WEBVTT - Bonnie Raitt 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.440 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Sets podcast. 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:15.880 My guest is the one and only Bonnie Rate who's 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.840 on tour and support of a new album. Just like that, Bonnie, 0:00:19.920 --> 0:00:22.319 good to have you on the podcast. Nice to be 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:27.880 with you, Bob. So what inspired you to cut this album? Oh? 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.200 I cut my records so I have some new songs 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:33.200 to play on the road. That's always the pretty much 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:35.960 the only reason I do it. And I love having 0:00:36.000 --> 0:00:39.800 new stuff to play, and my fans probably enjoy it too. 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.320 And uh, it's always daunting to not repeat yourself. Each 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:47.720 record has another batch of love gone astray and how 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.280 are you going to say something new after that many records? 0:00:50.320 --> 0:00:53.440 But I managed to when I get the songs compiled 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.480 and I hit in the studio. But it's always got 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.600 kind of a five year ahead of me plan of 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.160 you know, holding the band in the crew and which 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.920 halls were going to book a year in advance. And 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.600 that was interrupted by COVID, of course, but the plan 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.160 was still, you know, every after the two year tour 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.480 to promote the record, that's about a year to prepare 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:14.640 another one and a year to make it and get 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.399 ready for the the big tour in another two years, 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:20.000 so it's kind of been the same since nineteen one. 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:26.800 And you mentioned love going a straight? Is that something, 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.559 because that's what music normally is. Is that your life? 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:33.800 Why do you characterize it was a little tongue in 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.840 cheek about you know, if everybody got along, I wouldn't 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.240 have anything to sing about. You know. The the kind 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:44.280 of songs I sing about mostly are love stories of 0:01:44.319 --> 0:01:48.600 different aspects of love, you know, betrayal or longing or 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:51.760 there you go again or you know, why did you 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.040 do it? Whatever? It's just you know, some of the 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:57.040 songs like one that you love not the only one. 0:01:57.160 --> 0:02:01.080 Mr Brady's tune um is about a true love song. 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.600 You know, that's a beautiful I do rarely. There's only 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.320 cut about two or two songs about love that are 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:11.040 really when it's working out? Okay. People learn from the 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:14.360 songs you sing. Did you learn anything? A lot of 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:16.760 the songs you didn't write, and the more you perform them, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:22.440 the insights come to you relative to love in life. Absolutely. 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.400 I I picked the songs because they have something to 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.280 say to me that I need to hear, and I 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.520 when I sing it, the message comes through. And um, 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.560 you know, I hope that fans find something worthwhile in it. 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:37.480 You know I seemed to be striking a chord, or 0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.200 I probably wouldn't get the opportunity to make another record, 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:42.280 or it would fail, and then I would hang it 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:47.519 up and stay home. Um. I think that the mix 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:51.640 of songwriters that I picked from are some of my 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.800 favorite artists anyway, their whole repertoire. But when I find 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:56.600 a song, I know it's right for me and it's 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:00.160 got something to say for me at the time. And 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:03.880 what is the process or people always sending you demos 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:06.959 or you searching or you just start doing it when 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:11.840 you start a project, I'm always on the hunt. Um. 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:15.680 I always go back in my own library of things 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:17.640 that I artists that I love, and go back and 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:21.880 revisit Keith Richard's first solo albums, you know, Bruce Hornsby's 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.080 third album, Jackson Brown. You know there there's there's artists 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.120 that are friends of mine that I love, Little Feet 0:03:28.160 --> 0:03:30.320 and people like that John Hyatt that I just listened 0:03:30.320 --> 0:03:33.360 to for pleasure. But I'm also cocking an ear for 0:03:33.560 --> 0:03:36.520 giving a second listen to some of the the songs 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:38.840 that have kind of been tucked away in my back 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.320 pocket that I might end up cutting. But for many, 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.200 many years, probably forty years, I listened to most, if 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:50.360 not all, of the unsolicited cassettes that people sent me. Um. 