Thoughts On Lee Hazlewood

Our dear friend Greg Beshers in San Francisco writes about Lee Hazlewood, who died this past weekend.

Lee Hazlewood had soul, a lot of it in fact. Since he passed away this weekend at the age of 78 there have been quite a few news articles on his career mostly focusing on his biggest hit, “These Boots Are Made For Walkin,’” sung by Nancy Sinatra. While that song is about as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, it’s his solo material that personally gets to me. His song craft, his late 60’s slick West Coast production techniques - utilizing horns, guitars, multiple keyboards and a super tight rhythm section - as well as his deadpan delivery, drenched in reverb, with tales of cowboys and life on the wrong side of the tracks, stand out for their quality in any age of recorded music. He rivals many producers, even to this day, for the sounds he got.

To me though, Lee was the real L.A. Cowboy who epitomized the word “maverick.” He did what he wanted, with who he wanted, when he wanted and never looked back. It's probably because when you get down to it, he never gave a damn what people thought. That's a tough road to go down and it’s even tougher to do it in style, which he did, much to my eternal admiration. We talk a good game in this country about our respect for such men, but I think it's mostly just talk. I guess it makes sense that even though he died over the weekend, I didn't hear a word about it until Monday morning.

Buy Lee Hazelwood at Amazon

Download: "You Look Like A Lady"
Download: "She Comes Running"
Download: "If It's Monday Morning"