Let Your Love Flow

According to Howard Bellamy, who is half of the Bellamy Brothers duo, it pays to be in the right place at the right time. This song is a prime example of that, and went on to become their biggest-selling single. Bellamy told us: "Around '74, we moved from Florida to L.A. to kind of pursue a career. We're from here in Central Florida in a little community called Darby - there is not much of a music scene here, to say the least. So we moved out there and met a lot of guys and met Neil Diamond's band, became good friends with his band. And one day Neil's drummer came over to our house and brought the demo of 'Let Your Love Flow,' and said, 'Hey, this sounds like something you guys would do.' So we went off to record that, and the rest is kind of history. It became not only the largest song of that year, it's become somewhere in the area of one of the largest songs ever, as far as being played. And it's become a standard, basically. I wish another one of those would come along."

Larry Williams, who was one of Neil Diamond's roadies, wrote this song. Neil Diamond, however, turned it down. Says Bellamy: "Well, it really wasn't in Neil Diamond's vein. I would say the guy who wrote this song is the wealthiest roadie now that ever was. Actually, Johnny Rivers had passed on the song. It had been pitched to a few people. It was recorded once by a guy named Gene Cotton; he recorded a kind of unusual version. But when we heard it we had an idea of how we wanted to record it because it kind of fit our style, acoustic bass with a groove, and I think that has a lot to do with it. You've got to really match songs with artists, and I think it was the perfect song for us, a great match."

This song was re-recorded with Hal Ketchum and Lisa Brokup for the Bellamy Brothers 2006 Angels and Outlaws album. (Read more in our Howard Bellamy interview.)