Exile - Live at the Franklin Theatre (2014)

Among rock listeners, Exile is remembered as the one-hit wonder responsible for 1978's number one smash Kiss You All Over. However, in the early '80s, the Kentucky-bred band reinvented itself as a country outfit -- and a hugely successful one at that. Exile was actually formed all the way back in 1963 in Berea, KY, by singer/guitarist J.P. Pennington, the son of onetime Coon Creek GirlLily May Ledford. With a lineup that featured Pennington, Stokley, Cornelison, second keyboardist Marlon Hargis, bassist Sonny LeMaire, and drummer Steve Goetzman. Their 1978 label debut, Mixed Emotions, produced an enormous hit in the disco-tinged pop number Kiss You All Over, which topped the charts and also proved to be their only major success. After a few follow-up singles flopped, Exile returned to the clubs of Kentucky and completely revamped their sound, especially when lead singer Stokley departed in 1980. He was replaced by singer/guitarist Les Taylor, who helped spearhead the group's transformation into a country band with a strong Southern rock flavor. In the meantime, some of their songs were covered for hits by major country artists like Janie Fricke (It Ain't Easy Being Easy) and Alabama (The Closer You Get, Take Me Down). Helped by this exposure, the new Exile signed with Epic in 1983, and soon notched their first Top 40 hit on the country charts with High Cost of Leaving. Over the next few years, Exiletore off an astounding streak of chart-topping country hits. 1984 brought Woke Up in Love, I Don't Wanna Be a Memory, and Give Me One More Chance; 1985 duplicated that success with Crazy for Your Love, Hang on to Your Heart, and She's a Miracle. Though the next three years didn't find the band topping the charts with such regularity, they did score several more number ones: 1986's I Could Get Used to You and It'll Be Me, 1987's She's Too Good to Be True, and 1988's I Can't Get Close Enough. Moving from the 80s to the 90s., Exile continued to score Top Ten hits with Nobody's Talking and Yet, both co-written by Sonny LeMaire and producer Randy Sharp. Recorded at the legendary Franklin Theater in Nashville, the original band knocks out a killer set of all their hits!