"And How Old Is Leon Russell These Days?"

Slightly more than thirty years ago, I met the woman who's now the lovely Mrs. Gammons.  We discovered we had similar tastes in music, among other things.  One of our mutual favorites was Leon Russell, a popular piano player, singer and composer with a string of hits in the 1970's.  He worked with Joe Cocker and Eric Clapton, among others, and had a successful solo career of his own.

One evening way back then, while listening to Will O' the Wisp, Mrs. Gammons commented that Russell sounded really good, for a man his age.  Thirty years ago, she believed he was in his late sixties, maybe seventies.  Leon was one of those people who always looked a lot older than he really was, due in large part to his prematurely gray long hair and beard.  In those long ago pre-internet days, we had no way to accurately check his age, but I eventually persuaded her that despite his appearance, Leon Russell could not possibly be that old.

Ever since then, every time the dear wife went off the chronological rails, guessing about someone's age, I'd needle her with something like, "And how old is Leon Russell these days?  He must be about a hundred and ten by now."  (Which always earned me the well-deserved hairy eyeball or the one-finger salute, or both.)

The great Leon Russell died yesterday.  He was 74 years old.  We will probably listen to a bit of his music tonight.