In the summer of 1965, "Down in the Boondocks" launched the
top 40 career of Billy Joe Royal, who had recorded the song a year earlier. The song's writer,
Joe South, was a longtime friend and professional associate of Royal: South had played guitar for Royal since the singer had begun performing in local venues at age 14, and from 1961 South had produced Royal's recordings of
demos and low-budget
singles. Some claim Royal's recording of "Down in the Boondocks" was intended to serve as a demo to pitch the song to
Gene Pitney, the song being evocative of Pitney's trademark hit sound with an especial resemblance to Pitney's 1963 hit "
Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa":
Bill Lowery, South's music publisher and Royal's manager, was so impressed with Royal's own recording of "Down in the Boondocks" as to pursue a major label release for it. Royal himself would deny any intent to pitch the song to Pitney - (Billy Joe Royal quote:)"We would've never [been able to get] a song to him...Our plan was [for Royal] to try to sing like Gene Pitney...We were so young, we thought: 'Well they'll think it's Gene Pitney, and by the time they know it's [not, it'll already be] a hit'". "Down in the Boondocks" was recorded in a four hour session at the Gearhart Building, the converted schoolhouse in
Buckhead which housed Bill Lowery's business headquarters, the school's auditorium serving as a recording studio: (Billy Joe Royal quote:)"We cut it on a three-track machine - the most primitive thing in the world. How it sounded like a record I don't know": "We put a microphone down a
septic tank and ran that through the recording for the echo." Session musicians included
Reggie Young on electric guitar, Bill Hullett on acoustic guitar, Sam Levine on horns, Clayton Ivey on piano, Bob Wray on six string bass, Greg Morrow on drums, and
Freddy Weller on rhythm guitar/background vocals. The session also yielded the original
torch song "
I Knew You When", plus, to serve as potential
B-sides, covers of the hits "
Oh, What a Night" (
the Dells) and "
Steal Away" (
Jimmy Hughes). Royal considered "I Knew You When" - reminiscent of
the Righteous Brothers' recent smash hits - as more likely than "Down in the Boondocks" to be picked up by a major label - backed by "Oh, What a Night" - in the spring of 1965. "Down in the Boondocks" "broke out" at
WCPO in
Cincinnati, where Royal had been living for two years when South had phoned Royal inviting him back to Atlanta to record "Down in the Boondocks": (Billy Joe Royal quote:)"It became number one overnight in Cincinnati, because I’d been doing sock hops with local disc jockeys. Then it became a hit in
Savannah - where Royal had spent two years headlining the iconic local club the Bamboo Ranch - "then, it went crazy everywhere else." "Down in the Boondocks" rose to number 9 on the
Billboard Hot 100 dated 28 August 1965. Reaching number one on the Canadian hit parade published by
RPM magazine, "Down in the Boondocks" also reached number 10 on the singles chart for Australia. Despite Royal making a three-day promotional visit to
London in September 1965, "Down in the Boondocks" failed to become a major
UK Singles Chart hit, stalling at number 38. ==Notable remakes==