By: Rick Landers
For those unfamiliar, there’s a new band in town called, The Immediate Family, that includes some of the finest musicians of our time. One of the five principals in the band is guitarist-producer-songwriter extraordinaire, Danny Kortchmar.
Along with Waddy Wachtel (guitar/vocals), Leland Sklar (bass), Russ Kunkel (Percussion) and Steve Postell (guitar/vocals), Danny and crew formed the group based on a respect for one another’s musical talents, their decades of friendship bonded them into a brotherhood, a family.
At various times, each would get the call to play on albums with such music legends as: Jackson Browne, Carole King; Don Henley, James Taylor; Warren Zevon; Stevie Nicks; Linda Ronstadt and a host of others.
The list of songs they’ve played on runs into the thousands, and they’ve often found themselves as road dawgs, traveling around the world with hit makers, and sometimes with one another.
The Immediate Family – (Left to Right) Russ Kunkel; Leland Sklar; Steve Postell; Danny Kortchmar; and Waddy Wachtel.
Along with Danny, Leland, Russ and keyboardist, Craig Doerge, they would be known as The Section, essentially the four were the house band of top session players for Asylum Records. They helped define the ’70s singer-songwriter era, cranking out riffs, licks and beats on such albums as: Running on Empty (Jackson Browne), Tapestry (Carole King), and Sweet Baby James (James Taylor), and at times they’d be joined by guitarist-producer-songwriter, Waddy Wachtel, bassist Tim Drummond, and multi-instrumentalist, David Lindley.
Danny would offer up his own songwriting skills, and vocal harmony on Jackson Browne’s track, “Shakey Town”, as well as on his own solo outings, Kootch (1973) and Innuendo (1980). During the ’80s he worked alongside The Eagles’ Don Henley, on Don’s superb album, Building the Perfect Beast. Kootchmar would also gather songwriting credits for such songs as: “You’re Not Drinking Enough”, “All She Wants To Do Is Dance”. He also co-wrote others: “You Can’t Make Love”, “Man with a Mission”, “Not Enough Love in the World”, “Building the Perfect Beast”, “Sunset Grill”, and “Drivin’ With Your Eyes Closed”.
Kortchmar never let the grass grow under his feet for long , and he could be found working on an eclectic mix of projects with Billy Joel, Tracy Chapman, Cheech and Chong (Up in Smoke), This is Spinal Tap, George Harrison’s label, and again with Don Henley, performing on and co-producing The End of The Innocence album.
Danny’s work has been voluminous, enough to fill a book and more, but it seems that much of his legacy will be documented in a new film about The Immediate Family. So, patience please, and soon we’ll all enjoy the road he and his friends have journeyed in order to coil back into their own group, and one that is getting some great traction on the airwaves, in print and on social media.
Guitar International is honored to present to our readers interviews with every member of The Immediate Family, kicking them with Mr. Danny Kortchmar.
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Rick Landers: I’d read that you were coming out with a new album in 2021, but I don’t see that it’s been released yet.
Danny Kortchmar: That’s right. Yeah. The EP is going to be released in the Fall and LP in 2021 on Quarto Valley Records.
Rick: I checked out The Immediate Family facebook page and watched you guys play, “Somebody’s Baby”. Really well done. And, Steve did a great job with the vocal. He made some stylistic changes to the vocals from Jackson’s song. Everything was synced up perfectly and the sound was really polished. What were you using?
Danny Kortchmar: We used an app called, Acapella. It’s really kind of a toy, but it does work for that purpose. And we do it one at a time. The first person sets up with a click track, then leads us visually and musically.
Rick: And I just went back there and Waddy, and I think it’s Steve, are doing an Everly Brothers song, “Devoted to You”.
Danny Kortchmar: Wad wanted to do an Everly Brothers tune, “Devoted To You”, so they did it. And they did like just two parts. However, we didn’t do the full treatment on that.
Rick: I understand that Waddy worked with them at some point.
Danny Kortchmar: He did. It was one of his first big jobs really, he was playing guitar with the Everly Brothers and touring with them.
Rick: Oh, that’s pretty cool. Who was the other guitar with them? Another well known guitar player.
