Country/rock

11 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Country Rock, BLUES: Guitar Blues



Details:
I started playing guitar at the age of eleven, and professionally at fourteen. Since Iâm from a military family, I lived most of my early life out of the country, and one of my first bands was an all-G.I. group in Tokyo called the Teen Tops. We were signed with the Japanese Victor label.
Back in the States, I played with several groups around my hometown, Columbus, Georgia, mostly blues bands and some occasi0onal country. Iâd just sit in with any band that happened to be at âBillyâs Clubâ.
I left Columbus and headed for New York, and landed a gig as a staff guitarist at Atlantic Records, playing with a lot of R&B artists including Solomon Burke, James Brown, Barbara Lewis, and the Drifters. The first group I put together was Charlie Brownâs Generation. We were signed to ATCO Records. In the summer of 1967, I was hired to be musical director and lead guitarist for Van Morrison, fresh from his hit, Brown-Eyed Girl. Shortly after that tour, I joined the Broadway show, Hair, as lead guitarist, and during that run I released two solo albums, Up from Georgia and Portrait of a Glad Man, on Polydor. If you can find a copy, Iâd love to hear about it.
In 1973, my good friend, Eric Weissberg, whoâd just had a hit with the sound track from the movie, Deliverance, called Dueling Banjos, asked me to be in his band called Deliverance. We had one LP on Warner Bros., Rural Free Delivery. Great band. I loved every minute of it. We were together for a few years then most of us drifted into studio work. Iâm featured on Mandy by Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisandâs Songbird, which went platinum, Ballads of Madison County, from the film, Bridges of Madison County, the film soundtrack of Hair, Herbie Mannâs Memphis Two-Step, Judy Collinsâ Judith, and Bob Dylanâs Blood on the Tracks.
Just before relocating to Los Angeles, I released my CD, Ride in the Country, a compilation of originals and country blues. My newest project is Land of Beginning Again, collaboration with singer/songwriter Kathrin King Segal. I play a wide range of styles, from jazz to folk to country, on various guitars and Dobro, electric bass and lap steel.