Capricorn Records: Southbound

I got tied up with being the chauffeur for the kids and cutting the grass that I nearly forgot to post my final salute to Capricorn Records. In the early days of the label, there was no label per se. The first five albums were issued on ATCO with the designation as “Capricorn Records Series.” The sixth Capricorn album was the initial album on Capricorn Records proper in 1971.

UK ACTO/Capricorn Series jacket

While foreign releases of Alex Taylor’s “With Friends and Neighbors” were still issued on ATCO or even Atlantic with the “Capricorn Series” designation, the US version was first album to sport a pink Capricorn label. Alex Taylor was the oldest of the singing Taylor siblings, that included James, Livingston, and Kate; he had joined his younger brother Livingston as a Capricorn recording artist.

Brother James Taylor provided two songs for the album and added his guitar. The album also featured the duo of Scott Boyer and Tommy Talton, better known as Cowboy (our featured act this past Wednesday). Boyer provided two songs while his partner Talton supplied one. Our selected cut, however, came from another Capricorn artist – The Allman Brothers.

US jacket on Capricorn

The bluesy “Southbound” was written by co-lead guitarist for the Allmans – “Dickey Betts.” None of the members of The Allman Brothers Band, including Betts, appeared on this album though. The stellar keyboards, by the way, were courtesy of Paul Hornsby; for without whom, this cut would not have been as wonderful.