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From pop stuff like Britney Spears to music-snob fare like Tom Waits, Bobby Blount could hear the beauty in all of it. This made Blount an uncommonly nuanced fan. A hoot to chop it with in random music-nerd discussions, on social media, via text or in-person. It also made him a quietly talented singer, tunesmith and musician.
Blount’s album “Just Before I Fall” was one of the best albums released by a Huntsville musician last year. Over the course of 10 rootsy rock & roll songs, the music, words and singing wink, groove and raconteur. Blount’s vocals, soulful and genuine, just like him. The music, natural and breathing. A bit of electric pow and jangle in spots too.
The cover art for BobbyBlount’s album “Just Before I Fall.” (Courtesy Startlingly Fresh Records/Karen Kilpatrick)
Unfortunately, Blount won’t get to read those sentences. Tragically and unfairly, he died from cancer in November 2020 at age 46, just as local indie label Startlingly Fresh Records was putting the finial touches on his album. He did get to hear the final mixes though. Towards the end, Bobby’s dear, kind wife Amanda Blount would have the album playing in his hospital room. The nurses couldn’t help but groove gently to the music as they came and went.
Last summer, Startlingly Fresh Records held a CD release event and celebration of life event at Yellowhammer Brewing for Blount, who was buried in his native state of Mississippi. Now, “Just Before I Fall” has been released on vinyl, a daydream for any true music-nerd. The LP was pressed on sumptuous, purple-colored vinyl, with deluxe gatefold packaging designed by Karen Kilpatrick, who’s done graphics for Muscle Shoals’ FAME Studios and Atlantic Records. Vinyl copies of “Just Before I Fall” are $25, available via Vertical House Records, located at Lowe Mill, address 2211 Seminole Drive, and startlinglyfreshrecords.com.
Amanda Blount says having Bobby’s album on vinyl is “something we always talked about getting done. So to be able to work through the really long delays and the back and forth, it’s just an amazing feeling. Being able to look at them and have them in a store and be able to play it … Yeah, it’s pretty spectacular.”
Key tracks on “Just Before I Fall” include album opener “Cold Fried Chicken,” which evokes Little Feat’s wry sashay. It’s a fave of Amanda’s too. “Every time he played it (live), people started dancing,” she says, “which made him really happy.” The strummy-go on the song “Emmylou” evokes The Smithereens covering a Gram Parsons outtake. Blount’s track “New Year’s Eve” reveals his fondness for classic power-pop and disdain for amateur-night revelers.
Kira Hughes played guitar on most of “Just Before I Fall,” as well as contributing backing vocals on about half the songs. Known for her local acoustic rock group Seeking Babylon, Hughes had known Blount since she was a teenage musician just starting out. A few years later in her 20s, she was in a cover band with Blount called Sister Luck. In that band they both played guitar, doing songs by ‘80s bands like Bon Jovi and Metallica. “He always had such wonderful tasteful (guitar) licks,” Hughes recalls. “I always enjoyed and looked forward to anytime I got to go play with Bobby somewhere.”
Hughes cut her tracks for Blount’s album with just Blount and producer Jim Cavender around, recording at a Five Points space. (Cavender did a masterful job overseeing the LP, which benefits from clear warm sonics.) Hughes says Blount, even with his back up against the all, was an ideal collaborator. “He was open to suggestions. And I loved his honesty. He would tell you what he liked and if he didn’t like it, he was just like, ‘Try something else.’”
Hughes appears in the music-video for the single from the album, “Mahalia.” The track itself evokes the Rolling Stones swagger crisscrossed with Morphine’s sultry sax. In general, music-videos for local bands, well, they suck. Way amateur. But the “Mahalia” clip, filmed by RJ Ortiz and Alex Gibson is deftly crafted. It looks legit.
Like anyone else who knew Blount, Hughes is deeply saddened he’s gone. But she’s grateful he was able complete his first full-length album – he previously released raucous three-track EP “Shine” – before passing. “At least this way,” Hughes says, “we, or even people who didn’t know him, are able to appreciate his talents and what he was able to share with us.”
Once you know the backstory, the album title “Just Before I Fall” is equally heartbreaking and resolute. As good as Blount was at fronting a band, he was equally adept at backing other musicians. For example, he played tasteful keyboards on guitarist Hunter Copeland’s 2019 instrumental album “The Boom Boom Room.” Even though they resided in the same city, Copeland and Blount first met online, via the guitar-geek website Gear Page. Decades later when it came time to contribute to Copeland’s album, Blunt “always played just the right part,” Copeland says. “Never in a showoff kind of way. Man, it was great.”
Blount’s family moved to Huntsville right after high school. His stepdad was a nuclear engineer and they relocated here for his new job at Browns Ferry. Bobby attended the University of Alabama-Huntsville. He and Amanda met after a mutual friend brought her along to a midday jam Bobby and some friends were playing on the UAH campus. Bobby and Amanda started off as friends and remained so for a while before they started dating. She found him funny, smart and awesome. “I could talk forever about Bobby,” Amanda says before letting out a sigh.
After they became a couple, music was a big part of their relationship. They loved listening to artists ranging from The Clash to Led Zeppelin together. On weekends, they’d drive to see show by the likes of Bruce Springsteen or The Descendants. Once their son Colin was born about 16 years ago, the traveling for shows slowed down. But the music never slowed down. Bobby had a home studio set up at their Huntsville home.
Colin grew up to be a musician himself. He plays saxophone with the Grissom High School band, and often sports T-shirts emblazoned with the logos of bands like Queen and Slayer. Colin Blount is proud of his dad’s album. But it’s still not easy for him to listen to. As anyone who’s lost a father that young, the feelings are intense and always will be. But better to have had a good dad for a short time than a terrible one for a longtime.
Amanda says Bobby wrote several albums worth of song for years and years before finally releasing his music. She’s thankful Startlingly Fresh Records owners Jim and Terri Cavender encouraged him to do so and helped him make it happen. “To finally get someone outside of me to say that he was good was huge,” Amanda says. She says when Bobby cut his last vocal track, “he was just so happy with the result. And just so happy and excited to have other people get to hear something he made.”
