Song of the Day 9/1: The Sanford-Townsend Band, “Smoke From a Distant Fire”

It’s wildfire season again in California, and smoke reaching the jet stream is creating spectacular sunsets across the Midwestern and Mountain states. Some of it has even reached Delaware, which brings us to this blue-eyed soul classic, which reached No. 9 on the Hot 100 in 1977.

Ed Sanford and Johnny Townsend were both keyboard players from Alabama who had a band called Heart, predating the Wilson sisters’ band of that name, that received a recording contract and opened for Jimi Hendrix before calling it quits. They separately moved to Los Angeles, where they reunited and got a contract as a songwriting team. A demo tape they put together to sell their songs won them a recording contract instead. They went back to Muscle Shoals to record their first LP, and struck gold with the help of legendary producer Jerry Wexler.

They wrote this song with Sanford’s roommate, an aspiring classical guitarist who kept Sanford awake with his practicing. One morning when Townsend was visiting, a sleepy Sanford said to his roommate, “When are you gonna stop wasting your time on that classical crap and write something that will make you some money?” The roommate responded by playing the riff that became the basis for “Smoke” and said, “Anybody can write that crap.” Townsend told him, “Apparently you just did,” and the three worked out the rest of the tune on the piano. The title came from a poem Sanford had written years before.

The band released two more albums, neither of which sold much, before Sanford and Townsend moved on to session and soundtrack work in Los Angeles.