David Ackles

Songwriter first

David Thomas Ackles was born in Rock Island, Illinois, on 20 February 1937. His family moved to Southern California, and Los Angeles remained his home for life. As a child he appeared in Columbia Pictures' Rusty film series in the 1940s. He later studied English literature at the University of Southern California, spent his junior year at the University of Edinburgh, and took a master's degree in film studies.

Ackles joined Elektra Records as a staff songwriter under Jac Holzman. None of his songs suited Elektra's own artists, so Holzman suggested that he record them himself. Ackles said later that he had been signed as a writer only and had never intended to sing his own songs.

The Elektra albums

His first album, David Ackles, appeared in September 1968. Ackles said it had to be made twice, because a first attempt with an arranger he had not chosen was abandoned. It did not sell, but it influenced other singer-songwriters. Elektra reissued it in 1971 as The Road to Cairo, and Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity covered The Road to Cairo soon after its release. Ackles recorded a BBC Top Gear session on 1 October 1968, and Down River was broadcast on 27 October.

Subway to the Country, released in 1970, had a larger budget. The composer Fred Myrow arranged and conducted, and twenty-two musicians are credited. Harry Belafonte covered the title song on Harry & Lena in 1970.

American Gothic

In August 1970 Ackles opened for Elton John's American debut at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. There he met John and John's lyricist Bernie Taupin, both of whom became fans. In 1971 Taupin was hired to produce his third album, and the sessions moved to IBC Sound Recording Studios in London. Ackles first recorded several songs arranged by Del Newman. He was unhappy with them, and he persuaded Elektra to let him arrange the album himself. He rented a house in Wargrave to write the scores.

American Gothic was released on 4 July 1972. Ackles had spent two years on its conception and its arrangements, and it was recorded and mixed in about two weeks. Elektra gave him the biggest budget he had had and advertised the record beforehand as The Album of the Year.

In reviews reproduced on a fan site, Chris Van Ness of the Los Angeles Free Press compared it with Sgt. Pepper in May 1972, and in June Derek Jewell of the Sunday Times wrote, "It's a masterpiece." The record reached number 167 on the Billboard Top LPs. Ackles himself said he could not agree with the Sgt. Pepper comparison. The album holds the title song American Gothic, the hymn-like Family Band, and the closer Montana Song.

Columbia and afterwards

Ackles left Elektra after three albums, and Clive Davis signed him to Columbia. The praise for American Gothic weighed on him. He made Five & Dime largely at home on a four-track recorder, and he delivered it on time and under budget. Davis was dismissed by CBS around the time it came out. It appeared in October 1973 only in the United States, it did not chart, and Columbia did not renew his contract. Ackles did not look for another record deal.

He then fulfilled a publishing contract with Warner Bros., writing songs to order for the company's artists, and he worked on musical theater and television scripts. In the 1980s he went back to USC, first in administration and then to teach musical theater. His musical Sister Aimee, about Aimee Semple McPherson, was performed in Los Angeles in 1995. He died on 2 March 1999.

Legacy

Elton John dedicated his 1970 album Tumbleweed Connection to Ackles. Elvis Costello named Ackles in his 2003 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech as a major influence. In Vanity Fair in November 2000 Costello called him "perhaps the greatest unheralded songwriter of the late 60s". Phil Collins chose Down River for Desert Island Discs, and John and Costello performed it as their first duet on the television series Spectacle.

Spooky Tooth recorded Down River in 1970, and the Hollies included it on their 1972 album Romany. The first three Elektra albums were reissued on CD in 1994 and again in 2000. A double CD of them with unreleased songs, There Is A River: The Elektra Recordings, was prepared for 2007 but never released. Mark Brend's biography, Down River: In Search of David Ackles, was published in 2025.