At his commercial peak in the late 1970s and early ’80s, Bill LaBounty became a kind of avatar of boomer divorce. His best songs dwell on the emotional fallout of very adult relationships: fractured trust, obsessive jealousy, loss of identity, the ache of memory, even the desire for revenge. At the center of each tale of woe is his voice: soulful but slightly cracked, as if he’s been up all night crying. LaBounty wasn’t making music to help listeners through bad breakups. He was instead creating the ultimate soundtrack for wallowing.
His pain wasn’t a put-on. A particularly messy divorce provided enough material to fill four albums, which he recorded with some of the most elite studio musicians in Los Angeles.
“They always say you should write what you know, and if all you know is having your heart broken, that’s a good place to start,” LaBounty told me during an interview last February at a dimly lit bar and grill he frequents near his home in southwest Nashville.
It wasn’t long ago that LaBounty came to believe he was more or less retired from music. He turned to other pursuits, including his lifelong passion for cartooning, and with a partner launched a digital greeting card business as an outlet for his art. But today marks his comeback, as he releases his first LP in 12 years, Love at the End of the World.
He recorded the album in Paris with members of the French Steely Dan tribute group Dr Wu. Their musicianship, arrangements, and production prowess have given the project a level of sophistication and polish that rivals LaBounty’s early L.A. records. Now in his 70s, LaBounty is still singing about heartache, but after decades of a contented marriage to songwriter Beckie Foster, his lens has widened beyond the domestic. On songs such as “People Are Human,” “Keep the Planet Spinning,” and the album’s title track, he acknowledges the struggle to forge bonds and maintain sanity amid the storms of modern life.
Over fish tacos, LaBounty spoke in depth for the first time about how the breakup of his first marriage informed his divorce-core classics. He also talked about his regard for Steely Dan, his collaborations with Jeff Porcaro and other session players, and the circumstances that led to his return to the studio.