Songwriting vets Tempchin and Souther cross paths once again

By JIM TRAGESER - Staff Writer | Wednesday, December 3, 2008 11:21 AM PST ∞

Their paths first crossed at an open mic in San Diego 3 1/2 decades ago, and both found fleeting fame after separately penning hits for the Eagles. In the years since, they've pursued their own musical paths, mostly existing under the pop culture radar and occasionally turning out a solo album.

Given that old pals J.D. Souther and Jack Tempchin record only sporadically, what are the odds that both men would issue new albums within a couple of weeks of each other?

Pretty long odds, said Souther by phone from his home in Nashville, Tenn., where he'd just gotten a copy of Tempchin's new disc, "Songs." Tempchin, who has called Encinitas home for the past 14 years after living his whole life in San Diego proper, also allowed that it was a pretty weird coincidence that Souther's "If the World Was You" had come out right on the heels of his own album.

As to how they met, Souther (who's in town Dec. 10 for a show at Acoustic Music San Diego) said it was shortly after he had moved to L.A. from his childhood home in west Texas, when he was playing in San Diego regularly with future Eagle Glenn Frey.

"Glenn and I were down there all the time playing at those clubs ---- the Candy Company and the Heritage, the Belly Up. We played everything down there when we first started, when we were playing for free at open mics.

"We were all broke, and Jack had a big old house we used to stay in. That's where we know each other from.

"I think I played more gigs in San Diego that first year than I did in L.A. I think it was a great city ---- I often considered moving down there for sheer quality of life: great Mexican food and the dog-friendliest beach in America."

Tempchin was born and raised in San Diego, graduating from Crawford High and San Diego State with a degree in psychology.

But while in college, he fell in love with music and began playing around town.

"I was living in a garage, so I didn't have very many expenses when I went to college. At that time, they had coffeehouses ---- I worked at several of those doing the hoot nights, being the host when people sit in. That's how I made a living during college."

It was during this period that he began writing his own songs, performing them on harmonica and vocals.

"I always wrote my own stuff, because learning other people's songs was quite difficult ---- so I just started making up my own.

"From the second song I wrote onwards, I would play them in the coffeehouses, and other musicians would ask if they could learn them and play them. A guy named Ted Stock started playing my songs around town and people were saying how great it was, so I asked him to show me how to play it on guitar and he said, 'No way, that's my arrangement.' "

Souther's introduction to music started at birth.

"My dad was a big-band crooner; that's what we played in our house. That's what I heard until I started bringing rock 'n' roll and rockabilly home."

Even though Souther is best known for co-writing country-rock songs with the Eagles ("The Best of My Love," "Heartache Tonight," "New Kid in Town"), Roy Orbison ("Coming Home") and James Taylor ("Her Town Too"), he said the jazz that infuses his new record has been present throughout his career.

"I've never really been able to distinguish very much between different styles of music having more value than another. I was playing what they used to call pickups or casuals with jazz players in their 30s when I was 14, 15.

"I always wanted to be a really good band leader; the guys I always admired were guys like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton."

And it was the modern jazz of his youth that in large part shaped his musical philosophy, Souther said.

"Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Gil Evans and the Dave Brubeck Quartet changed my musical outlook."

For Tempchin, who wrote ("Peaceful Easy Feeling") or co-wrote ("Already Gone") two hits for the Eagles, joining Johnny Rivers' cover of "Slow Dancin'" and lesser-known gems like Glen Campbell's reading of "Rollin' (In My Sweet Baby's Arms)," the collapse of the big-label model of the music business and the rise of the Internet as distribution network has been both blessing and challenge.

"I think the Internet definitely makes it more democratic. I just finished working with a gal from Korea and a guy from Ireland who flew to Hollywood to work with me last week; they had not met each other other than through MySpace and then Skype."

And the new record was released on his own label, Night River. Tempchin said he likes the control of owning everything himself, but he admitted that the marketing muscle of the labels in the old days had a certain appeal to musicians.

"Nowadays, I just put it up for sale on the Internet, and I have a distribution deal so it will be in stores as well. The real challenge is to just somehow have the public have the opportunity to hear it."

Souther, too, released his new album on his own label ---- and said he likes the way the music business works in the age of the Internet.

"I'm happy to be in the situation I'm in. I own my own record company, my own publishing, my own masters, and I have a great distribution deal.

"I get to do what I want ---- I'm perfectly happy to live without the big advance."

Jack Tempchin

When: 8 p.m. Dec. 9

Where: Calypso Cafe, 576 N Coast Highway 101, Leucadia

Admission: Free (dinner reservations suggested)

Info: (760) 632-8252 or calypsocafe.net

Web: tempchin.com

J.D. Souther

When: 7:30 p.m. Dec. 10

Where: Acoustic Music San Diego, 4650 Mansfield St. (Normal Heights United Methodist Church), San Diego

Tickets: sold out

Info: (619) 303-8176 or acousticmusicsandiego.com

Web: jdsouther.net