October 31, 2023 • 36 mins
On this episode of the Takin' A Walk podcast, Buzz Knight talks to Jeff Skunk Baxter, the legendary guitarist from Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk. I was touring with Steely Dan, touring
with Linda Ronstadt again, I'll playing with Schney Rodriguez, and
I was on tour with Thedobies in England. We were
playing at Networth, the Big Networth Festival, and I talked
to the guys in Steeley DWN. I talked to Walter
and Donald and they had said, hey, that we're just
don't on a tour anymore. I said, well, okay, I
(00:23):
enjoyed touring. I thought that was fun.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast. Joint host Buzz
Night on this episode with a guitar legend responsible for
some of the greatest riffs in music history. Jeff Skunk
Baxter is known for his work with Steely Dan, the
Doobie Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, and a host of others. He
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
with the Doobie Brothers in twenty twenty. Skunk also works
(00:50):
as a defense consultant and advises members of the US
Congress on missile defense. He's an amazing storyteller and an
artist still committed to his craft. Let's join Buzz Night
and Jeff Skunk Baxter next on taking a walk.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I welcome Jeff Skunk Baxter.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Thank you for the kind words, sir, I appreciate, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
So you have quite a history in the Boston area.
What was the music scene like when you were roaming
around the mean streets of Boylston Street and the back
bay of Boston.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
It was alive and well and it was very eclectic. Boston,
believe it or not, in the whole New England area
had a very large country Western presence. I think part
of it came because the trucks that would come up
ninety five, you know, they'd be listening to WWVA coming
out of West Virginia and they'd be coming up Route
(01:48):
ninety five, and when they get to Boston, they were
looking for, you know, music, and there was a huge
country presence. And then again I actually did some int
interesting gigs. I played at a place called Paul's Mall,
a jazz workshop. I was asked to do something called
who is this guy Gershwin Anyway, which was someone had
(02:12):
put together a wonderful I think it was Jeff Lass
who had put together a wonderful evening of Gershwin songs
sung by different actors and actresses and the four of
us we had a four piece band would play arrangements
of the Gershwin stuff and we were doing this every night,
like five, six nights a week. So besides the rock
(02:35):
and roll scene and the blues scene, which was huge
in Boston, there was a psychedelic supermarket that was again
Paul's Mall Jazz Workshop. There was so many clubs and
places to play in Boston. There was something for everybody.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
And that's when you got into really the mechanics of
guitars and the work that you did in the shop
there and everything is that correct.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, Actually, I grew up in Mexico City, so there
was nobody to repair anything, so pretty much, I guess
if you want to figure out which way the electrons go,
you stick a knife into the toaster. You figure that
out pretty quick. And I was an older gentleman who
(03:24):
was a TV radio repairman that I met a Mexican
gentleman who had let me spend some time in his shop,
taught me a few things, and the rest of it
was just hunt and peck until I figured it out.
And then I had a little bit of knowledge at
that time because while I was in Mexico. I was
(03:44):
going to boarding school in Connecticut, and my parents. Sometimes
I wouldn't fly home all the way to Mexico City
simply for a short vacation, so I would spend it
in New York City, either work at a Jimmy's music shop
or eventually working for Dan Armstrong who was the guru
of guitar customizing, and learned pretty much the bulk of
(04:11):
my knowledge about guitars and especially about guitar electronics, and
so taking that to Boston working with folks at EU
Worldzer and Dave Scheckter and I had our own guitar shop.
Day went on to found Scheckter Guitars, and yeah, just
(04:32):
getting into your right, getting into the ins and outs
of which way the electrons go.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
But you've always really had this sort of change agent
approach to whether it be music or other things in life.
When did you discover that you're a change agent?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Wow? I probably didn't understand the term until my dad
explained it to me when I was very young, and
I didn't really see my myself as a change agent.
Many times I saw myself as getting into trouble because
of I guess the idea I want to do something
else or this is not writer, pardon me for saying
(05:16):
something here. I guess probably in the Boston area when
I started to customize guitars and try to get guitar players,
help them customize their sound and give them to help them,
give them the tools, and some of the things we did,
(05:38):
I mean, were really nuts. I had a good friend
of mine who kept putting cigarettes up on the headstock
of his guitar, you know, while I was smoking, and
they would burn down and they would you know, burn
the finish on the guitar. So I thought, that's that's
not good. So I hunted around, found one of those
circular astrays from the thirty nine Buick and installed it
(06:01):
in his telecaster so he could just have it out
there and put his cigarette there. Why I was playing,
you know, I just I guess things like that.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
When you were in high school, you worked in New
York at was it Manny's Guitar shop, Jimmy's Jimmy's, okay,
and you ran into this other Jimmy there named Jimmy Hendrix.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah? He was calling himself Jimmy James at the time. Yeah,
And what.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Was your take on him when you first met.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Him, quiet, reserved, thoughtful, introspective, and when I finally got
a chance to hear him play, I was absolutely stunned.