Danny Kortchmar: That’s really hard, they had a few different guys. Albert Lee might have played with them.
Rick: Yeah. Albert Lee. How have all of you changed your way of working, now that we’ve got this pandemic encircling us?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, we have to. You the video, there’s actually, “Somebody’s Baby”, there’s also “Werewolves of London”, and also “Machine Gun Kelly”. We did them all in that framework and using Acappella. So, using that platform we’re able to create these very simple videos. And that’s basically what we’ve done.
I’m writing songs. There’s not much we can do. We got gigs booked, of course, they’re all gone. And everything’s on hold right now. But we’re playing a live-stream concert June 26 at the Coach House via AlertTheGlobe.com. That’s what a lot of people are doing now.
Rick: There was something in the Washington Post a couple of days ago about at least one place, and probably two, drive-ins that are opening and doing live bands.
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah. That’s not much of a way to get to enjoy a concert, in your car. I guess it’s better than nothing.
Rick: About a month and a half ago, before we got more locked down, I did a show in my driveway with another performer and my neighbors who were all in their own driveways. So, we were loud enough, and the woman featured (Siobhan O’Brien) ended up with around four hundred bucks. So, that worked out.
Danny Kortchmar: We should all do that. Maybe we’ll do that.
Rick: People threw in 50, 100 bucks. It was pretty amazing, but I’ve got good neighbors, so that was kind of cool. But, yeah, and a lot of people are doing these streams, a few talk too much and aren’t playing enough. and I think they’re talking too much and not playing enough. I don’t know if you’ve noticed those.
Danny Kortchmar: No, I haven’t noticed that much, but when we do it we will be playing.
Rick: I did some research and found a lot of information about you playing with well-known artists, but also artists like The King Bees, and performers like Moogie Klingman, and was it Joey O’Brien?
Danny Kortchmar: Joel O’Brian was the drummer. Yeah.
Rick: I started reading, digging into them and they were pretty fascinating too. Especially Klingman, who was playing with Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, with Jimi Hendrix. And then he played something with Andy Kaufman, and got kicked out of high school. Going back, you must have a lot of memories. Have you ever thought about writing a book?
Danny Kortchmar: I did think about it at times, but a couple of things. One of them is, I realized that everyone and his mother is writing a book. Roadies are writing books and it’s getting to be too clogged up. The stuff that I’d be writing about, yes, it’s a fascinating story, but the thing is that a documentary is being made about The Immediate Family, and it’s being made by Denny Tedesco who did The Wrecking Crew. Denny did directing for me back in the day.
Denny is directing our documentary, about us and that’s going to cover most areas. And I’d actually rather do that than write a book. I’d rather write songs than a book.
Rick: Yeah. A book’s a lot of hard work, it’s a long process.
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah. It is. It is. Ghostwriter that I have to pay and the whole deal, you know?
Rick: Yeah. And songs you can write sometimes fast. Sometimes, they take years to actually finish, I’ve found.
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah. And that’s the other part of it. I really don’t know if I want to put years and years reliving my whole life again. I don’t know, maybe my attitude will change in a couple of years, but, right now, I’m more interested in the band and in writing songs and playing the guitar, than I am reliving my life.
Rick: I saw at one point you mentioned that your favorite time is playing with friends and it sounds to me that you started doing that when you were younger, and maybe you’ve done that your whole life, but it’s like you’ve formed a real close friendship with the Immediate Family.
Danny Kortchmar: Oh, definitely, 50 years. We’ve known each other and have been playing together for 50 years now. That’s a long time.
Rick: Yeah. That’s incredible. So, do you have any preferences between performing solo or with a group?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, I always performed with a group. I’m not a solo artist, so that doesn’t really enter into it.
Rick: But, you were in a duet at one point, right?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, yeah, me and my pal, Charlie Karp had a little thing we called it Slo Leak, and it was just the two of us. We made a couple of records and we actually did a couple of gigs too. That was a while ago when I was living in Connecticut.
Rick:And you did something with James Taylor early, didn’t you, when you were a kid?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, I grew up with James, yeah. We’re childhood buddies. We’ve known each other forever, for a real long time. Of course, I’ve played a lot of music with James, way before he was famous.
