Song:Drift Away
Album:Ultimate Collection
The 1973 song Drift Away was the only top five pop hit for country soul singer Dobie Gray. He's had a long career in Nashville. There is some dispute about his birthname and date but he was apparently born Lawrence Ainsworth July 26, 1940 in Simonton, TX. His grandfather was a Baptist minister and he grew up singing in church. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 60s and recorded as Lawrence Ainsworth, Larry Curtis and Larry Dennis before charting in 1965 with The In Crowd and See You At The Go-Go as Dobie Gray. The problem was he was on small labels and was unable to sustain the momentum of those hits. Gray spent two years performing in the Los Angeles production of Hair before resurfacing in the early 70s on MCA Records working with producer Mentor Williams. He's the brother of singer songwriter Paul Williams and he wrote and produced Drift Away. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gray left MCA for Capricorn in 1974 and eventually moved to Nashville and had some success in the country market in the 80s. This comp has all his hits. Drift Away got a big boost when Uncle Kracker had a hit with it in 2004. So it's still a very popular song. Dobie Gray still tours today. According to his website, he was planning a new album last year but it doesn't look like it surfaced. Here's Dobie Gray performing Drift Away on The Old Grey Whistle Test 1974.
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