But a very nice guy, really, a nice guy is
the wrong word. A very very deep, intense and open
(07:02):
and thoughtful person. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I heard him described as sweet by Felix Cavaliery from
the Rascals.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
He said sweet was the way he described them.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah. Yeah, he had. All he wanted to do was
play music, and he also served in the military. So
it was interesting at the time, the rift that was
opening an American society because of the Vietnam War. Certainly
(07:33):
many I would say the bulk of the musicians were
somewhat anti war for good reasons, but Jimmy kept quiet
about it. I didn't discuss it. And I think when
he played his version of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock,
(07:55):
he did it because deep down inside he cared about
his country. He was a patriot.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Did you ever get to sit in in him with
him with U.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I did for a couple of songs, and of course
that blew up into you know, I played with Jimmy Henry,
but very very, very very and when I say open,
there's something amongst musicians that I call musicians etiquette, where
(08:24):
when you play together, you listen to the other musician.
You don't just jump in, you know, you listen, You
get a feel for what's going on, and you try
to add to the overall experience. Not to be a
pun ful here, but to the overall experience. And he
(08:44):
was like that. Certainly he could have held his own
and he could have dominated anything, but for the most
part he was very He had a great amount of etiquette.
Music etiquette, I guess I would say.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
As that departed these days, music etiquette or etiquette in general.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I don't think it's changed all that much. There is
always a group of musicians who feel it necessary to
dominate whatever situation that they're in for whatever reason. That
won't get you very wear As far as a studio musician,
we know, we had a saying back in the seventies
when you know, some guy would come in and brand
(09:28):
new and he was just, you know, wouldn't shut up,
and you go, hey, man, I really did what you're
trying to do, which was sort of a backhanded you know,
you know, knock it off.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Kind of the equivalent to bless your heart.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Right there, you go, that's it, right, that's it.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
So how tell me the story how you fell into
this work with these guys Becker and Fagan otherwise known
as the founder with you and others of Steely dan Well.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I was working in Boston. I was spending playing in
a bunch of different bands. I was playing bass for
Tim Buckley. I was in the Holy Modal Rounds, which
was the craziest band ever, more fun than anybody should
ever be allowed legally to have. And I was doing
(10:24):
a lot of work in a place called Intermedia Sound
on Newberry Street. And I wasn't the house guitar player
by any means, but because I was spending so much
time there, people would say, oh, we need a guitar part.
Oh yeah, Skunk's over, Okay, let's you know, he'll come
in and do it. And I was doing something and
(10:46):
I'm trying to remember whether it might have been for
Jonathan Edwards. I wasn't, I don't, I can't quite remember.
But there was a band called The b Game, which
was a Boston based band, wonderful band, great guitar player.
John Sheldon is just one of those musical bands. And
(11:08):
a gentleman named Gary Katz was producing that band, and
I guess he stuck his head in when I was
doing a session with somebody and later on that day, so,
I'm doing a project in New York. Would you'd be
willing to come down and work on the project. And
I was doing session work both in Boston and New York.
I was commuting, living in Boston, but I was commuting
(11:29):
back and forth, and I said sure, so I went
down there. He introduced me to a wonderful lady named
Linda Hoover who was doing a record in New York,
and a good chunk of the material was by a
pair of songwriters named Walter Becker and Donald Fagan. And
(11:51):
as we started working on the record, I got to
know Walter O'donald a little bit. And afterwards they said,
you know, we've never heard anybody play guitar quite like that.
I said, well, gentlemen, I've never heard music like this.
And so there was this sort of Okay, whoever gets
their nose under the tent calls everybody else and will
(12:15):
form a band. So Becker and Fagan managed to get
a publishing deal through Gary Katz with ABC Records in
Los Angeles, and I was already moving out there to
play with other bands. Anyway, I was playing Pedal Steel.
Actually was working at the Palamino Club and doing session
(12:36):
work and guitar repair out in Los Angeles, And somehow
or other, after they got the publishing deal, we thought
about putting together a band, and that's how it happened.
