Johnny Winter died early Wednesday morning in
Zurich, Switzerland. The news was first reported by Bradenton, Florida resident
Jenda Derringer, the wife of classic rock music legend Rick Derringer.
Derringer has performed and recorded with both Johnny and Edgar Winter and
remained very close friends through the years.
At 7:00 this morning Johnny Winters official Facebook site released this statement ... Legendary Johnny Winter Dies at 70 "Texas blues icon Johnny Winter has passed away on July 16, 2014 in his hotel room in Zurich, Switzerland. His wife, family and bandmates are all saddened by the loss of their loved one and one of the world's finest guitarists. An official statement with more details shall be issued at the appropriate time."
JOHNNY
WINTER is acknowledged worldwide as a legendary blues
artist, but he also holds the title of American rock ‘n’ roll hero. Winter wore
both hats equivalently on stage. Only Johnny Winter could scream ROCK ‘N’ ROLL! … a battle cry to a generation of
rebellion youths in front of sold-out arenas and stadiums with his kind of
intensity and emotional reverberation. No other audience could reciprocate to
those words more passionately than at a Johnny Winter concert. And who more
revered than Johnny Winter (except for the man himself) could follow up his ROCK ‘N’ ROLL battle cry with perhaps
one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll songs in history, “Johnny B. Goode.”
Johnny Winter was born and raised in Beaumont,
Texas. In 1969, Winter signed with Columbia Records in one of the largest solo
deals of the time. Winter was enticed to join his first band after listening to
local deejay J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper of “Chantilly Lace fame”) spinning
50s rock ‘n’ roll music over the airwaves. But it was the blues that would
become his essence, and his admiration for legendary American blues artists
like Robert Johnson, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker and Muddy Waters to name
just a few.
Winters first album was entitled, The Progressive Blues Experiment originally
issued by Austin’sSonobeat Records
in 1968, and rereleased by Columbia Records
in 1969. Winter’s self-titled second album with Columbia was also released that
year, the album included covers by Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson,
Lightnin’ Hopkins and B.B. King. Winter’s successful debut album set the stage
for an appearance at the famed Woodstock Festival in New York. Winter was not
included in the Woodstock movie or initial soundtrack because of contractual
issues between Steve Paul (Johnny’s former manager) and festival
organizers.
Johnny Winter’s next album, Second Winter, featured some of his predominant concert setlist
material, Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” and Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61
Revisited.” In 1970 Winter formed a new band featuring several members of The
McCoys (“Hang On Sloopy”) including legendary guitarist and songwriter Rick
Derringer. Steve Paul was also The McCoys manager and responsible for bringing
them together. The band released, Live
Johnny Winter And spotlighting Derringer’s penned, “Rock and Roll, Hoochie
Koo.” It was during this time that Winter fell under the spell of Heroin
addiction.
In 1973, Johnny Winter returned to the music scene
with his fifth studio album, Still Alive
and Well followed by Saints and
Sinners (1974)and Captured Live (1976).
In 1977, Chess Records, long-time record label for
legendary blues guitarist and vocalist Muddy Waters, dissolved. Johnny Winter
revitalized Waters by inviting him into the studio to record what would be
recognized as Muddy Waters comeback album. Winter produced and played on the
Chicago-style electric blues album entitled, Hard Again. It was Muddy Waters first album released on Blue Sky
Records, a label created by Steve Paul for Columbia. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Ethnic
or Traditional Folk Recording.
Johnny Winter continued to produce and play on
several studio albums and a best-selling Live album with his good friend Muddy
Waters … I’m Ready (1978), Muddy “Mississippi” Waters Live (1979)
and King Bee (1981) Waters final
release. Two of those albums won Grammy Awards. The string of Johnny Winter
albums initiated for Muddy Waters produced the most lucrative period in the
career of the legendary bluesman. Muddy Waters died in 1983.
Since 1984, Johnny Winter focused solely on blues
oriented-material in the recording studio. His heart was saying no to rock and
roll while his soul was saying yes to the blues. Winter abandoned rock ‘n’ roll
to resurrect the blues.
Johnny Winter has headlined the New Orleans Jazz
& Heritage Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Warren Haynes Christmas Jam,
Swedish Rock Fest and Europe’s Rockplast. Winter performed with The Allman
Brothers Band at the Beacon Theater for their 40th Anniversary of
the bands inception. He’s also performed at the 2007 and 2010 Crossroads Guitar
Festivals.
In 2008, The
Gibson Guitar Company released the Johnny Winter signature Firebird guitar in a
ceremony presented by Slash (Guns N’ Roses guitarist) in Nashville.
Johnny Winter earned the title of one the hardest
working performers in the music business by consistently touring worldwide.
His latest
studio releases … the critically acclaimed Roots (2011) CD which featured
compositions by some of Johnny’s favorite blues artists and included guest
performances by … Vince Gill, Warren Haynes, John Popper, Derek Trucks and Susan
Tedeschi, selected by Johnny’s producer/manager and guitarist Paul Nelson.
Johnny Winter’s most recent CD is entitled ‘Step
Back’ and is a follow-up to the ‘Roots’ CD featuring guest artists … Eric Clapton, Billy
Gibbons (ZZ Top), Ben Harper, Mark Knopfler, Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Dr. John, Brian Setzer, Joe Bonamassa, Leslie
West (Mountain), and Jason Ricci. The release contains classic blues covers and
is set to be released on September 2nd.