Rick: That’s pretty cool. One of your earlier collaborations was with The Section. And that was again, years ago with Lee Sklar and Russ Kunkel and Craig Doerge. Is that how you pronounce his name?
Danny Kortchmar: Doerge.
Rick: Was that a group of session players established by a company or did you all weigh in on pulling that together? I mean, did somebody say, hey, we want Danny Kortchmar and hey, somebody else said we want Craig and it was more of a networking thing or did a company say, Hey, we want you guys and now you’re a group.
Danny Kortchmar: No, we were James’ back-up band. And for a lot of time in the seventies, and we’d go out on tour with James and James would come and do his sound check and he would do his mic check and whatever, then he’d leave. And we would jam.
While we were still waiting for the audience to be let in, we’d jam. And we did that every day, for the whole tour. And by the end of it we were saying well, “Gee, maybe we should record this stuff and get a record deal.” So, it came together in an organic kind of way. And then we ended up getting a deal with Warner Brothers.
Rick: Oh, that’s pretty cool. Were you working at or producing stuff in Quantum Studios at that time in California?
Danny Kortchmar: I wasn’t producing then. I was just a player then. I don’t remember Quantum. The name is vaguely familiar, but I don’t really remember.
Rick: Yeah, I don’t think it’s there anymore. It seems The Immediate Family, literally, became kind of a band of brothers and you found a sweet spot with these guys. What kind of character traits or personality traits, aside from the music… Because obviously, you all are great musicians, but what was it that brought you together as far as your personalities, and maybe your values?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, you’d have to know those fellows to know that. They’re great, great people, Lee Sklar’s hilarious. Very smart individual. Very funny. Very charming guy, good to know. and Russ Kunkel is the same. They’re different people, of course, three different people, but they’re very bright people. Really smart and easy to be with. We just fell together.
It was nothing I thought about at all. Nothing any of us thought about, it just happened. The way things do. We always got along, me and Russ and Lee, we’ve always gotten along well. We always loved each other. As you know, we’ve spent an awful lot of time together.
Rick: But, I would imagine that you guys left and did other things, and then you came back together or were you always kind of together.
Danny Kortchmar: The fellows, they would often do different things and they’d do different sessions, different tours and stuff like that. And we’d lose touch with each other for a couple of years. But, when we get to get back together, we just know we’ve done it. We get together and we just start playing immediately, fall right into it.
Rick: Really?
Danny Kortchmar: Oh, yeah.
Danny Kortchmar: Well, I used to give the bass player and the drummer dirty looks all the time.[Both Laugh]
Rick: I guess they do nail down the foundation of the beat and everybody kind of works together..
Danny Kortchmar: Those guys don’t miss anything.
Rick: I wouldn’t think so.
Danny Kortchmar: They don’t miss anything. And never did. They’re on the dime, those fellows.
Rick: That’s pretty incredible. You worked for Asylum Records for a while, right?
Danny Kortchmar: No. I never worked for a record company.
Rick: Okay. But, you recorded with Asylum?
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah. I made an album for Asylum.
Rick: Did you ever know anybody named Judee Sill?
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah, I know that name. I don’t know her. I never met her. I think she’s gone now, but I’ve heard about her. Everyone did. And she was well known in the L.A. music scene, but then I don’t know if she had personal problems. I’m not sure what happened.
Rick: She passed away. Judee was the artist signed to Asylum, around ’71. It’s interesting how a songwriter’s lyrics can be a window to the ways they look at the world. I think back at Jackson Browne’s, he’s got a line, I think it’s “Running On Empty”, where he talks about, get back to the smile before I leave. And, I thought well…
Danny Kortchmar: If I can get you to smile before I leave. And that’s what he said. Yeah.
Rick: I always figured that was related to Buddhism or Zen or something.
Danny Kortchmar: He’s a performer. He wants the audience to smile before he leaves the stage. It’s a very simple statement.
Rick: I guess we all try to read in what we want to read. And then Warren Zevon, he mentioned the Pioneer chicken stand on “Carmelita”, and he was an amazing songwriter.