They said, do you know any drummers? Said, yeah, the
drummer for the Bead Game, Jimmy Hatter. Do you know
(12:56):
any lead singers, Yeah, Dave Palmer, and of course Danny
Dials was a friend of theirs as well, So there
you go.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Wow. You know, they've recently been unearthing and re releasing
a lot of those midnight specials from Birch Sugar.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And the Steely Dan episodes are absolute knockouts. What was
your recollection of how the audience felt about what they
were seeing? Because the performance is spectacular. You had the
two ladies with the flapper hats singing and skunk, you know,
(13:45):
just wailing away. And I mean what I was struck
with For a band that for so long didn't look
like it was always having fun when they were in
front of people, it looked like a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, First of all. We had a great time, and
the background singers were David Cassidy's background singers, and they
were phenomenal, phenomenal singers. Plus Ross Jones who was playing
percussion and also singing backgrounds. Royce would step up to
(14:18):
sing any major, dude, and wherever we were immediately turned
into a club. His delivery and his vocal style was
so inviting. This guy was an incredible singer. Everybody was
an amazing musician. And I think there's a bit of
(14:40):
mythology that perhaps was promoted by Walter and Donald that
they didn't like to play live and that there was
something about that that was less than I can't find
the word to describe it, but just wasn't worthy as
(15:03):
being in the studio, And that's really not true. We
had a great time and we were a band, and
there's something about the chemistry between musicians who worked together.
Certainly Steely Dan's later works with just Walter o'donald hiring
studio musicians, of which we were all anyway was excellent.
(15:28):
But there was something special about the chemistry and you
could see it, you could feel it, and I don't
know we were having a ball. I'm not quite sure
what the problem was, you.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Know, it's the performances are spectacular. Oh my god, it
just knocked me out.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
And I've watched it half a dozen times and shown
it to people, and you're just blazing on that one
for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh thank you, sir. I was having a good time.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
So then the Doobie Brothers kind of was flowing. You
were doing session work right with them, and you were
still part of Steely Dan. But it looked like things
were going to kind of go in a direction where
Steely Dan would get off of touring. So was that
how you ended up making the decision to go from
(16:24):
session player to full time Doobie brother.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Well, we had the band Steely Dan. I was also
playing in Lynda Rostott's band, playing Steel Pedal Steel and
out touring with Jinny Rodriguez, and then you know a
bunch of just all I wanted to do was play.
Spent all my time playing, whether it was in the
studio or with other bands. And Steely Dan was opening
(16:51):
for the Doobie Brothers on a number of concert tours
and very nice guys they said, Hey, would you like
to sit in for a couple of songs? Sure? And
then it was four songs, and then it was six songs,
and then it was half the show, and then finally
(17:12):
would you like to go out on tour with us?
I said sure, And so I was touring with them,
touring with Steely Dan, touring with Linda Ronstadt again, I'll
playing with Hide Rodriguez. And I was on tour with
the Doobies in England and we were playing at Nedworth,
(17:33):
the Big Networth Festival, and I talked to the guys
and Steely Done, I talked to Walter and Donald and
they had said, hey, that we're just don't on a
tour anymore. I said, well, okay. I enjoyed touring. I
thought that was fun, and I again it was the
mythology of well, what's the problem here. So when I
(17:56):
hung up the phone, I said, well that's kind of
it for me and Steely Dan, and one of the
members of DeBie Brothers said, well, now you're in the
Doobie Brothers. Okay, great, thank you, and away we go.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And what's some of your favorite memories from the work
with the Doobie Brothers and how did you bring Michael
McDonald into the band? Well?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I had great memories simply because there was great interaction.
At the time, when Tommy was still in the band
Tommy Johnston, all of us had a pre election for
three guitar players because one of the bands that all
of us admired was Moby Grape. I think they were
(18:41):
probably the best American rock and roll band ever, and
they had three guitar players, and they figured out how
to do that without creating a traffic jam. I always said,
it's like a three masted schooner. And everything was working
just fine, and the three of us playing together with
very different styles I think, created almost like a guitar orchestra.
(19:07):
So that was tremendous fun. And one day we were
about to perform at Louisiana State University when tom got
extremely ill. He had an ulcer attack or something and
couldn't go on stage. So I don't know, sometimes you
(19:29):
gotta make a command decision, right, So I walked out
on stage and said, everybody gonna have their money back.
They're probably I don't know, forty thousand people there or something,
or you can wait ten days and we'll put on
a show. So I got off stage and said, well, well, okay,
so now that I pull that trigger. So I got
on the phone, called Michael McDonald, who had been touring
(19:51):
with us in Seelie Dan. I'm playing keyboards and singing background,
and said, Michael, you really need to do this. This
would be great, And he said, Okay, there's a one
way ticket. Wait before you at the airport, get on playing,
come out to New Orleans. So we rehearsed for eight
(20:11):
to ten hours a day for eight days and went
out and played the show got five encores and I thought, Okay,
maybe I made the right decision here. I love it.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Talk about your time with Linda Ronstat, What a magical
moments that must have been in your life.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Well, first of all, it's hard. It's hard to describe
Linda as anything but the consummate female vocalist. She didn't
try to be a man. She was I think her
idol not idle, but her heroin would have been Patsy Cline.
(20:55):
She loved Patsy Kline and we did a lot of
Patsy clinb songs in the set. She was very sweet,
She wasn't a wallflower. She knew what she wanted, but
she also relied on the talent and the capability of
the musicians in the band. You know John Boyle and
playing keyboards, Richie Heywood on drums, you know, Andrew Gold
(21:18):
playing guitar, Bobby Wharford playing a guitar and polstring guitar.