Winter is currently a headliner on the ‘Rock ‘N’
Blues Fest’ starring Johnny Winter, (Brother) Edgar Winter, Vanilla Fudge,
Peter Rivera (original voice & drummer of Rare Earth) and Savoy Brown’s Kim
Simmonds. The concert is scheduled to arrive at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater,
Florida on August 16th.
I chatted with Johnny’s Brother, Edgar Winter, on
Tuesday (July 15th 2014) about the event.
Nobody played the blues & rock and roll like JOHNNY WINTER
‘The Blues’ &
‘Rock and Roll’ will never be the same!
RIP JOHNNY WINTER 1944-2014
Contact classic rock music journalist
Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com
Exclusive Interview with Darryl Way (Co-founder of Curved
Air)
By Ray Shasho
British progressive rock & classical music virtuoso Darryl Way
has been perfecting his artistry and passion for the electric violin
for over four decades. Way recognized that installing pickups underneath
the strings of a violin would essentially operate it in the same way
that an electric guitar works. After listening to ‘Children of the Cosmos’Darryl Way’s latest CD, I’m thoroughly convinced that Way has accomplished his longtime artistic endeavor.
‘CHILDREN OF THE COSMOS’ in essence is a one-man show starring progressive rocker Darryl Way. Way wrote all the music on the CD except for “Fire with Fire” which lyrics are written by Billy Lawrie, the brother of 60’s Scottish Pop singer, Lulu (“To Sir, with Love”).“Fire with Fire” is a powerful track that also spotlights the amazing vocals of Darryl Way’s Daughter, ‘Rosie.’ All
instrumentation and melodies on the release are composed by Way, and
for an added and rare bonus, Darryl elected to sing on the album. Way’s
musical dexterity takes center stage on ‘Children of the Cosmos.’ As in his earlier days with Progressive Rock legends ‘Curved Air,’
Way integrates his classical virtuosity with rock music. Way enjoys
exploiting the latest technology while incorporating state-of-the-art
synthesizers into his compositions and presenting the musical illusion
of a full-sized orchestra. On many tracks, Way’s electric violin
parallels performances of such prodigious guitarists as John McLaughlin or Jeff Beck. Way also captured Ravi Shankar’s distinguished Sitar on one of my favorite tracks on the CD entitled “Summer of Love.” ‘Children of the Cosmos’
is cutting edge technology composed & performed by a mastermind
musician. It’s labeled a progressive rock album, but I’ll call it
profound rock! ‘Children of the Cosmos’ by Darryl Way deserves (5) Stars!
CURVED AIR & BEYOND: Daryl Way studied violin at Dartington College and the Royal College of Music. Way met Francis Monkman at
Orange Music Electronic Company in London while picking up his violin,
the instrument had been modified to handle guitar pickups. When Darryl
plugged in his newly configured electronic violin, it impressed Monkman
who was also there visiting the store. The meeting began a successful
musical collaboration that mutated from the band ‘Sisyphus’ into progressive rock legends ‘Curved Air.’ The band’s inaugural lineup featured … Sonja Kristina Linwood (lead vocalist), Darryl Way (violin, keyboards and vocals), Francis Monkman (guitars and keyboards), Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums), and Rob Martin (bass guitar). Ian Eyre replaced Martin soon-after on bass. ‘Curved Air’ toured intensely while supporting bands like …Black Sabbath,
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, B.B. King, Johnny Winter, Deep Purple, and
The Doors to name a few. The band also scored commercially with the Darryl Way co-penned hit “Back Street Luv” (1971) reaching #4 on the UK Singles charts.
In 1972, Curved Air split-up and Way formed ‘Darryl Way’s Wolf.’ Eddie
Jobson replaced Way during several attempts to revive the group before
joining Roxy Music. Way’s ‘Wolf’ recorded three albums before forming
his next band ‘Stark Naked and the Car Thieves’ with future ‘Police’ drummer Stewart Copeland, Phil Kohn, George Hatcher, and Mick Jacques. The band disbanded when ‘Curved Air’ reformed in 1974. Copeland, Kohn, and Jacques eventually joined a reformed ‘Curved Air’ with Way and Sonja Kristina Linwood.
In 1978, Darryl Way performed on Jethro Tull’s‘Heavy Horses’ album, Way played violin on the tracks “Heavy Horses” and “Acres Wild.”
Also in ’78 Way performed briefly with ‘Pierre Moerlen’s Gong.’
Darryl Way sporadically rejoined various ‘Curved Air’ lineups until 2009.
Way has also released eight proficient solo projects prior to ‘Children of the Cosmos’ …which may be his best recording to date.
I chatted with Darryl Way recently about … His new CD entitled ‘Children of the Cosmos’…
The electric violin vs. the electric guitar …‘Curved Air’…Working with
Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull, Playing with ‘Pierre Moerlen’s Gong’…My
infamous ‘Field of Dreams’ question … and much more!