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.360 Then they became CDs and and all those years I'd 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.000 never found one song I could do. So I I 0:03:56.080 --> 0:04:00.080 gave myself a break after forty years to say, you, oh, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.800 I think you can probably just wait for your friends 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:04.840 to send your songs. Are you so? I call up 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:06.840 my pals and say, who have you been listening to? 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:09.720 And I listened to. I do a lot of research. 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.800 I read a lot of reviews. I listened to a 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:15.280 lot of um interesting things that people turned me onto 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.040 and the journalist turned me onto him. It's a constant hunt. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.640 So how did you meet Lowell? George? Um, I don't know, 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:27.920 I don't. I think you're at one generation younger than me, 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:30.720 or at least. But there was a band out of 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:34.760 l A called Fanny, which was the first all female 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:39.760 band that could really play well, oh you did there 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:42.320 you go? So Fanny we're friends of mine. I think 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.120 we were all on warners. I don't even know if 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.920 they were on warners that want to they were, Yeah, 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.080 that's where I met them because we're you know, Alan 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:54.240 Hussain and the Meters and James and Ryan Randy were 0:04:54.240 --> 0:04:56.559 all new, you know. When I first joined the label, 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:59.720 it was because of the roster that they had, and 0:04:59.760 --> 0:05:02.680 I've became really good friends with June Millington and the band. 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:05.919 And I used to stay at Hetty Lamar's old house 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:11.520 up from the Chateau Marmont, a little bit slower. They had, 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:17.400 they rented, they rented, They rented Hetty Lamar's old house 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:21.040 right up from the iconic Chateau Marmont above Sunset stripped 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:24.080 down from the rock Sy and the Tower Records, And 0:05:24.160 --> 0:05:27.560 when I came out from Cambridge, I would stay with them. 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:31.040 And that's when I heard Little Feet second album and 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:35.359 I went crazy. And June Millington introduced me to Little 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.240 George And was there an instant connection? How did you 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:41.320 ultimately form the bond and go on the road and 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:45.880 make music recorded music together? Absolutely instant connection. He was 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:47.680 a fan of mine, I was a fan of his. 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:50.600 We both couldn't believe we were from l A. But 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:52.520 that was the same with Ray Couter. You know, it's 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.240 sort of the kind of uh, kind of shallow surf 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.480 music scene that was in my junior high school all 0:05:58.520 --> 0:06:01.599 of a sudden turned into you know, these super cool 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.960 roots music people, and uh, I just you know, Lowell 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:07.880 was the one who turned me onto how to keep 0:06:07.920 --> 0:06:10.920 my slide note holding longer. He gave me this mx 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.720 R compressor pedal and changed my whole slide style. So 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.960 that was a fantastic thing. But I mean, along with 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.480 Hendrix and Stevie ray Vaughan, I think Lowell was one 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:24.760 of the greatest guitar players that's ever lived. Okay, getting 0:06:24.800 --> 0:06:28.360 to the third album, taking my time, I feel the 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.719 same on the second side. Who plays the solo? You 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:36.880 were Lowell? Lowell plays the solo. That's what I thought, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.560 But then I was to say, it's so the great 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:42.400 thing about Lowell is he knew how to be subtle 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:46.840 and leave things out, which in a world of obviousness 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:51.640 is very rare. Yes, I completely agree. And and you know, 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:53.840 there would be times when he was in the studio 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:58.040 and just overlaying many many slide parts, almost like an arranger, 0:06:58.600 --> 0:07:02.359 you know, putting more lines and string lines over his 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.760 own songs, and sometimes it would get crowded. But by 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:06.520 the time I came out as a record he did. 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:09.119 He was a pretty He was pretty good at being 0:07:09.160 --> 0:07:12.240 tasteful with his edits and not over not over sweetening 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:16.160 the pot. Okay. He was involved in the production of 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:19.600 Taking My Time, and then he was not. What went 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:24.160 on there, Uh, that was a kind of a personal 0:07:24.240 --> 0:07:27.160 thing that happened with us. Um. He also wanted to 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:29.760 play slide on more songs than I wanted him to. 0:07:29.920 --> 0:07:31.800 I said, hey, you know, I love the way you play, 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.760 but you gotta make some room for me here. And uh, 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:37.880 but it was more like a personal thing that was 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.040 between us. And I asked my friend John Hall from 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.560 Orleans to come out and Taj to come down. And 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:47.800 Taj and John had we been in a band together. 