Biography
Led by vocalists and tunesmiths Vince Gill and Rodney Crowell, the Notorious Cherry Bombs originated as an offshoot of Emmylou Harris’s storied Hot Band. Legend holds that after Warner Bros. signed Harris in late 1974, executives told her to put together “a hot band,” prompting her to recruit the top session players then working in country music. The unit’s earliest lineup—guitarists Crowell and James Burton, steel guitarist Hank DeVito, pianist Glen D. Hardin, bassist Emory Gordy, Jr., and drummer John Ware—first appeared with Harris across three nights at San Francisco’s Boarding House in spring 1975. When Burton became ill the next year, Albert Lee took his chair, locking in the ensemble’s longest-running and most celebrated configuration. Although the Hot Band’s salaries reportedly saddled Harris with $125,000 in debt, their instrumental brilliance elevated her recordings and set enduring standards for Nashville road and studio groups alike. Harris also cut several Crowell compositions; when he departed the Hot Band in 1980 to make his second solo album, But What Will the Neighbors Think, he sought to revive that same camaraderie by forming his own elite outfit, the Cherry Bombs. Its original roster featured fellow Hot Band veterans DeVito and Gordy along with guitarists Gill and Richard Bennett, keyboardist Tony Brown, and drummer Larrie London.
The Cherry Bombs backed Crowell on the road and supported his then-wife Rosanne Cash as well, yet despite strong reviews Crowell’s initial solo efforts failed to connect commercially and the band gradually dispersed. By the mid-1980s only Gill and Gordy remained, though Brown returned as producer for 1988’s Diamonds & Dirt, the release that finally delivered Crowell mainstream success. Gill soon launched his own major solo career, ultimately collecting a record-tying 14 Grammy Awards, while Brown became one of Nashville’s leading producers, overseeing projects for Lyle Lovett, George Strait, and Reba McEntire. Gordy and Bennett likewise built notable production credits; DeVito turned to songwriting, penning Juice Newton’s crossover hit “Queen of Hearts,” before establishing himself as a photographer. London sustained his session work and led drum clinics nationwide until suffering a fatal heart attack during one such workshop in April 1992; he slipped into a coma and passed away on August 24 of that year. Two decades later, at the 2003 ASCAP Awards banquet in Nashville, the Cherry Bombs shared a stage again for the first time since the early 1980s. The reunion prompted them to book studio time, recruiting longtime Crowell bassist Michael Rhodes to fill in for Gordy, who opted out, and drummer Eddie Bayers, who played London’s original kit on a project dedicated to his memory. Keyboardist John Hobbs rounded out the lineup. Legal considerations led the self-titled debut, issued in 2004, to appear under the name the Notorious Cherry Bombs.
The Cherry Bombs backed Crowell on the road and supported his then-wife Rosanne Cash as well, yet despite strong reviews Crowell’s initial solo efforts failed to connect commercially and the band gradually dispersed. By the mid-1980s only Gill and Gordy remained, though Brown returned as producer for 1988’s Diamonds & Dirt, the release that finally delivered Crowell mainstream success. Gill soon launched his own major solo career, ultimately collecting a record-tying 14 Grammy Awards, while Brown became one of Nashville’s leading producers, overseeing projects for Lyle Lovett, George Strait, and Reba McEntire. Gordy and Bennett likewise built notable production credits; DeVito turned to songwriting, penning Juice Newton’s crossover hit “Queen of Hearts,” before establishing himself as a photographer. London sustained his session work and led drum clinics nationwide until suffering a fatal heart attack during one such workshop in April 1992; he slipped into a coma and passed away on August 24 of that year. Two decades later, at the 2003 ASCAP Awards banquet in Nashville, the Cherry Bombs shared a stage again for the first time since the early 1980s. The reunion prompted them to book studio time, recruiting longtime Crowell bassist Michael Rhodes to fill in for Gordy, who opted out, and drummer Eddie Bayers, who played London’s original kit on a project dedicated to his memory. Keyboardist John Hobbs rounded out the lineup. Legal considerations led the self-titled debut, issued in 2004, to appear under the name the Notorious Cherry Bombs.
Albums
