakfast In Bed, by Dusty Springfield and later UB40 featuring Chrissie Hynde, 'Easy To Love', a hit for Joe Simon, 'Choo Choo Train' (the Boxtops), and Irma Thomas's 'Zero Willpower'.
Aged 76, Donnie was Kris Kristofferson's keyboard player for many years and, despite his many fine songs and working closely with the likes of Rick Hall and Eddie Hinton at Muscle Shoals, recorded only sporadically. Later recordings included 'Everybody's Got A Song', featuring contributions by Willie Nelson, Tony Joe White, Dan Penn and others, in 1997, 'One Foot In The Groove' in 2007 and his last album 'June, a tribute to Arthur Alexander, last year. Through his association with Kristofferson he also appeared in several movies, including 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid', 'Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia' and 'Convoy'.
Donnie appeared in London in 2005 and I remember seeing him at Cargo, a venue under railway arches in the City, a few years ago. A sad loss.
Mercifully there haven't been too many music death in the last few weeks, but special mention must be made of Peter Fonda, whose film 'Easy Rider' featured songs by the likes of The Byrds, Electric Prunes, Jimi Hendrix and Steppenwolf, and who also sang a bit himself. Also Larry Taylor of Canned Heat, and Nicky Wonder, guitarist with Brian Wilson.