BUDDY BUIE AND PAUL COCHRAN


page 46 of the August 8, 1970 issue of RECORD WORLD:

BBC PRODUCTIONS BIG

Some years ago, heavy set and curly-headed Buddy Buie wrote a song called "Party Doll" which became a national hit and launched Buddy on his career as a Top 40 producer and songwriter.

Buie had worked with several artists including Roy Orbison as a road manager and later as a promoter of shows. At about the time Joe South was cutting the Classics IV for Capitol, Bill Lowery, Paul Cochran and Buddy started their own publishing company- Low-Sal. The first hit title in the new pubbery was Sandy Posey's "I TAKE IT BACK" written by J.R. Cobb and Buie. Mike Sharp and Harry Middlebrooks wrote an instrumental called "SPOOKY," Buie and Cobb added lyrics and took over production on the Classics IV, launching them as a national act.

Other Buie-Cobb tunes included "TRACES," an 800,000 seller for the Classics; and "EVERY DAY WITH YOU GIRL," a half-million seller for the Classics.

"Now we've got the Classics in a ballad bag and we've established a buying market. Every album we put out sells 150,000 records.We are trying to fill the gap between Top 40 and Easy Listening. I don't care if the Classics never sell another Top 40 record. Easy Listening is a neglected market," Buie said.

Buie and Cobb, along with Bill Lowery, have built Studio One which will be used exclusively by BBC Productions. The company already has label deals for several new ventures. One of the acts that most excites Buie is his studio group, the Atlanta Rhythm Section. "This is my dream. We are taking our rhythm section that took some five years to put together and we're going into the studio and cutting whatever we feel. The group is great to work with.There are no arguments, no hassles. We may take six months cutting the master on this group and of the 50 sides that we cut, we'll probably throw away 40. I think the group is fantastic! As a matter of fact, they're so good a group of pickers that we might title their album 'Eat Your Heart Out'. "

When asked about his three favorite singers, Buie told RECORD WORLD, "In order of preference, they're Merle Haggard, Joe Cocker and Tom Jones."

This bit of closing information is probably the best indication of what Atlanta music really is.