I mean, what a band. Actually, I think we ended
up sort of leaving Linda's employ because the band was
so powerful, kind of steamroller every once in a while.
(21:39):
But we had a ball because we were again a
unified group of guys. Everybody was pretty much a studio guy.
I mean everybody had worked in the studios as well
as their own bands. And Richie Heywood, God, what a drummer,
little feet please you know. So where we played, everyone
(22:02):
loved her. It was like I had never seen anyone
walk out or be unhappy at all with her music,
and she was enthralling her her spirit and her voice
really got inside your DNA and it was beautiful. I
(22:24):
mean there were times when I thought maybe I should
just not play and sit back and enjoy this, but
you know, you gotta yeah, I gotta play. I was
playing pedal steel in the band.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Did you teach yourself pedal steel?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah? Yes, I didn't. I couldn't find any books and
I figured, like guitar, you just shed spend the time
listen to everything that you possibly can learn from it.
And because I was repairing guitars, and I was also
(22:57):
repairing steel guitars, so I understand the mechanics of it.
So it helped me. I practice a lot even when
I wasn't playing the instrument. That's what I do when
I play the guitar too. I'll look at the music
and I'll be flying on a plane somewhere and I'll
have learned the song by the time I get there,
(23:17):
because I just practice virtually. And so I spent every
waking minute that I had the time practicing, whether it
was actually on the instrument or in my mind.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I see some guitars in the background. Do you just
pick up guitars all throughout the day and play around.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
When I have the time, when I have the time,
and then yeah, there's back there, there she is. You know,
there's my baby right there, my pedal steel. Much love
for that instrument. I think the pedal steel is the
most beautiful instrument in the world. It seems like it
(23:58):
has uncanny ability to get inside people's DNA. I did
something the other day for MAUI for some to raise
some money, and I did a pedal steel part on
Amazing Grace. I turned around and there were two ladies
in the room and they were like sobbing. I went,
(24:20):
did I screw something up? And they were no, It's
just so beautiful. The instrument has a special magic to
it when it's played right.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
I would imagine you saw Garcia play pedal steel at
one point and Sneaky Pete played pedal steel.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Oh what a great steel player, Sneaky one. There was
a guy was right right out of the out of
the What can I say, the no holds barred for
Sneaky Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
You're talking about, you know how beautiful the pedal steel is.
And you know we produced this other podcast it's called
Music Save Me. It's about music and sort of the
healing forces. Do you believe music has healing supernatural powers?
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I would have to we would have to have a
separate discussion about the use of the word supernatural. But
other than that, absolutely. What many people don't understand is
why music has such an effect. From a purely physiological
(25:38):
point of view, brain operates on a cocktail of neurotransmitters oxytocin,
adrenaline that's oppressing serotonin. All of these neurotransmitters each trigger
a specific or a set of specific emotions, So when
(26:03):
you mix them in a cocktail, you then have the opportunity,
if you can stimulate that secretion of those neurotransmitters, the
opportunity to actually map out and produce emotions in people.
So when you fall in love, mostly you fall in love,
(26:27):
or at least physiologically and biologically you fall in love
because both of you are manufacturing hefty amounts of oxytocin.
They call it the love drug that bonds you to
that other person or binds you, depending on where you're
coming from. So there's no doubt in my mind. And
(26:51):
I've had situations. It's been kind of fun. I've had
crusty guys, you know, marine corps generals, you know. Ah,
yeah whatever. I said, Okay, man, sit down here. I'm
going to pick up this guitar and I'm going to
run you through a whole spectrum of emotions. And they go, ah,
all right, and by the end of it they're going WHOA.
(27:14):
I said, well, this is how this works. The different
combination of frequencies coherent oscillations that emanate from the instrument
are what stimulate the neurotransmitters in your brain and what
people A lot of people, it's not that they don't
understand it, they just never nobody's ever sat down and
explained it to the linearity of frequency from zero to
(27:40):
pure energy somewhat embodied an Einstein's equation equals mc square
energy equals mass times the speed of the square of
the speed of light, so that they're one and the same.
Music is just a portion of the spectrum that stimulate
human beings. Why does art stimulate human beings? Why are
(28:05):
the colors in certain combinations so effective. Well, if you
strike the A string on a guitar, it vibrates at
four hundred and forty times a second. In other words,
it goes through four hundred and forty full cycles, and
(28:25):
that we recognize as the note A below middle C.
If you multiply that times two, the harmonic of that
is eight hundred and eighty cycles per second, So you
hear A an octave above that note. Multiply it again.