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.440 John was one of the guitar players when John Simon 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:54.920 was producing the Big Tuba Band with Taj and John 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:57.400 Hall lived in Woodstock and played on my second album, 0:07:57.440 --> 0:07:59.240 so that they both agreed to come in and help 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:06.480 finish the record. Heard okay. Even to this day high 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:11.520 profile artists mostly men. What was it like back in 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.280 the early seventies being the only woman in the room. 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:18.800 In many cases, it seemed pretty standard. I mean, there 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.040 was a lot of people that I admired you know 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:25.240 Joan Baez and Judy Collins and Odetta and you know 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.120 Peter Paul Mary. There was a lot of women that 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:29.840 were always part of making records and they picked their 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:35.480 material and worked with their partner producer, and um, I 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:40.280 never experienced any sexism that way or or you know 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:43.560 maybe and also because I was a musician, and then 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:45.800 those women are musicians as well. But because I was 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:50.600 a guitar player, um I got some respect at at 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.520 an age that would probably be surprising, you know, not 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:55.480 for a guy to get it twenty one, but for 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.280 a woman to get to play pretty good blues guitar. 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:00.160 It got my foot in the door. That's why I 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:05.360 got my deal, I think. And then, but men always 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:11.120 have romance on their mind, and I think that's reducing 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.040 people to that and women have the same exact you know. 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:17.160 Romance is one of the things on both of our 0:09:17.200 --> 0:09:19.920 minds and the people in between as well. Love is 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.480 just part of the human condition. But when you work 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:24.920 in an office with someone or on tour or in 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:29.480 the studio, relationships happen, as we know. But if you're famous, 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:34.640 then they get written about more. And as you become famous, 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:38.720 do you have to fend off more approaches the guys 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:42.280 might have to fend off my approaches. No, I was 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.760 pretty pretty steady. I mean, it just wasn't. I didn't. 0:09:46.240 --> 0:09:49.840 I didn't see any difference in my world between a 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.880 chemical you know, chemistry attraction to you know, someone in 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.720 the group that you're working with. Is wasn't any different 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.199 than from being in college. You know. It's just one 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:02.080 of those things. Um, you have to be careful in 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:05.199 any shipboard romance when you're out on tour. If you're 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.760 involved with someone in the band and it doesn't work 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:09.199 out and you're still going to be on tour for 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:12.520 the rest of the year, that's a really tricky, tricky situation, 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:14.800 just like it is in an office romance. You know, 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:19.280 they it's frowned upon, but you can't stop it. Okay, 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:24.360 you went to Radcliffe for a year, No, it was 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.440 I went to college at Harvard. Radcliffe doesn't have any classes. 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:31.480 So the women's part of Harvard University is Harvard Radcliffe. 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:35.240 Now it's completely combined. But um, I think the ratio 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.240 is four to one guys to women. I don't know 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:39.320 what it is anymore, but I went for a couple 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:42.400 of years, So what did your parents say when you 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.520 dropped out to make music. I took a semester off 0:10:46.679 --> 0:10:49.160 to hang out with the older blues guys that I loved, 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:52.280 and they thought that was great, and um, they just said, 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.040 you know, you're gonna have to support yourself if you're 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.959 dropping out, then you get to get a job. And 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.520 I got to travel around all these blues festival with 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.240 with Dick Waterman and hang out with Big Bertha cut 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:05.320 Up and Robert Pete Williams and Buddy Guy in Junior 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.839 Wells and Son House and Fred McDowell. It was an 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.960 education and an opportunity I knew I would never have again, 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:14.320 and I could always go back to school. And I 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:16.760 told that to the college admissions folks. They said, come 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.120 back when you're ready. So I went back for a 0:11:19.200 --> 0:11:23.760 year and started to play in folk clubs, um just 0:11:23.840 --> 0:11:26.040 to make some extra money or during my time off. 