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Legendary Musician Leon Russell Goes "Back To The Island"

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leonrussellrecords.com

Musician, writer and producer Leon Russell passed away November 13 at the age of 74. Russell’s wife, Jan Bridges, said in a statement that her husband died in his sleep at their Nashville home. Russell had heart bypass surgery in July and had been planning on resuming touring in January.

Leon Russell talked with Grady Kirkpatrick ahead of his show in Laramie Aug 6, 2013.

Grady Kirkpatrick with his Leon Russell vinyl and Master of Space and Time T-Shirt.

Credit Anna Rader

Grady Kirkpatrick

Grady has taken a circuitous route from his hometown of Kansas City to Wyoming. Sometime after the London Bridge had fallen down, he moved to Arizona and attended Arizona State University and actually graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. ("He's a Lumberjack and he's OK……..!") He began his radio career in Prescott in 1982 and eventually returned to Kansas City where he continued in radio through the summer of 1991. Public Radio and the Commonwealth of Kentucky beckoned him to the bluegrass state where he worked as Operations/Program Manager at WKMS in Murray and WNKU in Highland Heights just across the Ohio from Cincinnati.

See stories by Grady Kirkpatrick