Running on Empty
Songs he had never released, recorded on stage, backstage, in hotel rooms and on the tour bus.
Jackson Browne, 1977
- Released
- 6 December 1977
- Recorded
- 17 August to 17 September 1977
- Studio
- On tour: on stage, backstage, in hotel rooms and on the bus
- Label
- Asylum
- Producer
- Jackson Browne
- Length
- 41:49
- Type
- live
Browne first saw it as a way to fill the gap between studio albums, but playing new songs to audiences turned it into something else: none of its songs had been on an earlier Browne record, and it was the first time he recorded covers. The title song comes from Merriweather Post Pavilion, You Love the Thunder from the Garden State Arts Center, Rosie from backstage at Saratoga, Cocaine and Shaky Town from hotel rooms, and Nothing but Time from the bus. He later called the title an imperfect banner to fly. AllMusic judged it his least ambitious but perhaps most accessible album. It reached number three in the US, and a 2005 Rhino remaster added Cocaine Again and Edwardsville Room 124.
Track listing
- Running on Empty5:20
- The Road4:50
- Rosie3:37
- You Love the Thunder3:52
- Cocaine4:55
- Shaky Town3:36
- Love Needs a Heart3:28
- Nothing but Time3:05
- The Load-Out5:38
- Stay3:28
Personnel
- Jackson Browne vocals, guitar, piano
- David Lindley lap steel, fiddle
- Danny Kortchmar lead guitar
- Craig Doerge keyboards
- Leland Sklar bass
- Russ Kunkel drums
- Rosemary Butler backing vocals
- Doug Haywood backing vocals
- Joel Bernstein backing vocals
- Greg Ladanyi engineer
More from Jackson Browne
The Pretender (1976)
Sources
- Running on Empty (album), Wikipedia
- Remember when Jackson Browne reinvented the live album in 1977, American Songwriter (2026-06-07)
- Jackson Browne's golden years, MusicRadar