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:29.000 And next thing I knew, I started getting asked back 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:32.319 and I had some You know, my boyfriend was a 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.160 booking agent, so he put me on the show with 0:11:34.280 --> 0:11:38.080 Cat Stevens and opening for James Taylor and some blues people. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:40.520 And it was kind of a hobby that was a 0:11:40.559 --> 0:11:43.960 sideline for me until all of a sudden, Nat Weiss 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.679 with you know, he said to me, do you want 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:48.840 to You know, there's some interest in signing you with 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.160 the label, And I said, if you, if you can 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.880 get somebody to give me complete artistic control, I'll leave 0:11:54.960 --> 0:12:00.800 college and make and make a record. And he did so. Ever, 0:12:00.880 --> 0:12:05.439 any regrets that you didn't finish, not one, Because as 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.960 a social activist, which was what my chosen field was, 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.120 I knew that being a musician I could raise money 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.760 and more attention for the causes that I cared about, 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.960 which happened right away in the Women's movement and the 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:21.440 Vietnam War. I mean I was doing big, giant rallies 0:12:21.480 --> 0:12:25.199 on Boston Common by the time, you know, making much 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:26.760 more of an impact that I could have if I 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:32.000 had joined the Peace Corps. And other than being in Cambridge, 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.800 did you actually learn anything in classes or being in 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.160 the dorm, or being amongst the student population, or in 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.360 retrospect that just got you into a place where you 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.560 could get started on your musical career. Couldn't have cared 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:49.160 less about starting a music career. I was absolutely loving 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:53.560 majoring in African studies and social relations. I've always loved school. 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.240 I always wanted to work for the American Front Service Committee, 0:12:56.240 --> 0:13:00.800 and I was couldn't get enough of classes. And the 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:04.240 cool thing about Harvard was you could take senior level. 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:06.920 You know what, in regular regular a lot of colleges 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.640 you have to take a survey course for freshman year 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.800 and then sophomore year, and then you can't really specialize 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.520 in your master until the last couple of years. And 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.199 with Harvard you could actually mix it up however you want, 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:21.080 as long as you got a year of humanities and 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:24.840 social science and you know, by the end of the 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.240 four years so I got. I dove right into my 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:31.360 African studies and social relations, you know, serious focus. And 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:33.880 I love being in school. And you know, they've always 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.320 said if I want to come back. I got the 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:38.480 Harvard Arts Medal a few years ago, and they said, 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:40.480 you can come back and finished if you want. But 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:42.160 I don't think it held me back to not have 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:46.080 a degree. Okay, So you grew up in l A. 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:50.720 We're in l A. I was right in the hills 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:53.760 above Studio City, and then I spent every summer in 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:56.679 the Adirondacks while my dad was doing summer stock. So 0:13:57.200 --> 0:13:59.319 I even though I would say that I was raised 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:03.240 in l A. At my formative important part of my 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.080 influences were all East coast, up East coast kids that 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:10.880 went up to the Adirondics at my Quaker camp. And 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:16.200 were you formed by what was going on the ideas 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.640 of the camp or was this how you were brought 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.040 up with your family and these ideas well, we were 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.920 a Quaker, you know, my folks converted to being um 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.680 peace activists and Quakers and kind of rejecting the more 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:36.400 formalized constriction of what religiosity and churches and formal religions brought. 