of my education as a songwriter/musician… whatever.
How did it feel to score your first really big break was as a songwriter. Was it Arthur Alexander or was it something else? Well, really you know, this might sound crazy but the first song I had recorded as a song Dan and I wrote. It was actually the second song he ever had recorded. So it was in the very early days you know, and what hap- pened, this guy came over from Atlanta. Some of these guys brought him over… Tommy Roe - remember that guy?
Yeah, yeah, I sure do. They came over and cut this hit and we wound up on the back side of this damn big hit record, my first cut, you know.
Ah. So I thought, “Man this is going to be easy.” Of course, that proved to be wrong. (Laughs)
Right. But anyway… that was a big deal for me you know, right off the bat, getting cut by a fa- mous guy and being on the back side of a big hit record, that was a big deal for me, you know, starting out.
What was the name of the song you guys wrote? Oh. It was a horrible song. It was terrible. So me and Dan wrote “Sorry I’m Late, Lisa.” And it’s just as bad as the title sounds. Horrible. (Both laughing) But anyway, that lead to other cuts, you
know, you know how it works, Michael, you know… one thing leads to the other and you keep working hard and writing a lot of songs , you know, good things can happen. And also, you’ve got to be really lucky, too.
Yeah, I believe that, yeah.
Well, I want to talk some more about songwriting, but I also want to touch on the fact that you’re an outstanding keyboard player too, and most every- body knows by now, I guess and if they don’t, they should know that you’ve played with Kris Kristofferson’s band for a bunch of years. Yeah, forty-two.
How you first hooked up with Kris? Well, Kris and I got to be friends - I actually met him probably about ’67 or ’68. I was signed to a publishing company in Nashville. Actually, it was a big company, it was owned by CBS and it was their publishing company. Well, we were in this old building right next door to RCA Victor in Nashville and we had the top floor. On the bottom floor was Com- bine Music, which was where Kris was signed as a writer, and Billy
Swan...Tony Joe [White} came in a little bit later. So there were a lot of things going on in that building, you know? So, that’s how I first met Kris and we got to be really close friends, me and Billy Swan and Kris - and again, one thing leads to another. We knew Kris was starting to get a lot of songs published and here he was, this good- looking guy, you know and everybody was wanting to do a record on him. So Kris cut a record. He did a show- his first show was at the L.A. Troubadour back in 1970 and I wasn’t playing with him at the time. It was just Billy Swan and Dennis Lindy, another… a great songwriter who was just playing guitar with him. Anyway, I went out there with Kris to do that. So the next club he played we opened the new, brand new Troubadour in San Francisco, and that’s when I started play- ing with him. Billy kind of got me in, he said, “Well Donnie owns a…” He didn’t say I could play, you know, which I couldn’t really play that much. (Laughs) He said, “Donnie’s got a keyboard, you know… what about using him?” “Yeah! Let’s go!” And uh, so I couldn’t play worth a damn, Billy couldn’t
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