You have been living in California for a lot of years. Have you had to deal with any fires out your way recently? We had some bad ones. I live down here around San Diego, and we had some bad ones last fall. I loaded up the car and pointed it out the driveway because I thought it was coming over the hill. It burned up a lot of people’s houses. It was the worst fires I’ve ever seen, and I’ve lived out here in California, off and on, for the last 30 years. We are in a real seri- ous drought here now, and I look for them to start rationing water pretty soon.
We have droughts here in Cincinnati every once in a while, but not often. Is that where you are at, Cincinnati? I passed through the area, but I didn’t get to Ohio. I just got off tour. I’m fried. About 35 one- nighters, spent 13,000 miles on a bus. I’ve been gone two months, which is the longest tour I’ve ever done. I generally go out about two weeks and call it quits.
I am sure you know Cincinnati from King Records being based here back in the day, Freddie King’s “Hideaway” and so on. Oh, yes. I played a gig with Freddie King in Monterey, California in 1978, 1977 maybe. So, I am very aware of everything coming out of Cincinnati.
Your career reminds me a lot of an- other musician I was lucky enough to know a little bit is John Hartford. He had a hit with “Gentle On My Mind,” and a ton of other people recorded it and it set him up financially so that he could do things the way he wanted to in the music business. I played a gig with him too, man, right before he died. I was playing a small joint in New York, the Bottom Line down in Greenwich
10
Village, and John was playing there the next night. His bus rolled up and he came in the joint during my gig, and I had him up onstage and got him to play. I did some recordings of him and I, and John Hammond, all jamming together. I loved John. Number one, I’m a songwriter, and ‘Gentle On My Mind’ was a masterpiece.
I was just reminded the other day, that John Hartford played on a Delaney and Bonnie album called Motel Shot. You played with Delaney and Bonnie as well. Was John hanging around when you were playing with them? No. When I was playing with Delaney and Bonnie they were just starting out. I left them and wasn’t with them anymore when they got big, when Eric Clapton and George Harrison joined their deal. I was playing a gig with De- laney and Bonnie, it was in a house in Los An- geles and we were all stoned out of our heads. We were playing house parties and night- clubs. Right after that Harrison and Clapton and Leon Russell took my place, and they made a record and got semi-big, especially with the English. I haven’t seen Delaney in quite a while. I saw Delaney, he still lives up in L.A., I visited him probably 15 years ago. I haven’t seen Bonnie in many years. I played a gig opening for the Allman Brothers in the 70’s and Bonnie was singing with them. That was the last time I saw her, about 30 years ago.
Bonnie has been real good to us here at the magazine, and she is still out there rockin’. And her daughter is out there singing as well.
Oh yeah, I’m hip to Bekka. It seems like I saw Bekka with somebody….Faith Hill. She was singing backup with Faith Hill. I saw her on TV.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76