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:39.600 So they were much more into you know, the Quaker 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.840 meeting where you're your center in nobody's higher than someone else. 0:14:42.880 --> 0:14:46.960 Anyone can stand up and share um act, social activism, 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.280 being of service. I just, you know, that's the ethos 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.480 that I was raised, and I was really proud of it, 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.520 and I hung out with a lot of other Quaker 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:59.480 families um and then in my summertime, my family's friends 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:02.120 started a Quaker camp which was very international and not 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:06.360 focused on competitive sports or you know, it was just 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:13.040 a lot of you know, humanitarian humanism, international counselors and campers. 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.480 So it was really a great breeding ground for my 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:20.720 values in my music. And that's where the folk music counselors, 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.200 you know, the counselor for folk music at that camp 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.520 when I was ten, made a huge influence on me. 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:28.160 And all those college kids were swept up in the 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.360 folk revival of the early sixties. Well, I certainly remember 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:34.960 here and blowing in the wind at summer camp and 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:37.560 other songs we sit around. What were the songs that 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:40.280 they were bringing to the camp that you were hearing 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:43.880 and learning. Well, I was eight or nine, and I 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:48.120 loved Odetta's records. I loved Joan Bayez. I taught myself 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.640 to play guitar based on um, those two records. And 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.400 then I loved Peter Paul and Mary and you know 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.960 all the folk music artists. And I read sing Out 0:15:57.000 --> 0:16:00.800 every month and joined at Snick and Core. You know, 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:02.640 I was out in l A. But I couldn't wait 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.800 to be a beat nick and get to college. I 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:07.040 wish I could have just left and you know, at 0:16:07.080 --> 0:16:09.960 thirteen and put on a turtleneck and moved to Greenwich Village. 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.080 But um, what I got from that was at times 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:16.640 they are changing. That that album of Bob Dylan's really 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.800 changed my life, even though I was you know, Pete 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.640 seeger Fan and Joan Bayez and our family marched in 0:16:22.720 --> 0:16:25.720 peace marches, and you know, we were very much involved 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:30.160 in the civil rights movement as well. The musical connection 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.880 of folk music that Bob Dylan's albums when he became 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.920 especially Times They're Changing, was seminal in my life. And 0:16:37.960 --> 0:16:41.160 then Joan Bayez's activism I think was a great model 0:16:41.240 --> 0:16:43.880 for me as well. Okay, I think that was the 0:16:44.000 --> 0:16:47.080 third album. The first album was mostly cover second was 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:49.880 Free Room with a lot of songs other people covered. 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:52.240 When did you actually get into Dylan with that third 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.440 album where he was always on the scene and you 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.240 were aware of him? You know? I I you know, 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.160 as as a twelve year old, I didn't have any 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.160 income to go buy records or a car to go 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:05.119 drive to the store. But I um, I got at camp. 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:07.480 I listened to my counselor's record so I was aware 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:11.359 of the first two albums, but I saved my money 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:15.800 and bought the Times They're Changing album. Okay, and you 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.640 went to high school in l A. Too. I went 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:20.920 to one year of high school and then I went 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.320 to a Quaker Boarding School in Poughkeepsie the last two 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.320 years of high school because my dad got a new 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:28.159 Broadway show and he was going to be trying it 0:17:28.200 --> 0:17:30.199 out on the road for a year. So as my 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.159 brothers and I scattered to the winds and I couldn't 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:36.119 wait to go do what the school version of what 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:38.520 my summer camp had been. So the last two years 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.520 were on the Hudson River, which I loved because the 0:17:41.560 --> 0:17:43.240 whole time I was in l A, I couldn't wait 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:45.760 to get back east. Well that was funny because we 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:47.480 were all back east trying to get to l A. 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:51.879 I know, isn't that funny? But um, what kind of 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:55.240 kid were you growing up? The kind who was the leader, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:18:00.680 had a lot of friends, you know, a loner what. Well, 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.400 I came out of the box pretty extroverted. So I 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:07.240 was the song leader at our social camp and you know, 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:11.119 at our club, and I was in with the hip kids, 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.639 and I was in with the intellectual kids as well. 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:18.280 And I kind of floated around, um in in different circles. 