On-Air Personality Jimmy Rabbitt, Who Brought Outlaw Country To Southern California, Dead At 79

Jimmy Rabbitt (Photo: Jim Evans)

The LOS ANGELES TIMES reports that JIMMY RABBITT, a freeform radio DJ who helped expose outlaw Country music to SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, died of natural causes on NOVEMBER 25th, according to ROBBYN HART, a longtime friend and colleague. He was 79.

RABBITT came to prominence during the late 1960s and early ’70s, a transformational period for Rock radio. His popularity in the L.A. market may have been greatest during his end-of-the-’60s stint at Talk Radio KRLA (AM 870 THE ANSWER)/PASADENA, CA. But it was while DJing at now Sports Talk KLAC (AM 570 LA SPORTS)/LOS ANGELES and KBBQ (AM 1500)/BURBANK, CA, in the early ’70s that he began weaving Country into his Rock playlists. He called the blend “outlaw music,” in a phrase that echoed the term “outlaw Country” coined by NASHVILLE journalist HAZEL SMITH around the same time.

According to HART, RABBITT introduced WILLIE NELSON and WAYLON JENNINGS to CALIFORNIA audiences while moonlighting as a singer with his band RENEGADE. His musical career peaked with a songwriting credit on DAVID ALLAN COE’s 1976 Country hit “Longhaired Redneck,” a song that featured the line, “She says JIMMY RABBITT turned her on to my last album.” The lyric summed up his appeal as a DJ. Whether he was on the AM airwaves or later on satellite radio, he exposed listeners to music they may not otherwise have heard.

RABBITT leaves no survivors.

« see more Net News