"We were all very serious – guitar battles and everything…" Interviewed in late 1976, just prior to their split, The Band's Robbie Robertson and Rick Danko look backThe Band's 1976 Guitar Player cover story went onsale just as the band themselves came to an end. Founding members Robbie Robertson and bassist Rick Danko looked back on the country rock group that influenced a generation
Speaking of Guitar there’s this from FLOPPY BOOT STOMP/ VOODOO WAGON who posted this on their Facebook page . . . . .worth checking the guy knows his chops!
Jimmie Vaughan: "We ended up making "Family Style". Then Stevie got killed before it came out, which really screwed everything up. I didn’t know what in the world to do, and everybody was just flipped out. I still can’t believe what happened, and I’m talking about my feelings and the way it still feels. It took me a long time to really get back. He was my little brother.
When we were kids, I was supposed to get him to school and back. Protect him. So it felt like I’d failed, even though there was nothing I could do about it. It took me a while to process everything. Stevie never got to have a family or anything like that. I’ve been blessed. I have a wonderful family, I get to play guitar, I have a great band. I have all the wonderful things in life."
Had Stevie not died, do you think you would have followed a very different path and perhaps worked more closely with each other on a regular basis?
"I think we would have done a tour and probably another album. But it’s all speculation. I might have done more with the T-Birds as well. It wasn’t like I was trying to quit the group to be with Stevie or he was leaving his band. This was just something different for us. We were just trying stuff."
Credit: Guitar Player Magazine, Mark McStea
Roots That Rock
Bonnie Raitt: “Someone put it best when they said, 'You can’t change the noodle, but you can change the sauce.' I play the way I play, just like I sing the way that I sing. I’m not a schooled guitar player, and I can’t say I’m getting appreciably better, but I know how to do what I do. It’s the songs that change.
“Taking risks is how I keep moving forward – that and being open to hearing things in a different way. Ultimately, I know there’s a safety net, and that’s the fact that I trust my ears and my instincts.
“I’ll always try something different. That’s how you grow, and you also don’t want to be overly influenced by an inclination to dismiss something that’s new. So, I may do something I’m not really into – out of respect for Tchad and the musicians – but if it’s not working for me after a few days of letting it sit, then I’ll go, 'We gave it a try, but this song is sucking.'”
“I look at a player’s musical vocabulary, but I also consider the kind of person they are. To me, you can’t separate who someone is from the way he or she plays. It makes complete sense to me that Jon Cleary is so badass on the keyboards, and that he also reads Graham Greene.
“I look for soul, intelligence, funk, and the ability to handle an extraordinary range of music styles. By the time I bring somebody into the fold, I already know they can do the things I need them to. I know George [Marinelli, guitarist in Raitt’s band] can do everything from Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards to Richard Thompson, as well as being completely inventive in his own style.”
-Michael Molenda / Guitar Player
Photo: © Charlyn Zlotnik
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/ thebonnieraitt Produced by Bonnie Raitt Recorded and Mixed by Ryan Freeland AUDIO TRACK CREDITS: Bonnie: vocal, electric slide guitar James “Hutch” Hutchinson: bass Ricky Fataar: drums, percussion, backing vocal Glenn Patscha: rhodes piano, hammond B3, backing vocal Kenny Greenberg: electric guitar MUSICIAN VIDEO CREDITS: Bonnie: vocal, electric slide guitar James “Hutch” Hutchinson: bass Ricky Fataar: drums, percussion, backing vocal Glenn Patscha: rhodes piano, hammond B3, backing vocal Duke Levine: electric guitar