Danny Kortchmar: Oh, he sure was. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
Rick: What was he like, working with him?
Danny Kortchmar: Great guy. Hilarious. Very smart. Very talented guy. And he was just a great cat. Good to be around. But, he was an edgy guy. He wasn’t warm and fuzzy, let’s put it that way. He was always great to be around and everyone that knew him, loved him. He was a wonderful fellow, but like I said, very bright, very sharp, like that.
Rick: And what about Jackson? You’ve done a lot of collaborations with him.
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah. I’ve known him a long time and we’ve gotten together to do stuff several times over the years. I’ve known him since he was like 18 or 19 years old. And he’s just one of those guys that just… his, songwriting, when he was 16, he was writing the songs that were better than everybody. I mean fantastic songs. Some folks got it and some folks ain’t. He’s got it. He’s just a brilliant writer and a creator of music. There’s just no question about it.
Rick: He’s in his seventies, still got it. It’s pretty cool. I was listening to him back in the early seventies and I wore out his albums. And some were so simple, but they’re so meaningful.
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah. Yeah. He always has that thousand miles stare into songs. They always seem to have weight to them.
Rick: Yeah. They had weight, but he also sang in a range that nearly anybody else can sing. So, they’re easy to pick up and you want to sing along with him, so yeah, he’s a pretty brilliant fellow.
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah. He is. He is.
Danny Kortchmar: Well, I don’t know if it’s something I consciously do, but I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve worked with really great, great songwriters and performers and my attitude is always the same. To go in there and do the best you can to help them. Play guitar, you’re going in to help the song and help this whole situation. And that’s my attitude. That’s all of our attitudes. That’s what you got to do.
I think I’m spoiled in that I got to work with so many great songwriters that I have a very high bar in terms of what I think is good songwriting.
Rick: Yeah. So, what has it been like working with Neil Young. He’s like a rock God. So, what is it like working with Neil on a regular basis?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, he marches to his own drummer, as everyone knows.
Rick: Oh, yeah.
Danny Kortchmar: And he does what he feels at the time. People used to wonder why he changed style, or changes his production techniques. It’s whatever he’s thinking at the time, that’s what he does. And he’s one of those fellows that just really follows his own star, and does things his way. A very bright guy, charming guy.
I loved working on that album with him. He’s great. I never wrote a song with him. I’ve known him a long time. Great guy. Just playing with him is fantastic. Just like what you think, he’s full of energy and power and passion.
Rick: Yeah. I think I’ve always, not always, but I’ve considered when I watch him play, it’s almost as if he misses the note, but he always hits the right sound. There’s something uncanny about how he plays.
Danny Kortchmar: Well, he’s got his own way of doing things. To me, you can tell it’s him after two notes, you can tell it’s him right away. He’s got a very distinctive way of playing. Like I said, just full of blood and guts. He means it, you know?
Rick: Yeah. Yeah. And his albums are incredible. I think I’ve worn out a lot of his albums, particularly Zuma. He’s done some really good work on the Zuma album, if you’re familiar with that one.
Danny Kortchmar: Yes he did. That’s right. Yeah. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Rick: So when you met James Taylor, you said you were young and you were in your, I guess in your teens. Did you learn guitar together or was there an ‘aha’ moment where you went, “Oh, wait, we’re simpatico, we should work together or play together?”
Danny Kortchmar: No, we did not. We were childhood buddies. I met him when I was like 14 or 15, and we just were hanging out for a while. And then we realized we both loved music and we kind of just eased into it.
And James, at that point picked up the guitar and he was just okay, but he went away. We met on Martha’s Vineyard. Our families would go there for summer vacation. So, after September comes around and I go back to school, he goes back to North Carolina, where he was living with his parents. The next summer he comes up and he’s got basically the style that you hear now.
Basically taught himself what he wanted in a year. And created the essence of the way he plays to this day.
Rick: Yeah, he’s got a unique picking style.
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah, that’s right.