Here’s my interview with singer/songwriter/ pioneer and master of the
electric violin/ and founding member of progressive rock legends ‘Curved Air’… DARRYL WAY. Ray Shasho: Darryl thank you for being on the call today, what part of the UK are you from? Darryl Way:“We’re in the southwest, down in Devon
(Devonshire), which is the peninsula if you’re looking at a map of the
UK, the little bit that stands out at the bottom …and we’ve got sunshine
here at the moment.” Ray Shasho: Let’s talk first about your new CD ‘Children of
the Cosmos’ … it absolutely blew me away! I’m thinking that it may be
your best solo release to date. Darryl Way:“That’s great, I’m so pleased, and I do
think it’s one of my best works definitely. It’s taken me forty years to
get there, but I got there eventually.” Ray Shasho: Did you write all the lyrics and sing on the album? Darryl Way: “Everything is my work except for “Fire
with Fire” which the lyrics were written by Billy Lawrie who is Lulu’s
Brother. The singing and instrumentation on the album is all me. It’s a
bit of a one man show. It’s a kind of route that I’ve been going down
for the last couple of years. I’ve been doing some singing just for fun.
For the past ten years, I’ve been working with an ensemble called
‘Verisma’ which is a classical crossover band that features my
compositions and violin playing with the operatic tenor vocals of
Stephen Crook. So I’ve kind of taken a backseat in that direction for
the last ten years, but it occurred to me that it would be quite nice if
I could finish off my career by singing my own songs, and that’s what
happened.” Ray Shasho:“Fire with Fire” also features the beautiful singing voice of Rosie? Darryl Way:“Rosie is my daughter. She has a lovely voice hasn’t she?” Ray Shasho: It’s an extremely powerful track that could easily be a score to the next James Bond flick. Darryl Way:“I wish it was, my financial woes would be done and dusted.” Ray Shasho: Darryl you have a remarkable voice, did you also sing with Curved Air? Darryl Way: “Yes, funny enough, before Sonja arrived
I was the original lead singer. We were a band called ‘Sisyphus’ which
was basically everybody except for Sonja, before we changed the name to
‘Curved Air.’ Then Sonja took over that job because it was thought that
she did a better job than I did, and I quite agree, she definitely did.
Then of course all the vocal harmonies with Curved Air were done by me
as well.” Ray Shasho: The title track ‘Children of the Cosmos’ is
another favorite, have you released any of the tracks from the album as a
single yet? Darryl Way:“We haven’t no, not as of yet, I’ve just
done the promotional video for ‘Children of the Cosmos’ which is on You
Tube, but it’s not officially a single.” Ray Shasho: The ‘Children of the Cosmos’ You Tube video is an
extraordinary and mesmerizing musical & visual journey and
definitely a must see for everyone! Another track in which the melody parallels its title is … “Spooks.” Darryl Way:“I’m very fond of “Spooks,” it was
inspired by the American TV series ‘Homeland.’ It occurred to me
watching that series what a dreadful life these people had to lead when
in that business and what an awful game it was to be involved with
espionage. So I just wrote something that reflected the kind of mood of
that series.” Ray Shasho: Stirring lyrics as in … ‘How do you sleep at night?’ Darryl Way:“Absolutely, how do they sleep at night?” Ray Shasho: It’s truly amazing how much your violin can mimic
a monstrous guitar player … so no need for electric guitarists with you
around. Darryl Way:“That was the idea to get rid of those
guys (All laughing). But yea, that’s electric violin and something I’ve
been perfecting for the past forty years. I’ve tried to perfect the
idea of kind of stealing guitar riffs and transferring them to the
violin. Also incorporating that blues feel and the slide that
guitarist’s use, so I still have a lot of guitarist ideas shall we say.
It has that guitar feel but you can still recognize it like a violin. So
that is the effect that I wanted to achieve, so I’m glad that I have
succeeded, that’s very heartwarming for me.” Ray Shasho: Another amazing tune which really deserves
airplay on mainstream radio is “Summer of Love,” a great track weighted
by 60s psychedelic music imagery, and a violin performance that sort of
mirrored Jeff Beck on guitar. Darryl Way:“Yea wasn’t that nice? I was thinking
more of Ravi Shankar or John McLaughlin when he went through his Indian
phase. I thought I had to write something about my experiences in London
during the summer of love. It was such a seminal period. There was that
kind of feeling that it was a musical renaissance and looking back on
it now I’m pretty sure it was. So much creativity came out of that
period because of the youth movement or maybe the drugs, I just don’t
know. I think it was also creative because people were inventing it.
Rock music itself was being invented at that moment in time. We had rock
and roll before that but rock music was definitely being pushed and
began forming. The song basically says what I wanted to say about the
rock movement that I was part of, and it was a sadness for us all
because it didn’t last as long as it should have. The experimentation
only lasted for a short period and so I kind of extrapolated what might
have happened if it carried on and the kind of music that would have
been created.” Ray Shasho: Darryl did I detect Sitar playing on “Summer of Love”? Darryl Way:“I’ll have to confess… they’re legitimate Indian scales but it is a synthesizer. Ray Shasho: “Lagan Love” is a beautiful piece with an Ambient/New Age sensibility. Darryl Way:“Lagan Love” is an Irish Folk song and I
heard it sung by somebody I work with and I had a recording of it with
this particular person who sang it. It was just such a spectacular tune.
I felt what I wanted to do because it’s such a lovely, simple, folk,
clear piece of music, and if you hear it sung it’s even better, just a
lovely piece.” Ray Shasho: Your years of classical training were brilliantly
exhibited on the final track of ‘Children of the Cosmos’ entitled
“Sergey.” Darryl Way:“Sergey is paying homage to Prokofiev
obviously, when I first started my career in music with Curved Air, I
wrote a piece called “Vivaldi” and a homage to the composer Antonio
Vivaldi, so I thought at the end of my musical career I’d like to pay
homage to the other person in my life who I was very fond of and that
was Prokofiev. I spent a lot of time practicing his violin concerto at
college, which is very difficult and rarely played. The two pieces that
are featured in “Sergey” …the first part is reference to his first
symphony, the very fast movement at the end of the classical symphony,
and the slow movement is sort of homage to the second violin concerto. I
used the same chord and structure and just improvised a different line
at top.”