(28:47):
Every time you go up you get a higher note
an octave above, which is just the physics of it. Well,
you know what happens when you multiply A four forty
times ten to the twenty third power. You know what
the super harmonic is, it's green. The color green. All
(29:07):
that is is the super super harmonic. The frequency four
and forty cycles per second, vibrating millions of times, so
it's all connected, so color, light, sound. When you go
up the frequency scale, and the human being there's sensor
(29:31):
package is only attuned to certain parts of the frequency spectrum.
So after you get past about twenty twenty five thousand cycles,
your ears don't hear anymore. Then you start to move
up the spectrum and all of a sudden your skin
gets warm. Ah, you're in the infrared. And then if
you keep going, you get past the infrared into the
visible spectrum red, all the way through yellow, green, and
(29:55):
then all the way to blue. Then it disappears again
because your central acting is only attuned to a particular amount,
till finally you're ending up with gamma rays, and you know,
billions of frequency, frequency of vibrating abillions of times a second,
and that's where you get things like the crushing of
(30:18):
hydrogen atoms into helium and releasing tremendous amounts of energy.
That's how star works. What bind SEB atomic party goes together,
frequency electromagnetism. It's all the same. People said, well, how
did you get involved in all this defense stuff? I mean,
how do you know anything about that? Said, hey man,
(30:41):
radar is just an electric guitar on steroids. Physics is
all the same. Once you understand the physics of it,
it's all the same. It's beautifully organized and euristic.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
May I call you doctor Baxter?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
No, no, no, no, no, I don't deserve that.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Are you still doing defense work or the war college
kind of work?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Wargame stuff?
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Absolutely, a lot of war gaming, and I mean I
can't I gotta be careful, but I do a lot
of work that has to do with space and space
warfare and ISR intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, things
(31:32):
that are a little to the left or right of
conventional thinking. I think that's why they keep me around.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Let's talk about the work you're doing musically now and
how it excites you, because you know, we got the
dates coming up. I know you love being out there,
you know, talking to people and playing in front of people.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
But talk about the work now that you're doing in
the studio.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Well, I still do a little bit of studio work.
It's really in my time. It's a time management problem
between my day job working for Uncle Sam and going
out and playing. I just don't have a lot of
time to do too many sessions anymore. But the solo project,
(32:22):
I've never done anything like it, and it's been a
delightful journey to go out and play what I want
to play, and working with a tremendous musician, CJ. Vanston,
who was my co producer and we co wrote a
lot of the music on this record, finally gave me
an opportunity which I had had opportunities before to do
(32:47):
a solo project, but never either had the time or
felt that I really wanted to. But CJ and I
were working on and off in the studio, and I
guess it's like a jar full of pennies. Eventually you
got to roll them up. I mean, you know you're there.
(33:07):
It's full now. So that's kind of what happened with
this solo project, and I'm having a just a ball.
The musicians I'm playing with are thank god. The drummer
Mark Damien, first call studio guy, younger guy, but in
the pocket he's an old soul. He plays like he's
(33:31):
an old soul. Our bass player Hank Corton from Detroit,
his first call bass player, great lead singer, also happens
to be the bass player for the Detroit Symphony. I mean,
then our keyboard player cj obviously you know, producer, composer,
(33:52):
you know, incredible musician. He hasn't been able to be
out with us for a while. So our new keyboard
player is a gentleman named Jay Raymond. Who James Raymond, who, sorry,
Jay Raymond was the four star general head of Space Force.
I got them all computed. James Raymond is David Crosby's
Sun and is infused with musical DNA. Frightening keyboard player,
(34:17):
frightening musician. So yeah, I'm just having way more fun
than probably is legally allowed playing with these guys. And
then when we play, I get to tell stories because
people seem to want to hear as it seems that
as you and I are having our discussion here, they
want to hear stories. They want to hear the next
(34:41):
song of things. They want to know how people interacted
and where things come from. So we're just having too
much fun.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
That's awesome. City Winery, November ninth.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
In closing, I want to ask you if there's anybody
that dead or alive that you could have had a
studio session with. Who Who would these people be?
Speaker 1 (35:06):
It's hard to say, because I've had a chance to
play with everybody from Oscar Peterson to Gene Simmons. You know,
I'd have to think about that, and I'm not trying
to be disingenuous. I've been pretty lucky to play with
the folks that I want. I guess one guy I
(35:27):
would have loved to play with was Manita Seplata, the
classical guitar player. That guy has some something, some magic karma,
halo energy or something or other. I would have loved
(35:47):
to have been able to be inside that energy field.
But I've been pretty lucky guy to play with a
lot of great folks.
Speaker 5 (35:58):
Well, I'm pretty lucky to get to talk you, and
i can't tell you the joy of the music that
you continue to give us is so appreciated, and the
Taking a Walk Podcast is proud to have you on.
