Words and Music: Buddy Buie by Haley Walden

(Written for Alabama Music Magazine, July 2009)

These days, songwriter Buddy Buie spends most of his time at his home on Lake Eufaula, and it’s no wonder. He has enjoyed a long, successful career in the music industry, both as a songwriter and producer. With a BMI combined airplay of 17 million performances of songs he’s written or co-written throughout his career, he deserves a little time to fish. Buie started writing songs when he was about 17 years old. “I was bashful,” he said. “I didn’t tell anybody that I was writing songs in my head. They were about my girlfriend and things like that.” Since Buie didn’t play guitar, he enlisted the help of musician friends to help him interpret what he was hearing in his head. “I sought out good musicians to work with,” he said. Bobby Goldsboro, John Rainey Adkins, Robert Nix and Dean Daughtry became Buie’s primary co-writers during his active career in the music industry. “Bobby Goldsboro and I wrote quite a few things together, but John Rainey was the first person to take me seriously as a songwriter,” Buie said. The first chart record he ever had cut was by Tommy Roe in Muscle Shoals. During one of Roe’s recording sessions, producer Felton Jarvis (who later worked with Elvis Presley) refused to let Buie into the studio. “I stood outside and waited ‘till they took a break to go eat something…[then] I accosted them.” Buie sang his song, “Party Girl,” a cappella for Jarvis and Roe. “Tommy said, ‘Buddy, I like that.’ They said, ‘We’re gonna cut that.’” “Party Girl” made it to the Billboard Charts: “Number 88 with a bullet, and boy I was excited,” Buie said. Buie worked as a booking agent and promoter in his hometown of Dothan, Ala. “I brought Roy Orbison to Dothan. Later on, the band I’d furnished for him went on the road with him. That was my ticket to the big time, my ticket out of Dothan.” The furnished band – originally named The Webs, featuring Goldsboro on guitar – was re-named The Candymen. Orbison brought Buie on as his road manager. “Orbison was just a wonderful human being,” Buie said. “He recorded one of our songs [“Afraid to Sleep”] – it wasn’t a hit, but it was on an album.” While on the road, Buie continued writing songs, recalling early influences like Orbison, Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, George Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Tin Pan Alley songwriters. After his stint with Orbison, Buie moved to Atlanta in 1965, where he was introduced to the group Classics IV. In the late 1960s he wrote Top 10 hits for the group that soared to become standards, such as “Everyday With You Girl,” “Spooky,” “Stormy,” and “Traces.” “We set out to write standards by modeling them after standards, as far as structure goes,” he said. Buie and co-writer J.R. Cobb wanted to create “melodies with longevity.” Buie built a recording facility called Studio One, where he recorded exclusively. During the 1960s he produced more than 20 hit records. Notable artists who recorded at Studio One during its life span included Classics IV, The Atlanta Rhythm Section, Orbison, Tommy Roe, Billy Joe Royal, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Skynyrd’s southern anthem “Sweet Home Alabama” was recorded at Buie’s studio. One of the greatest experiences of Buie’s career was forming the Atlanta Rhythm Section, for which he was producer and writer. The band was formed in Doraville, Ga. Their first album, “The Atlanta Rhythm Section,” was released in 1972 and created little stir. Five years and six albums later, “A Rock and Roll Alternative” went gold with its second single, “So Into You.” Buie called it “a labor of love.” In 1978, ARS reached its height with “Champagne Jam.” In the 1990s, Buie wrote hits like Wynonna Judd’s “Rock Bottom” and Garth Brooks’ “Mr. Midnight.” He has also written cuts by Travis Tritt. He was inducted into both the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. Buie wrote hundreds of songs during the span of his successful songwriting career, and finally sold his publishing company to Sony. He now enjoys retirement at Lake Eufaula where most of his hit songs were written. “I’m doing more fishing and traveling now than songwriting,” he said. “I still love it, but I don’t have that fire in my belly that it takes to make it in the big time. I just love my place on the lake. “I love my life. I still love our songs – you never get it out of your blood. I’m not active…I don’t chase the hits like I used to.” Although most of Buie’s hits were recorded in Georgia, they were written in Alabama at Lake Eufaula. Buie’s heart and loyalties lie in his home state, where his songs were penned. “Lots of people think of me as being a Georgia songwriter, but I’m an Alabama songwriter,” he said.