“I stay abreast on the very latest technology because it gives me
that feeling to be able to do the things I want to do here in the studio
and fulfills all my needs basically. It’s nice to work with bands and
other people, but from a creative point of view, it’s lovely to have
these fantastic sound powers.” Ray Shasho: Let’s talk ‘Curved Air’ … you wrote the haunting
psychedelic rocker “Marie Antoinette” just A brilliant tune! Was
“Propositions” your song as well? Darryl Way: “Propositions” was written by Francis
Monkman, he was always very keen with working on different time
signatures and that’s one of the pieces he wrote. That was always a bit
of a showstopper when we did it live.” Ray Shasho: I like the story of how you first met your future ‘Curved Air’ bandmate Francis Monkman … Darryl Way:“I was picking up my electric violin for
the first time at a music store. We had this idea of putting guitar
pickups underneath the metal strings, up until that time most of the
violins had gut strings or wound gut strings and there was a company
called Thomastick who developed all metal strings around the 70’s. We
took it to this music shop named Orange on Denmark Street in the West
End of London. So that gave suddenly the possibility if you had a pickup
underneath the strings of a violin you could operate it in the same way
that an electric guitar works. They said they’d do it and try and put
it together. We gave them an old violin and they put the pickups
underneath and that was the first day that I picked it up and plugged
into an amplifier. Francis (Monkman) happened to be in the shop and he
heard this great big noise coming from a tiny violin and he was very
impressed. He was at the Royal Academy of Music and I was at the Royal
College of Music and so that’s how we got together, and we swapped phone
numbers. He had a couple of players that he was working with and I had a
player that I was working with named Nick Simon who was an American
studying music in London as a pianist. So we formed a band together
called Sisyphus which was the beginnings of ‘Curved Air,’ and we were
all trained musicians except for the bass player.”
Purchase Darryl Way’s superlative new CD entitled ‘Children of the Cosmos’ at amazon.com
Darryl Way official website
Darryl Way on Myspace
Curved Air official website Very special thanks to ‘the great’ Billy James of Glass Onyon PR Coming up NEXT … Legendary Classic RockerEdgar Winter(“Frankenstein,” “Free Ride”), UP Coming Interviews … Don Wilson guitarist, pioneer, and co-founder of ‘The Ventures’… Keyboard extraordinaire Patrick Moraz (YES/The Moody Blues)… Al Kooper
(The Blues Project, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bob Dylan, and
responsible for the success of Lynyrd Skynyrd… Country Music’s shining
new star -19 year old Mary Sarah … Folk/Rock singer & songwriter Jonathan Edwards (“Sunshine”). Contact classic rock music journalist Ray Shasho atrockraymond.shasho@gmail.com Purchase Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com - Please support Ray by purchasing his book so he can continue to bring you quality classic rock music reporting. “Check the Gs
is just a really cool story ... and it’s real. I’d like to see the kid
on the front cover telling his story in a motion picture, TV sitcom or
animated series. The characters in the story definitely jump out of the
book and come to life. Very funny and scary moments throughout the story
and I just love the way Ray timeline’s historical events during his
lifetime. Ray’s love of rock music was evident throughout the book and
it generates extra enthusiasm when I read his on-line classic rock music
column on examiner.com. It’s a wonderful read for everyone!” …stillerb47@gmail.com
'The Youngbloods' were a psychedelic-folk rock band
that mellowed millions across the globe with their musical directive for
peace and brotherhood entitled “Get Together.” The song was penned by singer-songwriter Chet Powers (Dino Valenti/Quicksilver Messenger Service) and monumentally performed by Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar), Jerry Corbitt (vocals, lead guitar), Lowell Levinger known as “Banana” (electric piano, guitar), and Joe Bauer (drums).
The group’s first two releases ‘The Youngbloods’ and ‘Earth Music’ were produced by Felix Pappalardi (Cream/Mountain). After the success of “Get Together” (1967) the band moved to San Francisco during the ‘Summer of Love,’ an ambience conforming to their lifestyles. Their debut album also generated a minor hit with “Grizzly Bear” (1967) written by Jerry Corbitt.
The Youngbloods attained greater success after “Get Together”
was reissued in (1969), peaking at #5 on the Billboard’s Hot 100. After
co-founder Jerry Corbitt left the band, Jesse became the principal
songwriter. The Youngbloods third studio release ‘Elephant Mountain’ spawned the Jesse Colin Young penned classics … “Darkness Darkness” and “Sunlight.”
In 1979, Jesse closed the ‘No Nukes’ concert and movie along with Jackson Browne, Stephen Stills, and Graham Nash, while performing The Youngbloods classic hit “Get Together.”
In October of 1995, the Mount Vision fire destroyed Jesse Colin
Young’s home in Inverness Park, California. Over 12,000 acres burned
over 4 days destroying 48 hillside homes and incurring 20-million
dollars in damage, including Jesse’s Point Reyes ridgetop home in the
hills overlooking Tomales Bay. Everything was destroyed except for his
recording studio.
