Stony Browder Jr. (February 7, 1949 – October 6, 2001) – Sour & Sweet/Lemon In The Honey (1976)

Browder Jr. and his brother August Darnell were the masterminds of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band and co-wrote their debut LP's stellar swing-disco closing cut.

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Stony Browder Jr. was a keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter, producer, and one of two brothers who co-founded and led the influential big band and swing-flavored disco group Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band. He wrote their music while his half-brother Thomas August Darnell Browder (aka August Darnell) handled lyrics.

See our earlier post on August Darnell for more on the musical history of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, and Michael A. Gonzales' definitive Longreads profile on Darnell from 2019, “Wonderful Things: The Kid Creole and the Coconuts Story.”

Born and raised in the Bronx, their father was from Savannah, Georgia. In high school, they met singer Cory Daye and formed their first group together, The In-Laws.

After high school, the band broke up while Darnell attended college and then became a middle school English teacher. But the two brothers and Daye later formed another group, called Savannah. In 1971 they released their debut single on the New York-based label P.I.P. Records, the gospel-soul flavored “Oh, Black Day” b/w the superb jam “The First Good Thing.”

They were named in homage to their father’s hometown, and also inspired by one of their early mentors. As Stony told a reporter from Time in the mid-70s, “Dr. Buzzard, who managed our bands in high school, got us off on Savannah with devilishly decadent stories about his own band days in the South.” In 1974 they rechristened themselves Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band.

When percussionist Andy Hernandez auditioned, he was given a written test graded on a score of 100 that asked him about things like his politics, taste in women, and whether he was willing to wear tight pants. He scored a 48 but was still asked to join the group.

Their self-titled debut album was recorded in early 1976 and released later that year on RCA Records, a label they chose partially because Elvis was on RCA.

Most of its songs (save for a Cole Porter number in a medley) were co-written by Browder Jr. and Darnell, produced by Sandy Linzer, and arranged by Browder Jr., with horns and strings co-arranged by Charlie Calello and Browder Jr. The LP’s opening cut “I’ll Play The Fool” was a swing-disco masterpiece, solely credited to Darnell on some pressings and to Darnell-Browder Jr. on others.

Tommy Mottola, the Bronx-born manager of Hall & Oates, was name-checked in the opening line to “Cherchez La Femme,” after he helped the group land their record deal.

Issued as a single on October 23, 1976, the song became their biggest-ever hit, topping disco charts and landing at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #31 R&B.

The album’s other highlights were the funky love anthem “We Got It Made/Night and Day” which was partially adapted from the Cole Porter classic “Night and Day,” and its stellar closing cut “Sour and Sweet/Lemon in the Honey.”

Their third LP James Monroe H.S. Presents Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band Goes to Washington (1979) was the last album the group recorded with their original lineup.

Its closing cut was the superb “Italiano,” with lyrics that were tongue-in-cheek but semi-autobiographically serious, resembling the tale of the group’s brief rise to fame.

“Not too long ago, I was in demand. Riding high on the silver screen. How was I to know, I’d get out of hand. So long, castles and limousines. Big shots say that I’m no good no more. (Dummies!) Understand, I’m much better than before.”

In 1979, Darnell and Browder. Jr. co-wrote a song for Darnell’s new project the Aural Exciters. Darnell was co-producing this short-lived group with Bob Blank, which also featured Andy Hernandez and vocalists including Taana Gardner and Patrick Adams’ frequent collaborator Christine Wiltshire. The superb No Wave jam “Paradise” was released as the B-side to their single “My Boy Lollipop.”

The following year in 1980, Darnell, Hernandez (aka Coati Mundi), and Darnell’s then-wife Adriana “Addy” Kaegi formed a new group, Kid Creole and the Coconuts. They would expand on the musical foundation laid by Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band. Browder Jr. re-constituted the earlier group a few years later minus Darnell, and issued one final album, Calling All Beatniks! (1984). Sadly, he died of complications from a stroke in 2001, gone much too soon at age 52.

Happy 75th Birthday in Heaven to the great Stony Browder Jr.

Further info:

“Sass and Class,” Time, November 1, 1976.

“Rewind: Luke Howard on Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band,” interview by Finn Johannsen, Finn-Johannsen.de, October 4, 2010.

“Savannah Band is Waiting for You, America,” by Eva Tudor Jones, Finn-Johannsen.de, November 12, 2013.

“Wonderful Things: The Kid Creole and the Coconuts Story,” by Michael A. Gonzales, Longreads, December 18, 2019.

#soul #funk #disco #DrBuzzardsOriginalSavannahBand #StonyBrowderJr