If anybody who wants to share this with all their
(36:18):
gazillion friends, we would really love that we're available everywhere
you get your podcasts. But Jeff skunk back Start's an
honor to talk to you and thanks for being on
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Thank you very much for your hospitality.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk. I was touring with Steely Dan, touring
with Linda Ronstadt again, I'll playing with Schney Rodriguez, and
I was on tour with Thedobies in England. We were
playing at Networth, the Big Networth Festival, and I talked
to the guys in Steeley DWN. I talked to Walter
and Donald and they had said, hey, that we're just
don't on a tour anymore. I said, well, okay, I
(00:23):
enjoyed touring. I thought that was fun.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast. Joint host Buzz
Night on this episode with a guitar legend responsible for
some of the greatest riffs in music history. Jeff Skunk
Baxter is known for his work with Steely Dan, the
Doobie Brothers, Linda Ronstadt, and a host of others. He
was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
with the Doobie Brothers in twenty twenty. Skunk also works
(00:50):
as a defense consultant and advises members of the US
Congress on missile defense. He's an amazing storyteller and an
artist still committed to his craft. Let's join Buzz Night
and Jeff Skunk Baxter next on taking a walk.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
I welcome Jeff Skunk Baxter.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Thank you for the kind words, sir, I appreciate, thank you.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
So you have quite a history in the Boston area.
What was the music scene like when you were roaming
around the mean streets of Boylston Street and the back
bay of Boston.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
It was alive and well and it was very eclectic. Boston,
believe it or not, in the whole New England area
had a very large country Western presence. I think part
of it came because the trucks that would come up
ninety five, you know, they'd be listening to WWVA coming
out of West Virginia and they'd be coming up Route
(01:48):
ninety five, and when they get to Boston, they were
looking for, you know, music, and there was a huge
country presence. And then again I actually did some int
interesting gigs. I played at a place called Paul's Mall,
a jazz workshop. I was asked to do something called
who is this guy Gershwin Anyway, which was someone had
(02:12):
put together a wonderful I think it was Jeff Lass
who had put together a wonderful evening of Gershwin songs
sung by different actors and actresses and the four of
us we had a four piece band would play arrangements
of the Gershwin stuff and we were doing this every night,
like five, six nights a week. So besides the rock
(02:35):
and roll scene and the blues scene, which was huge
in Boston, there was a psychedelic supermarket that was again
Paul's Mall Jazz Workshop. There was so many clubs and
places to play in Boston. There was something for everybody.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
And that's when you got into really the mechanics of
guitars and the work that you did in the shop
there and everything is that correct.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Well, Actually, I grew up in Mexico City, so there
was nobody to repair anything, so pretty much, I guess
if you want to figure out which way the electrons go,
you stick a knife into the toaster. You figure that
out pretty quick. And I was an older gentleman who
(03:24):
was a TV radio repairman that I met a Mexican
gentleman who had let me spend some time in his shop,
taught me a few things, and the rest of it
was just hunt and peck until I figured it out.
And then I had a little bit of knowledge at
that time because while I was in Mexico. I was
(03:44):
going to boarding school in Connecticut, and my parents. Sometimes
I wouldn't fly home all the way to Mexico City
simply for a short vacation, so I would spend it
in New York City, either work at a Jimmy's music shop
or eventually working for Dan Armstrong who was the guru
of guitar customizing, and learned pretty much the bulk of
(04:11):
my knowledge about guitars and especially about guitar electronics, and
so taking that to Boston working with folks at EU
Worldzer and Dave Scheckter and I had our own guitar shop.
Day went on to found Scheckter Guitars, and yeah, just
(04:32):
getting into your right, getting into the ins and outs
of which way the electrons go.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
But you've always really had this sort of change agent
approach to whether it be music or other things in life.
When did you discover that you're a change agent?
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Wow? I probably didn't understand the term until my dad
explained it to me when I was very young, and
I didn't really see my myself as a change agent.
Many times I saw myself as getting into trouble because
of I guess the idea I want to do something
else or this is not writer, pardon me for saying
(05:16):
something here. I guess probably in the Boston area when
I started to customize guitars and try to get guitar players,
help them customize their sound and give them to help them,
give them the tools, and some of the things we did,
(05:38):
I mean, were really nuts. I had a good friend
of mine who kept putting cigarettes up on the headstock
of his guitar, you know, while I was smoking, and
they would burn down and they would you know, burn
the finish on the guitar. So I thought, that's that's
not good. So I hunted around, found one of those
circular astrays from the thirty nine Buick and installed it
(06:01):
in his telecaster so he could just have it out
there and put his cigarette there. Why I was playing,
you know, I just I guess things like that.
