Every Friday around 11 a.m. Central, it’s time for Classic Americana on Radio Heartland. We pull a special track from the archives or from deep in the shelves to spotlight a particular artist or song.

Billy Joe Royal was a vocalist who enjoyed a number of hits in the 1960s, then reinvented himself as a country singer in the 1980s.

Royal was born on April 3, 1942, in Valdosta, Georgia, but grew up in northwest of Atlanta in Marietta. He was born into a musical family, and he sang on his uncle’s radio show at 11. As a teen, he was already performing in a rock and roll band in and around Atlanta, where he befriended people like guitarist Jerry Reed and, importantly, musician and songwriter Joe South. Royal spent time as a singer in clubs in Savannah, including one club that booked Sam Cooke, an artist who influenced Royal’s singing style.

By the early 1960s, Billy Joe Royal’s friend Joe South was already enjoying success as a songwriter and studio musician. South reached out to Royal and asked him to record vocals on a new song, “Down in the Boondocks.” To achieve the echo effects heard on the track, the producers lugged a large septic tank into the studio in which Royal recorded his vocals. The song’s story about young love across class boundaries struck a chord with audiences; it became a top-40 hit in Great Britain, a top-10 hit in the United States, and it hit No. 1 in Canada. “Down in the Boondocks” is our Classic Americana song pick this week.

Royal followed that up with two more hits in the 1960s — “I Knew You When” and “Hush” — both penned by Joe South. A later hit, 1969’s “Cherry Hill Park,” was written by Robert Nix and Billy Gilmore.

The 1970s saw a decline for Billy Joe Royal, but he reinvented himself in the 1980s as a country singer and enjoyed steady success for the remainder of his career. Royal died peacefully in 2015 at age 73 at his home on the North Carolina coast.

External Links

Billy Joe Royal – Discogs site