Rick: Did he make that up himself? Or did he… It’s not like Travis picking or anything, I don’t think?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, it’s not like Travis picking. He got a lot from a woman named Elizabeth Cotten. That’s about Cotten finger picking, Cotten’s stuff. And that’s what he does. He uses a claw, two fingers and the thumb, but his chord structure is very sophisticated and he’s really worked on his inversions chords and they are completely unique to him. Every time you hear one of his chords, you know that’s James’ signature stuff.
Rick: Yeah. That’s true. You were on the Sweet Baby James album, right?
Danny Kortchmar: That’s right. Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Rick: Were you in England when he was with Apple Records?
Yeah. But you lived in England for a while. Was he over there at that point? Because he was on Apple Records.
Danny Kortchmar: I never lived in England. He did though. That story’s been heavily covered, about his trip to England and meeting Peter Asher and making a record for the Beatles label, Apple.
Rick: And Carole King, she was his piano player.
Danny Kortchmar: Yes. Yes, she was.
Rick: Okay. And why did she leave? Cause I thought that Craig came in after her?
Danny Kortchmar: Craig Doerge came in to replace her. She didn’t want to tour. She wanted to stay at home and be a mother. She had two kids and she wanted more kids. She was married at the time to a fellow named Charley Larkey, who was a bass player. Played on most of her records. And she didn’t want to tour. That was basically what it boiled down to.
Rick: She was pretty shy, wasn’t she? As far as playing out, I understand.
Danny Kortchmar: Originally she was shy. She got on stage just to play piano with James (Taylor) and James started introducing her and telling the audience what songs she had written. Finally he convinced her to do a couple of her songs in the set, which, of course, went over brilliantly. And at that point she started to become less shy. When she realized that people dug her and then she was going to go over well and the people were going to be excited about hearing her songs, she opened up and got a lot less shy and a lot more…
Rick: Did you ever go through that, As far as being a little shy singing and playing in front of people?
Danny Kortchmar: No.
Rick: Okay. Some do, some don’t. There’s some real fine people I know, they’re really shy. And even though they’re really good at what they do, as far as playing.
Danny Kortchmar: That’s right. Yes, you’re right.
The Immediate Family (Left to Right): Steve Postell, Danny Kortchmar, Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel.
Rick: Okay, as far as highlights. What are some of the highlights working with Jackson, Neil, Warren and Carole and James?
Danny Kortchmar: Oh, man.
Rick: If it’s not too personal, you know?
Danny Kortchmar: This is tough. Certainly trying to sum Neil up in one word is impossible. Like I said before, he plays with authority and passion and blood and guts. And that’s Neil.
Rick: Cool, yeah. What about Jackson?
Danny Kortchmar: Well, you listen to any of his records. He means it. His stuff is from the heart and he means it, and he’s got tremendous poetic ability. It matches his voice beautifully. And his songs are very moving. It really gets to people, because of the combination of what he writes about and the way he performs his song.
Rick: So once this coronavirus, let’s assume that there’s a vaccine. What are you guys going to be doing as far as the Immediate Family? What type of gigs? I don’t know what gigs were canceled. Haven’t you done a cruise at one point? Was that you?
Danny Kortchmar: Yeah, we did that just before the virus kicked in. We just dodged the bullet, just barely.
Rick: Yeah. How was that?
Danny Kortchmar: We made a lot of friends. We went over very well. I’m not thrilled with cruising. If I had my druthers, I wouldn’t cruise, but it turned out well. We played two or three shows. And they went over real well and the boys had a good time doing it.
Rick: So, your album is coming out in early 2021 on Quarto Valley Records. Are those going to be cover songs? Songs that we’ve heard before? Or are they going to be new originals?
Danny Kortchmar: All original. All new original.
Rick: Oh, okay, cool. And is it The Immediate Family that’s playing? Or do you have other people coming in on board to weigh in?
Danny Kortchmar: It’s just the five of us. Nobody else.
Rick: Well, it sounds like you’re having fun. I’m going to be talking to, I think, Waddy tomorrow. And I’ll get to everybody. I think you’re a fascinating group. Not only individually, but just together and that video you did of “Somebody’s Baby”, that was perfect. You guys are doing great and I’m sorry that gigs got canceled, but it happened to all of us.
Danny Kortchmar: It sure did, yeah.