Speaker 4 (06:10):
When you were in high school, you worked in New
York at was it Manny's Guitar shop, Jimmy's Jimmy's, okay,
and you ran into this other Jimmy there named Jimmy Hendrix.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah? He was calling himself Jimmy James at the time. Yeah,
And what.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
Was your take on him when you first met.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Him, quiet, reserved, thoughtful, introspective, and when I finally got
a chance to hear him play, I was absolutely stunned.
But a very nice guy, really, a nice guy is
the wrong word. A very very deep, intense and open
(07:02):
and thoughtful person. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I heard him described as sweet by Felix Cavaliery from
the Rascals.
Speaker 3 (07:10):
He said sweet was the way he described them.
Speaker 1 (07:13):
Yeah. Yeah, he had. All he wanted to do was
play music, and he also served in the military. So
it was interesting at the time, the rift that was
opening an American society because of the Vietnam War. Certainly
(07:33):
many I would say the bulk of the musicians were
somewhat anti war for good reasons, but Jimmy kept quiet
about it. I didn't discuss it. And I think when
he played his version of the Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock,
(07:55):
he did it because deep down inside he cared about
his country. He was a patriot.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Did you ever get to sit in in him with
him with U.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I did for a couple of songs, and of course
that blew up into you know, I played with Jimmy Henry,
but very very, very very and when I say open,
there's something amongst musicians that I call musicians etiquette, where
(08:24):
when you play together, you listen to the other musician.
You don't just jump in, you know, you listen, You
get a feel for what's going on, and you try
to add to the overall experience. Not to be a
pun ful here, but to the overall experience. And he
(08:44):
was like that. Certainly he could have held his own
and he could have dominated anything, but for the most
part he was very He had a great amount of etiquette.
Music etiquette, I guess I would say.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
As that departed these days, music etiquette or etiquette in general.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
I don't think it's changed all that much. There is
always a group of musicians who feel it necessary to
dominate whatever situation that they're in for whatever reason. That
won't get you very wear As far as a studio musician,
we know, we had a saying back in the seventies
when you know, some guy would come in and brand
(09:28):
new and he was just, you know, wouldn't shut up,
and you go, hey, man, I really did what you're
trying to do, which was sort of a backhanded you know,
you know, knock it off.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Kind of the equivalent to bless your heart.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Right there, you go, that's it, right, that's it.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
So how tell me the story how you fell into
this work with these guys Becker and Fagan otherwise known
as the founder with you and others of Steely dan Well.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I was working in Boston. I was spending playing in
a bunch of different bands. I was playing bass for
Tim Buckley. I was in the Holy Modal Rounds, which
was the craziest band ever, more fun than anybody should
ever be allowed legally to have. And I was doing
(10:24):
a lot of work in a place called Intermedia Sound
on Newberry Street. And I wasn't the house guitar player
by any means, but because I was spending so much
time there, people would say, oh, we need a guitar part.
Oh yeah, Skunk's over, Okay, let's you know, he'll come
in and do it. And I was doing something and
(10:46):
I'm trying to remember whether it might have been for
Jonathan Edwards. I wasn't, I don't, I can't quite remember.
But there was a band called The b Game, which
was a Boston based band, wonderful band, great guitar player.
John Sheldon is just one of those musical bands. And
(11:08):
a gentleman named Gary Katz was producing that band, and
I guess he stuck his head in when I was
doing a session with somebody and later on that day, so,
I'm doing a project in New York. Would you'd be
willing to come down and work on the project. And
I was doing session work both in Boston and New York.
I was commuting, living in Boston, but I was commuting
(11:29):
back and forth, and I said sure, so I went
down there. He introduced me to a wonderful lady named
Linda Hoover who was doing a record in New York,
and a good chunk of the material was by a
pair of songwriters named Walter Becker and Donald Fagan. And
(11:51):
as we started working on the record, I got to
know Walter O'donald a little bit. And afterwards they said,
you know, we've never heard anybody play guitar quite like that.
I said, well, gentlemen, I've never heard music like this.
And so there was this sort of Okay, whoever gets
their nose under the tent calls everybody else and will
(12:15):
form a band. So Becker and Fagan managed to get
a publishing deal through Gary Katz with ABC Records in
Los Angeles, and I was already moving out there to
play with other bands. Anyway, I was playing Pedal Steel.
Actually was working at the Palamino Club and doing session
(12:36):
work and guitar repair out in Los Angeles, And somehow
or other, after they got the publishing deal, we thought
about putting together a band, and that's how it happened.