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:22.919 So I was pretty uh fulfilled at school. I loved it. 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:31.639 So you're a couple of years ahead of me, but 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.399 I certainly remember the folk scene, and the folksing was 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.560 so big. There was even a TV show, Hoo Nanny, 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.160 And then all of a sudden we could really put 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.359 it at Dylan going electric. But it was also before 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:47.400 that the Beatles. Were you a fan of the British Invasion? 0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:51.000 What did you feel about Dylan going electric? You know, 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:55.359 absolutely for me, Um, the folk music I read in 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.240 the paper in the New York Times and stuff about 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.119 Dylan being booed at Newport and all that, And you know, 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:04.240 to me it was distressing because I was so political 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:06.560 and I wanted him to be our you know, as 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:08.879 he rejects, as he said, he did not want to 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.560 be that person in the culture. But there were plenty 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:13.440 of other people picking it up. I mean, I loved 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:18.320 the staple singers. I loved, you know, the political songs 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:20.719 that were coming out more and more on the radio. 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:22.840 Not Eve of Destruction, but you know, they were the 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:26.000 Buffalo Springfield in the middle sixties. There was a lot 0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:29.879 of the social movements of the seventies were being reflected 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.240 on the radio and the songs that people were covering. 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.520 And um, I I love Motown. I always loved R 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:38.920 and B, always loved Fats Domino and Chuck Berry. So 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:41.480 as there is in my life now there's a parallel 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.399 track of there's as much of me that loves the 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:48.159 Rolling Stones and old blues and Chicago blues as there 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:51.600 is folk music. So the two just live in me 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:53.720 and I love I love all of it. I loved 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.000 I loved it as a teenager too. But back then, 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.719 you know, I remember w ABC on Saturday nights, they 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:01.840 had of you know, the war between the Beatles and 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:05.399 the Stones. Most most of us liked both, but we 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:09.000 had a preference. Well, you know, you like the Stones, 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.640 you'd like the Beatles and the other British invasion bands, 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.879 Hermit's Hermits during the Pacemakers, or that was not not 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.280 for you. I love the Beatles. I love had a 0:20:20.280 --> 0:20:22.800 big question, John Lennon, I love me do is there's 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.400 still a great funky record And I should have known better. 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:27.119 I mean they made they did a great version of 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:29.360 Twist and Shout, but I mean Eisley's is the King. 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:33.040 But the Stones definitely got my attention because I was 0:20:33.119 --> 0:20:37.240 always always loving aren't the R and B side of pop? 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:40.240 You know? I loved rat Charles, I loved all the 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:43.160 R and B records, whether it was you know, way 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.280 before Aretha Franklin's Ladies Soul and Otis Redding. There was 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.840 all of those R and B Smokey Robinson and the 0:20:48.880 --> 0:20:52.919 Miracles and the Four Tops and the Temptations, and I 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.800 just loved the R and B covers of the Beatles 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:59.200 and the Stones. But I remember my folks looking at 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:02.439 went nuts for the beetles, and then I found the 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.880 stones and my parents, my mom looked at the cover 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:08.199 of the Stones and she said she was trying to 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.040 push the beetles back on me. She could tell I 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.800 was going down a dark alley with I was just 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.399 and did you go to did you go to shows 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:18.960 at that area? Did you go to see the stone? 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:20.640 I did. I went to see the Stones at Long 0:21:20.680 --> 0:21:23.480 Beach Arena and I stood on the fence when their 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:26.359 limo went by from the backstage area and tried to 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:29.640 hurl myself, you know, through the fence, but just screaming 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:32.520 and yelling and screaming and yelling. So I I completely 0:21:32.600 --> 0:21:35.200 was nuts for the stones. And they went on shin 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:38.639 dig and brought helen Wolf, which did not was not 0:21:38.800 --> 0:21:42.119 lost on me. And I was a very big teena 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.399 Iconina Turner fan as well in l A. So you 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.320 know that was I loved Less mechan and Mose Allison too. 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.800