James Peter Britton
"The King""
original roadie, lyricist and melodrama

JB and Monte Yoho 1978
Contributed by Monte Yoho (a true "Knight" of the King's Court)

The liner notes written by Henry Paul for the release of "The Best of The Outlaws" includes this listing which may have gone unnoticed by some, or with question by others.

" Surviving the whirlwind lifestyle was another challenge, which at times was unforgiving.
In the spirit of honoring those who gave their lives to the music, we dedicate this album
to Billy Jones, Frank O'Keefe, James Peter Britton, Tommy Caldwell, Toy Caldwell,
Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, Allen  Collins, Cassie Gaines, Duane Allman and Berry Oakley."

James Peter Britton was one of the folks associated with the Outlaws of the late 1960's and early 1970's...he was the all around "roadie" for the band, loading the van, setting up equipment, handling the sound and lights.   When band members needed a place to practice, party or crash, the door was always open.  He had a round of nicknames, but the one most widely attached to him was "The King"...virtually nobody called him anything but J.B. or King, except his mother and his grandmother, who always called him "Jimmie". (Monte and I can both do a mean imitation of JB's grandma Ethel yellin' "Jim-MEE")

J. B. was born Aug 6, 1949 in Tampa, FL.  Tragically, two months before J.B. was born, his father, a firefighter for the city of Tampa, died of a heart attack.   His mother took him back to her parent's home in Clearwater, where he grew up.

J.B.  was profoundly dedicated to the band, which shared his heart with his other love in life, baseball.  It was not uncommon to find "the B" listening to static filled broadcasts on AM radio of Dodgers games, long after AM radio was
out of "fashion".  He also played city league softball and could often be seen sporting his Clearwater High School letter jacket (ironically received for being manager of the basketball team).  Being a Leo, he also felt cats were "part of his family" and it was rare for him not to have at least one around.

While he played no musical instrument and frankly couldn't carry a tune in a bucket (sorry King but it was  true...) he
was a true poet, a genius with words.  Even a letter from J.B. was often a literary feat to be read and reread...filled with profound philosophical analysis of the most trivial day to day life, and punctuated with quotations from the world's great minds, including his own.

J.B. could weave magic with a pen, and did so, keeping journal after journal of memories and poems,  some of which later turned to lyrics.  Those who knew him were keenly aware that some of these poems, complete or in part, wove themselves into the Outlaw's songs.  Unfortunately, when the words wove themselves into gold, J.B. got no credit for what he had done, nor any of the gold.

A box of tapes of the early years of the band in which the introductions to the songs, giving the credits to those who
truly penned them, were spirited away from J.B. under the pretext of having the 31+ cassettes cleaned up and remixed at a studio and returned.  They were never seen again, but songs and parts of which were on them appeared later on "The Outlaws" and "Hurry Sundown", credited to Hughie Thomasson.  The carefully guarded journals, stored in an always locked brown briefcase, also were "spirited" away from J.B.'s house in Clearwater FL.  Where the tapes or the journals went is still unknown to this day, but once they had vanished, so had any claim James Britton had to his own work.

In defense of certain members of the band, when the gold came to them and not to The King, who was again pushing plates as a cook at O'Keefe's Restaurant, some small offerings of the take were presented to the King...whether it was of guilt or sympathy is known only to them.  Sadly, to "The King" it was not the money that mattered, but the credit for the time spent, the heart and the soul, which did.

A recently uncovered radio interview from WLIR-FM in Long Island NY done by a DJ named Bob Crane for a show called "Sunday at Nine"  featuring Henry Paul (to promote the 2nd album of the Henry Paul Band) includes the following quote from Henry regarding Green Grass and High Tides--

Crane asks Henry Paul about the origins of  GG&HT and the response, directly quoted from Henry was:

"The song itself was a ballad and it was written by Hughie Thomasson.  Now the song used to be a short song, it was about a 3 and a half minute song and I believe, in all fairness to Hughie, there was a certain amount of help in the lyrical content of the song from a friend of his, J.B, James Peter Britton"

The interview then goes on to discuss how the song developed from its 3 1/2 minute ballad to
a long "time killer" for bar sets, where the long instrumental parts were developed.

Ironically, he did go to see the band several times after all this happened (the shot at the top of this page is a backstage photo of the King and Monte taken in 1978) but it was always followed by a massive period of dismay  which even the most loyal friends could do little to change.

J.B.  did go on later to work  for a time with the Tampa based band "The Headlights"  but never again trusted a soul with a lyric or written word.  He sunk into a profound depression, fueled by alcohol and the betrayals of the Outlaws, both real and perceived, and eventually stopped working all together.  When advised by doctors that he was suffering from cirrosis of the liver and would die if he did not stop consuming alcohol,  he chose to ignore the warnings.

In his mind and heart, he'd died when his lyrics were taken, when the Outlaws had left him behind, for it had taken his very soul.  He died penniless, but not friendless, in Clearwater Florida on February 11, 1984.  Old friends were at his side when he left earth for Rock and Roll Heaven.

It is sad to note that even in his last days, some people chose to take advantage of his kindness AND his weakness, even to the point of stealing the money collected in a jar by a local watering hole,  which was to be used to pay for his gravestone and funeral expenses.   Other than one cousin, who promptly sold the 100 year old plus family home which was demolished, he had no family to pay these expenses.  A second collection was taken up among old friends, but it was not enough.  One long time friend (who shall remain nameless here) then took out his checkbook and made up the difference at the funeral home.  To that person,  all who knew J.B. owe a huge round of gratitude.

James Peter Britton is  buried at Sylvan Abbey Memorial Park, Clearwater Florida next to his mother and grandparents.  He went to his next life wearing his beloved letter jacket and surrounded with baseball tokens and other relics of his time with us. His marker, paid for by his friends,  reads "Green Grass and High Tides Forever".

It's not very hard, if you read between the lines, to figure this story out

Sadly, I lost almost all of the photos I had of JB in a flood while living in Texas.  If anyone has any, I would REALLY appreciate having them (Thanks Monte for the one at the top of the page--he was sure "Kingin'" that night...)  The few I have left I have posted in the Photo Album section.

As mentioned previously, J.B. played softball on a number of Clearwater area city league teams.  Dave Meyer, a former teammate on the "Hobbit Pub" softball team sent along this great photo of the team but between the two of us we have been unable to identify all the players.  If you know who the unknowns are or can provide missing first names or spelling corrections, please email the website and let us know.

I've also posted a few interesting items from some old letters I still have from J.B. which discuss the band. (Sorry I cut out all the personal stuff...taint nobody's business but mine..)