Jesse Colin Young has performed with Led Zeppelin, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to name just a few.
In 2003, legendary Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant won the Grammy for ‘Best Rock Vocal’ for his cover version of “Darkness Darkness” penned by Young.
Jesse Colin Young currently lives in Aiken, South Carolina and is recording tracks for a brand new album that will feature Julliard pianist Donald Vega
and Jesse’s son Tristan. Watch for a possible release in 2015. Jesse
and his wife Connie also perpetuate a Certified Organic Farm entitled ‘Jesse’s Kona Coffee’ located in the Kona district of Hawaii.
I had the incredible pleasure of chatting with Jesse Colin Young recently about … His struggles with Lyme disease….
The Youngbloods … The inception of “Get Together” …The passing of his
best friend Jerry Corbitt … Supporting our Vets … Jesse’s sons in the
music business … Jesse’s new album … Walking off the ‘Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson’ … My infamous ‘Field of Dreams’ wish question and
much-much more!
Here’s my recent interview with legendary folk-rock/
singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/ founding member & lead
vocalist with ‘The Youngbloods’ and accomplished solo artist … JESSE COLIN YOUNG. Ray Shasho: Hey Jesse, how’s it going man, you’re in the studio? Jesse Colin Young:“Yes I am. I like to have a
studio either in the house or next to the house. I built my first one in
California around 1972. The house burnt down in 1995 but the studio was
down in a gulley that was really wet. The forest was just smoldering
stumps and my four story house was gone but the studio survived. My
godson works in there now with my son Cheyenne Young in a band called
‘Beso Negro,’ it’s like a gypsy jazz/rock band; they have a good
following in the Bay area. They’ve got two really strong guitar players
and singers. My godson Ethan Turner is the drummer and my son plays
bass, Cheyenne plays upright electric and wash-tub bass; they both grew
up together and are about two years apart. My youngest son who is just
taking a break from Berklee College of Music is here working on a record
with me. So yea, two bass players, I did play bass when I was in The
Youngbloods but only because I had to. I really didn’t know how, we had
two guitar players and we couldn’t get Felix Pappalardi to join the
band. I don’t think the band was heavy enough though for Felix. So I
turned into a bass player. It must be in the genes because I have two
sons and a daughter that plays bass.” Ray Shasho: Jesse, let’s talk about your personal plight with Lyme disease? Jesse Colin Young:“The chronic Lyme sufferers of
which I am one, and I would say most of the people in this country who
have it are undiagnosed. The official international infectious disease
doctors in the United States have taken the position that there is no
chronic Lyme disease and that the treatment is three weeks of
Doxycycline …and that’s it! There are those of us who have had it for
years or even decades. Many of whom are really suffering and are
confined to wheel chairs. Lyme disease sufferers are not getting the
treatment they need. Like me, they may need a year of antibiotics and
not three weeks. If they’ve had it like I did, probably for a couple of
decades before it was diagnosed. It took a year of five antibiotics,
some of them were antimalarial drugs, and that’s a lot different than
three weeks. And that really helped to bring back my sanity and physical
health.” Ray Shasho: I believe you had told me earlier that you couldn’t completely rid yourself of the disease? Jesse Colin Young:“That’s true … I mean that’s my
truth. Dr. Richard Horowitz is leading the charge right now in New York
State; but it’s so hard to find a doctor who specializes in Lyme
disease. The blood tests are not very accurate and it also depends on
the lab you send them to. A doctor actually has to listen to every
symptom you have and that takes time … most doctors don’t have it, what
do they put aside for a visit ten-fifteen minutes? We had a Lyme doctor
here in South Carolina and they suspended his license, and this happens
all over the country. They do that because he’s prescribing long-term
aggressive and expensive treatment. One of my antibiotics cost six
hundred bucks with insurance. That was an important one for a
co-infection, when you’re bitten by the tick you just don’t get Lyme’s,
you get other diseases with it, and you’ve kind of got to fight them all
at the same time.”
“So right now… the New York legislator has passed a bill that kind of
forbids whatever the oversight organization is in the state that is
persecuting the Lyme doctors. It forbids them to do this. There’s a
great push at the moment to get this bill on the floor of the senate.
I’m not a New York state resident but I’m going to write a letter and
let my voice be heard. My doctor … Dr. Richard Horowitz is in New York
State and he brought this to the floor. His book that came out this past
year is called ‘Why Can’t I Get Better?’ and is a
definitive work on chronic Lyme, which the AMA says does not exist. I
think Richard has had around Fifteen Thousand patients in upstate New
York. He kind of wandered into a hotbed right out of medical school, so
many of his patients had Lyme disease so he became a specialist. He’s
been a great help for so many of us. Many lives and families have been
destroyed by this disease. It not only makes you hurt, but it makes you
crazy.” Ray Shasho: What were some of your early symptoms that told you something was wrong? Jesse Colin Young: “We had moved to Hawaii in 1995
after our house burnt down in California, and we had lost everything
except the studio. So when I started to get kind of crazy and have
anxiety and depression in that first year in Hawaii, my therapist said
maybe you’d better take some medication for the anxiety and depression,
so they put me on some antidepressants and nobody even thought about
Lyme disease. So I took the medications until I moved here to South
Carolina, and to my wife’s hometown. She went to a family funeral in
Ohio and she came back with this pamphlet from one of her cousins who
was an Internist working with ILADS (International Lyme And Associated
Diseases Society). The pamphlet ended up in the kitchen and I opened it
up one day and started reading all the symptoms and thought … Good God,
this sounds like my biography … maybe I have Lyme disease? And here I
had my wife’s cousin who was working at ILADS. I called her up and asked
who should I see and she said Dr. Richard Horowitz. So I flew up to New
York and was diagnosed with Lyme’s. Richard put me on heavy antibiotics
and began to get my brain back, my thinking, and a lessening of all
those anxiety and panic attacks. It was like getting my life back.”
