Sonny Throckmorton at New Malibu Aug. 7

Sonny Throckmorton at New Malibu Aug. 7

Frank Brown Songwriters Festival veterans Sonny Throckmorton (pictured) and Rock Killough will make a special joint appearance at Joe Gilchrist’s New Malibu Lounge in Pensacola on Aug. 7 from 3-7 p.m. Banana Republic will follow at 7 p.m.
Throckmorton has had over 1,000 of his songs recorded by such artists as Tanya Tucker, Dave & Sugar, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, the Oak Ridge Boys, Doug Stone and even comedian George Burns.
After college, Throckmorton moved from Texas to San Francisco and played rock & roll in area clubs. At the urging of guitarist and publisher Pete Drake, he switched to country music and moved to Nashville in 1964, working as a bass player for Carl and Pearl Butler for two years. In 1965, Bobby Lewis had a Top Five hit with Throckmorton’s “How Long Has It Been.”
In 1975, Throckmorton moved to Texas because he had promised himself that he would quit music if he didn’t succeed by age 35. His fellow songwriters continued trying to sell Throckmorton’s songs, however, and six months later he returned and was rehired by Tree. In nine months, over 150 of his songs were recorded.
Between 1976 and 1980, a Throckmorton song appeared on the charts almost every week. His 1978 hit for Jerry Lee Lewis, “Middle Age Crazy,” even became the basis of a major movie, and he was named Songwriter of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association three years in a row starting between 1978 and 1980.
A member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, Throckmorton retired to his Texas farm to be with his family and is making this special appearance while here visiting friends, including Malibu owner Gilchrist. The Malibu is located at 1000 Gulf Beach Hwy. (850-456-0999).