Al Bunetta, the colorful manager, record-label chief and music-business raconteur who'd worked with John Prine for more than four decades, died Sunday night after being diagnosed recently with cancer. He was 72.
Friends say Bunetta had complained just two weeks ago of "a little stomach problem." That turned out to be pancreatic cancer. After being admitted to Saint Thomas Hospital March 12, his health quickly deteriorated.
Bunetta devoted his career to artists he admired, and there were none he admired more than John Prine and the late Steve Goodman, whom he started managing in 1971 while he was working for Paul Anka's management company CMA. In 1981, after bruising experiences with major labels, he, Prine and Dan Einstein (who now runs the East Nashville bakery Sweet 16th) founded indie label Oh Boy Records, releasing Prine's albums as well as CDs by Kris Kristofferson, Donnie Fritts, Todd Snider, Janis Ian, The Bis-quits and a number of country greats.
For years the blunt, straight-shooting but huge-hearted Bunetta could be found at the long front table that served as headquarters for the so-called "Sandwich Gang" at Hillsboro Village restaurant Savarino's Cucina. There, surrounded by a voluble group of other Italian-American music-biz vets — including Mike Figlio, Nick Pellegrino, Joe Pagetta and the late Frank Dileo — he'd hold court while busting balls, drinking Figlio's homemade wine and angrily disputing the results of bocce-ball tournaments past.
With his stand-at-attention voice and Jersey rasp, Bunetta was a great storyteller, and his salty, candid off-the-record anecdotes of showbiz encounters over the years could hold listeners rapt for an entire lunch. Just last fall, he heard a patron at Hot Diggity Dog whistling Goodman's "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request" and clapped him on the back. That chance encounter turned into a breezy afternoon, which ended only when Bunetta sped off to enjoy the last warmth of autumn.
Yet he had a pronounced streak of melancholy — never more so than when the subject turned to his beloved son Juri, who died at age 19 in 2011 after a horrible car accident. At his funeral, Prine, who had carried Juri as a child on his shoulders, sang a choked version of "Souvenirs" in his memory. Even so, Bunetta remained an avid appreciator of the finer things, from cars to food to family and friends.
"I'll tell ya," Bunetta said to the Scene's Jack Silverman in 2009, "when you get to a certain point in life, you don't waste your time on anything that ain't worth it."
"He possessed a unique ability to make you feel special, like you were the only person in the room," Pagetta tells the Scene by email. "I have innumerable memories of him, both in the groups that we were both a part of, and privately when it was just us two shooting the shit and going deep, and maybe him fixing me peaches with balsamic vinegar, when I felt so incredibly loved by him. And that is no small thing, to feel loved by a friend. Not at all."
Bunetta is survived by his wife Dawn and many loved ones and friends. We'll pass along funeral and memorial information as posted.
UPDATE, 8 p.m. 3/24: This message from Oh Boy Records:
A celebration of our beloved Al will take place on Tuesday, March 31 at the CMA Theater, located within the Country Music Hall of Fame, in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Direct entrance to the theater can be found on the Fifth Avenue side of the building (222 Fifth Avenue South, Nashville, TN 37203). The service will begin promptly at 11:00 AM. Seating will begin at 10:00 AM.Downtown parking options include the Music City Center garage, which is $7 for up to four hours and has over 1800 spaces. Please enter at either the intersections of Seventh Avenue South and Demonbreun Street or Sixth Avenue South and Demonbreun Street.
Out-of-town visitors can contact the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel for a special rate of $229 daily for the evenings of Monday (3/30), Tuesday (3/31) and / or Wednesday (4/1). Please reference the 'Bunetta Family' special rate when calling (800) 336-3335. Reservations will be taken beginning Wednesday morning (3/25) through Saturday evening (3/28). Room availability is limited.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Juri Bunetta Friendship Foundation.
Please feel free to email jon@ohboy.com with any photos of Al to be considered for inclusion at the celebration. Thank you.