“After I had been treated it did not show up in a Western blot which
is a common blood test for Lyme disease. Mine did not show up positive
until I had my first month of antibiotics. My first Western blot showed
up negative. It was so small that one of my doctors said it was negative
and not positive … and that’s one of the problems with diagnosing
Lyme’s. Dr. Horowitz sat me down for a couple of hours and listened to
my whole story. I really never talked about this in an interview before,
but I think it’s really important because there are people out there
who are suffering and have no idea why.” Ray Shasho: Talk about the inception of your company Ridgetop Music. Jesse Colin Young:“I had not been paying attention
when everything went to CD’s and had not made my catalogue available on
CD in the early 90’s, so my wife Connie and I started Ridgetop Music to
remedy that and to also bring out the new music. We have a little place
in Hawaii that we bought on our honeymoon. We’d go there and I began
being influenced by Hawaiian music. I eventually made a couple of
albums, one called … ‘Swept Away’ (1994) and the other entitled ‘Living
in Paradise’ (2004).” Ray Shasho: Then you started Jesse's Kona Coffee? Jesse Colin Young: “We fell in love with the big
island; we’ve got a little farm there and it had a little house on it.
We bought that in 1987. Then when the house burned up in California,
Connie and I decided, we’ve got a house in Hawaii, at least we’ve got
somewhere to go. Most of the people that lost their homes didn’t have a
spare house, we were lucky. We found the Waldorf School ten minutes from
our house in Hawaii and that was very important to Connie and turned
out to be important to me. We became big supporters of Waldorf education
and actually helped build a K through 8th grade school that survives in
Kona to this day. Now it’s a Waldorf inspired school.” Ray Shasho: Jesse you’ve written so many beautiful songs …
your breathtaking composition “Sunlight” always comes to mind, which was
covered by Three Dog Night, and of course “Darkness Darkness.” Jesse Colin Young:“Actually I just got a check for
that and I built my studio with the Three Dog Night money. (Laughing)
“Sunlight” was the first song I wrote in California. I think I started
it during the spring that we played The Avalon. Someone took me out to
Muir Beach which is in Marin County just north of San Francisco. I fell
in love with Marin and began that song. I wrote “Darkness Darkness” in
New York. When I was in San Francisco, David Lindley was in a band and
spent a lot of time as an accompanist with Jackson Browne and is a
beautiful slide player and violinist. We played with him at the Avalon
once upon a time. The band had Oud players and it was the time for
people experimenting with all kinds of instruments and music. You could
turn on KSAN Radio and listen for 24 hours and never hear the same song …
it was wide open. National musicians like myself could listen to the
radio and learn all kinds of things because there was a lot of great
music going on back then. The beginnings of “Darkness Darkness” were
there from listening to KSAN Radio while I was in San Francisco and was
completed in New York. I spent one sleepless night thinking about my
friends who were in Viet Nam and how terrifying it must be. So much of
the fighting was done at night and “Darkness Darkness” came out of that
sleepless night. I tried to put myself in their shoes.” Ray Shasho: I chatted with Dave Mason who was absolutely overwhelmed when a Marinecame
up to him and said, “You know man, me and my buddy were stuck in a
foxhole for three days and we would have gone absolutely nuts if it
weren’t for a Jimi Hendrix tape and a Dave Mason tape. I’m assuming the
same can be said with “Get Together” and “Darkness Darkness”? Jesse Colin Young: “It was my privilege and pleasure
to find that out after the war. My support for the Vets still goes on.
Two weeks ago we initiated a program that started in Saratoga. It’s
called the ‘Saratoga WarHorse Foundation’ and is an amazing program. It
started in Saratoga because they’ve got a racetrack and racehorses that
nobody wants anymore. I believe they’re done racing at around three or
four years old. The founder Bob Nevins served in Viet Nam as a medevac
pilot for the 101st Airborne and learned that soldiers and horses
bonding together helped Veterans struggling with PTSD, sleeplessness or
suicidal thoughts. Bonding with the horse works like forgiveness. It’s
an incredible program and we help to fund the initiation of it here in
Aiken, South Carolina.” Ray Shasho: I grew up around the Washington D.C. area and
Jesse Colin Young was very much a concert mainstay on the D.C. music
scene … The Cellar Door, the Birchmere, Constitution Hall …etc. Jesse Colin Young:“Oh my God, yea, The Cellar Door.
I think the first gig that I played as a folk singer was at The Cellar
Door with a band called The Country Gentlemen, they’re called The Seldom
Scene today. We’d go down there and listen to them almost every night.
Right down the street was the Little Tavern between the Cellar Door and
the Shamrock Tavern. We’d go to the Little Tavern and listen to The
Beatles on their jukebox. They were just happening so that must have
been around 1963.” Ray Shasho: What were the early Greenwich Village days like? Jesse Colin Young: “The Youngbloods were at the Cafe
au Go Go. The Magicians, Tim Hardin, and The Lovin’ Spoonful would play
at Cafe Wha? … and then all kinds of other music… there was jazz next
door, although it was kind of a high ticket price so we never went
there, but it was really the same building as Cafe au Go Go. They’d have
acts like George Shearing and people like that playing there.”
