For over 45 years George Thorogood and The Destroyers have travelled the globe playing gig after gig, until like all of us they were hit by COVID 19 that stopped them in their tracks. In 2019, they were on their Good to Be Bad Tour: 45 Years of Rock tour still packing venues and a dream of life in rock ‘n’ roll was a reality.
Ranked by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top fifty bass guitar players of all time, Sklar can count coup on laying down bass lines on such well known tracks as: “You’ve Got a Friend” (James Taylor), “Running on Empty” (Jackson Browne), “No Other” (Gene Clark) and literally thousands more by the pantheon of Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famers.
Driving the beat on a few thousand milestone recordings is the legendary percussionist, Russ Kunkel. For decades he’s been a first call drummer for folks like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Seger, Warren Zevon, Harry Chapin, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young, Steve Nicks, Dan Fogelberg and a long, long list of others.
The word is out that some of the top session players in the world have formed a new group, The Immediate Family, and they’ve locked into keeping their fans up to date on what’s happening with them individually, as well as a together as they release new songs, work on a new video, and plan the release of a new album on the Quarto Valley Records label.
On her latest album, Waltz for Abilene, she ropes in a cornucopia of styles that range from the opening track, “Foggy Mt. Rock” with guest, Albert Lee, clipping along in driving Western swing style to the Appalachian roots sound of “That Ain’t No Way for Me to Get Along” with Rory Block, and other tracks blended with jazz, R&B, soulful country, country western, and an exquisite final track titled, “Waltz for Abilene”.
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)
The Long Island, New York, rock group Mountain will forever be defined by the explosive song “Mississippi Queen”, with the legendary drummer Corky Laing driving the crew with a hard punch of his then massive double bass drum kit and clanging cowbell.
People kept telling me, “You really ought to talk to Mike Dove.” “He was our first fan.” “Mike is like an Eva Cassidy historian.” Mike Dove’s name was listed in the credits for the albums Live at Blues Alley and Eva By Heart. So, who was this Mike Dove guy, anyway?
Don Felder’s storied life followed a road that pulled him into the world of the blues, rockabilly and rock music. He studied the licks, the riffs and the styles of the pioneers of rock, R&B and the blues, including Elvis, Carl Perkins, B.B. King and Little Richard. And a young Don Felder would find himself buying mail order “race records”, that couldn’t be found in local shops.
The masterful songwriter, Jimmy Webb, is another contemporary legend who has gifted us for over five decades with his own Americana magic in songs he’s penned, that include, “By the Time I Get to Phoenix”, “MacArthur Park”, “Wichita Lineman”, “Highwayman”, “Didn’t We”, “Up, Up and Away”, “Galveston” and many more.
