TIME MACHINE POET OF THE WEEK

Billy Joe Royal

Born	April 3, 1942 Valdosta, Georgia, U.S.
Died	October 6, 2015 (aged 73) Morehead City, North Carolina, U.S.

Billy Joe Royal was an American musician known for his unique voice and collaborations with Joe South & B.J. Thomas. His most popular song “Down in the Boondocks” reached number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Here’s a summary of the song taken from Wikipedia.

The song is sung from the perspective of a self-proclaimed “boy from down in the boondocks.” He sings of a girl who lives nearby, for whom he feels love and he steals away with occasionally. The people who live or are born in the boondocks are suggested to be a lower class than those in the city. The girl’s father is the singer’s boss, which, along with the social division, prevents him from proclaiming his love and connecting with them, despite the shared feelings. The singer proclaims that “one fine day, I’ll find a way, to move from this old shack,” presumably to be able to join the higher class members of society and finally be able to date the girl within the public eye.

Not only limited to music, Billy Joe Royal had small cameos and roles in films and performed on a regular basis until his death in 2015. Project Astral was grateful to call him a friend and BJR is our TIME MACHINE POET OF THE WEEK.

(Screenshot from Hush Music Video where BJR portrays a Rock n Roll singer who owes the mob)

This is an official PROJECT ASTRAL article.

– Press Graye