“I first heard “Get Together” at the Cafe au Go Go. The Youngbloods
played there about a year and we opened for anyone that Howard Solomon
wanted us to open for; I think he paid us twenty bucks a piece. We
opened for Muddy Waters, Ian & Sylvia and… whoever, but we got to
rehearse and really put the band together there. Jerry Corbitt and I
were folk singers and we hadn’t been in a band since high school, and
there I was the bass player. We picked Joe Bauer a jazz drummer from
Memphis … Jerry was from Tifton, Georgia … Joe Bauer from Memphis … and
‘Banana’ (Lowell Levinger) and I both born in New York.”
“It was a Sunday afternoon and I had stopped in to the Cafe au Go Go
to see if anyone was rehearsing because The Blues Project had also
rehearsed there. I walked in and there was an open mike and a fellow
named Buzzy Linhart who had a quartet called the Seventh Suns, and he
was singing a song called “Get Together” and I was struck by it. This
was a song written by Dino Valenti (Chet Powers). I ran backstage and
said Buzzy write the lyrics out for me because I’ve got to sing it. I
must have memorized the melody but he wrote down the lyrics on a piece
of paper and I had watched him play it on guitar. But yea, that was a
momentous day for me. I took it into rehearsal for The Youngbloods the
next day. Most of the songs I had written myself, but I knew “Get
Together” was a game changer … a life changer for me.” Ray Shasho: “Ev’rybody get together, try and love one another right now” … Awe-inspiring lyrics that should be observed on a daily basis in today’s coldhearted and destructive world. Jesse Colin Young:“I don’t think the generations
who have come up in the last thirty years are as optimistic as we were.
And many of us may have been disillusioned by it and what happened. I
grew up in school first in Ohio and I felt like there was one guy who
understood where I came from politically and emotionally in a school of
25,000 people (laughing) … there was people from all over the country
who felt like outsiders. Then we went to play the Avalon Ballroom in May
of 1967. In New York we were kind of outsiders, discotheques were the
thing. I remember the first time we played with the Buffalo Springfield
was in a discotheque. Bands like The Rascals were more successful, they
wanted dance music. In May 1967, we walk into The Avalon Ballroom and
there were people with hair like ‘bananas’ … he just had a huge head of
hair, we didn’t see that a lot in New York, everyone in the audience,
even the females had hair like that(All laughing).”
“We checked into this cheap hotel down the street from the Avalon, I
put my bag down, turned on this radio that was built into the bed and it
was “Get Together” on the radio. We had no idea they were playing it.
We walked into the beginning of the ‘Summer of Love’ back in the spring
and all of a sudden half the people on the street were looking you in
the eye and realized we were a movement, not just a bunch of outsiders.
It was incredible, and then of course that spread.” Ray Shasho: Jesse, here’s a question that I ask everyone that
I interview. If you had a ‘Field of Dreams’ wish like the movie, to
play, sing or collaborate with anyone from the past or present, who
would that be? Jesse Colin Young: “Well, I just lost my best friend
Jerry Corbitt; we buried him down in Tifton, Georgia two months ago,
right next to his mom and dad, and that’s where he wanted to be. So I
think it would have to be Jerry, I’d love to sing with him again. Our
voices did something wonderful together. I remember years ago, Neil
Young turned out to be a neighbor on the big island and Neil tried to
encourage me to get The Youngbloods back together and said I want to
hear you and Corbitt sing together again …but it never happened.”
“We had plan for Jerry to come to Aiken, he’s a horse guy and this
town in South Carolina we live in is just full of horse people. So he
had planned to come here, and he was going to sit on the porch and pick,
just like it was in the folk days …that’s how we met. I was playing the
Club 47 and staying with somebody my manager new. Coming back from the
gig I got this message saying don’t go back to that house he’s been
arrested. So I ended up with Corbitt and that’s how we met. We’d sit on
his back porch at the Cambridge apartment and just played and played.
Corbitt was a great Ragtime picker and kind of introduced me to Ragtime.
I guess in the great beyond there’s a porch and Corbitt is up there
right now and that’s who I’d collaborate with.” Ray Shasho: You’re working on recording a brand new album? Jesse Colin Young: “It’s an album I started with a
Julliard pianist named Donald Vega. There’s a project called Julliard in
Aiken (Aiken, S.C. the town we live in). About ten years ago our
neighbors down the street called up Julliard and said that we’d like to
give you our mansion when we pass. They are Pulitzer Prize authors
Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh. They made this connection with
Julliard, that when they die, their house and foundation to support it
will become a part of Julliard. So the Julliard students started to come
here about six years ago. They would come down on spring break and we
created this ten day long festival in Aiken, South Carolina.”
“In our guest house we would host the jazz guys and a lot of piano
players would come down. Donald Vega would warm up on our piano and get
ready to go to a gig and I fell in love with his playing. A couple of
years ago, when I was still on the road, he played with me on the road
until his first jazz album came out, and it went to #1 on the jazz
charts. We had about twelve songs that we had recorded together, and he
just came down a few months ago to play a gig here, and I recorded
another five new songs with him. So we’ve got about 12 songs with Donald
on them and me playing electric guitar, and hopefully by the time we
head over to do our work on the Coffee farm, our son Tristan (Everybody
calls him ‘T’), who is in his last year at Berklee will be part of the
new record.”
“It’s not a jazz album but will be kind of jazzy. It’s a mixture of
new material and a few of my older songs that I’ve wanted to record with
a beautiful pianist … like a song called “Great Day,” and some of my
music is jazz inspired. The only station that I could get when I moved
to Point Reyes on my radio was a jazz station. So back in 1967, I
started listening to a lot of jazz. Up on top of the mountain, the only
FM station that would come in was KJAZZ. We’re not sure yet when it will
be released, hopefully by next year. I’m also not sure what we’re going
to call it yet, but it might be entitled ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’
because that’s one of the songs I fell in love with as a kid. It’s a
jazz standard but a big hit for The Flamingos in the 50’s, and that’s
when I fell in love with the song.” Ray Shasho: Jesse will you be going on the road anytime soon? Jesse Colin Young:“I don’t think so. Maybe when I
finish this album I’ll be so excited that I’ll want to. I quit about two
years ago because I wasn’t having any fun. I’ll have to somehow
deprogram myself from this perfectionism that has always plagued me and
been responsible for a lot of the music that I made. When I couldn’t get
an engineer out in the country I learned to do it myself. Many of my
records in the 70’s were self produced and self engineered. It’s got to
be fun for me now. I was pretty driven for those 50 years that I spent
on the road; I’ve been working on changing my attitude and learning to
relax, so that has to change.” Ray Shasho: You’re a huge fan of Lightnin’ Hopkins? Jesse Colin Young: “Absolutely! And I knew
Lightnin’. I’ve got four guys over my desk … Lightnin’ Hopkins (holding a
flask in his hand), John Hurt (who I was also privileged to know and
play with when I was very young), Pete Seeger (who I think was the
grandfather of the folk generation) Jerry Corbitt, and over in the
corner is my hero Yo-Yo Ma.” Ray Shasho: I wasn’t going to ask you about the Johnny Carson incident because you’ve repeated the story so many times … Jesse Colin Young:“Well, it was very simple, they
wanted us on the show (The Youngbloods) and called us, we had just
released ‘Elephant Mountain’ and we said sure we’ll play “Get Together”
but we also wanted to play a song from our new record. So that was the
deal and had their word that this would happen. We flew out from
California to New York. When we got there, their set was sort of a corny
psychedelic setup, and they didn’t have floor monitors. We fooled
around and did our soundcheck, and then the producer of the show came
over to talk with our manager who was there with us and said … “We
really don’t have time for two songs.” Our manager said that was the
deal you made with us and what brought us all the way here to do this. I
think he thought that he was so powerful that no one would walk off the
show. So Stuart our manager walked over to us and said what do you want
to do guys? We thought about it and said no, they have to keep their
word. I’m sure they were use to getting musicians in there with promises
and then saying ...play your hit and get out of here, and be grateful
that we even considered you. We were just not those kinds of people and
expected them to keep their word. So when they wouldn’t we just walked.
The whole idea was to make the record business and the TV business treat
musicians with respect. So it’s important for people to know that The
Youngbloods took a stand to be treated with respect, because musicians
traditionally have not been. When we were allowed to choose our own
producer on RCA Records … that was a huge step!” Ray Shasho: Jesse, thank you for being on the call today but
more importantly for all the incredible music with The Youngbloods and
as a solo artist that you’ve given us and continue to bring. Jesse Colin Young:“My pleasure Ray, thank you!”
'International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society' ILADS website
Purchase ‘Why Can’t I Get Better?’ by Dr. Richard Horowitz at amazon.com
Visit the Saratoga WarHorse Foundation
Jesse Colin Young official website
Jesse’s Blog
Jesse Colin Young on Facebook
Jesse Colin Young on Twitter
Jesse Colin Young on Myspace
Jesse's Kona Coffee official website
The Youngbloods last.fm website
Beso Negro (Jesse’s son and godson’s band) official website
Donald Vega official website Very special thanks to Eddie Camolli of ‘The Hungry Ear Agency’ Coming up NEXT … The pioneer of the ‘electric violin’ Darryl Way of ‘Curved Air,’ UP Coming … Don Wilson legendary guitarist and co-founder of ‘The Ventures,’ Keyboard extraordinaire Patrick Moraz (YES/The Moody Blues), folk rock singer & songwriter Jonathan Edwards (“Sunshine”) and Al Kooper (The Blues Project, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bob Dylan …while responsible for the success of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Contact classic rock music journalist Ray Shasho at rockraymond.shasho@gmail.com Purchase Ray’s very special memoir called ‘Check the Gs’ -The True Story of an Eclectic American Family and Their Wacky Family Business … You’ll LIVE IT! Also available for download on NOOK or KINDLE edition for JUST .99 CENTS at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com- Please support Ray by purchasing his book so he can continue to bring you quality classic rock music reporting. “Check the Gs is just a really cool story ... and it’s real. I’d
like to see the kid on the front cover telling his story in a motion
picture, TV sitcom or animated series. The characters in the story
definitely jump out of the book and come to life. Very funny and scary
moments throughout the story and I just love the way Ray timeline’s
historical events during his lifetime. Ray’s love of rock music was
evident throughout the book and it generates extra enthusiasm when I
read his on-line classic rock music column on examiner.com. It’s a
wonderful read for everyone!” …stillerb47@gmail.com