They said, do you know any drummers? Said, yeah, the
drummer for the Bead Game, Jimmy Hatter. Do you know
(12:56):
any lead singers, Yeah, Dave Palmer, and of course Danny
Dials was a friend of theirs as well, So there
you go.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Wow. You know, they've recently been unearthing and re releasing
a lot of those midnight specials from Birch Sugar.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
And the Steely Dan episodes are absolute knockouts. What was
your recollection of how the audience felt about what they
were seeing? Because the performance is spectacular. You had the
two ladies with the flapper hats singing and skunk, you know,
(13:45):
just wailing away. And I mean what I was struck
with For a band that for so long didn't look
like it was always having fun when they were in
front of people, it looked like a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Yeah, First of all. We had a great time, and
the background singers were David Cassidy's background singers, and they
were phenomenal, phenomenal singers. Plus Ross Jones who was playing
percussion and also singing backgrounds. Royce would step up to
(14:18):
sing any major, dude, and wherever we were immediately turned
into a club. His delivery and his vocal style was
so inviting. This guy was an incredible singer. Everybody was
an amazing musician. And I think there's a bit of
(14:40):
mythology that perhaps was promoted by Walter and Donald that
they didn't like to play live and that there was
something about that that was less than I can't find
the word to describe it, but just wasn't worthy as
(15:03):
being in the studio, And that's really not true. We
had a great time and we were a band, and
there's something about the chemistry between musicians who worked together.
Certainly Steely Dan's later works with just Walter o'donald hiring
studio musicians, of which we were all anyway was excellent.
(15:28):
But there was something special about the chemistry and you
could see it, you could feel it, and I don't
know we were having a ball. I'm not quite sure
what the problem was, you.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Know, it's the performances are spectacular. Oh my god, it
just knocked me out.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
And I've watched it half a dozen times and shown
it to people, and you're just blazing on that one
for sure.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Oh thank you, sir. I was having a good time.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
So then the Doobie Brothers kind of was flowing. You
were doing session work right with them, and you were
still part of Steely Dan. But it looked like things
were going to kind of go in a direction where
Steely Dan would get off of touring. So was that
how you ended up making the decision to go from
(16:24):
session player to full time Doobie brother.
Speaker 1 (16:28):
Well, we had the band Steely Dan. I was also
playing in Lynda Rostott's band, playing Steel Pedal Steel and
out touring with Jinny Rodriguez, and then you know a
bunch of just all I wanted to do was play.
Spent all my time playing, whether it was in the
studio or with other bands. And Steely Dan was opening
(16:51):
for the Doobie Brothers on a number of concert tours
and very nice guys they said, Hey, would you like
to sit in for a couple of songs? Sure? And
then it was four songs, and then it was six songs,
and then it was half the show, and then finally
(17:12):
would you like to go out on tour with us?
I said sure, And so I was touring with them,
touring with Steely Dan, touring with Linda Ronstadt again, I'll
playing with Hide Rodriguez. And I was on tour with
the Doobies in England and we were playing at Nedworth,
(17:33):
the Big Networth Festival, and I talked to the guys
and Steely Done, I talked to Walter and Donald and
they had said, hey, that we're just don't on a
tour anymore. I said, well, okay. I enjoyed touring. I
thought that was fun, and I again it was the
mythology of well, what's the problem here. So when I
(17:56):
hung up the phone, I said, well that's kind of
it for me and Steely Dan, and one of the
members of DeBie Brothers said, well, now you're in the
Doobie Brothers. Okay, great, thank you, and away we go.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
And what's some of your favorite memories from the work
with the Doobie Brothers and how did you bring Michael
McDonald into the band? Well?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
I had great memories simply because there was great interaction.
At the time, when Tommy was still in the band
Tommy Johnston, all of us had a pre election for
three guitar players because one of the bands that all
of us admired was Moby Grape. I think they were
(18:41):
probably the best American rock and roll band ever, and
they had three guitar players, and they figured out how
to do that without creating a traffic jam. I always said,
it's like a three masted schooner. And everything was working
just fine, and the three of us playing together with
very different styles I think, created almost like a guitar orchestra.
(19:07):
So that was tremendous fun. And one day we were
about to perform at Louisiana State University when tom got
extremely ill. He had an ulcer attack or something and
couldn't go on stage. So I don't know, sometimes you
(19:29):
gotta make a command decision, right, So I walked out
on stage and said, everybody gonna have their money back.
They're probably I don't know, forty thousand people there or something,
or you can wait ten days and we'll put on
a show. So I got off stage and said, well, well, okay,
so now that I pull that trigger. So I got
on the phone, called Michael McDonald, who had been touring
(19:51):
with us in Seelie Dan. I'm playing keyboards and singing background,
and said, Michael, you really need to do this. This
would be great, And he said, Okay, there's a one
way ticket. Wait before you at the airport, get on playing,
come out to New Orleans. So we rehearsed for eight
(20:11):
to ten hours a day for eight days and went
out and played the show got five encores and I thought, Okay,
maybe I made the right decision here. I love it.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Talk about your time with Linda Ronstat, What a magical
moments that must have been in your life.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Well, first of all, it's hard. It's hard to describe
Linda as anything but the consummate female vocalist. She didn't
try to be a man. She was I think her
idol not idle, but her heroin would have been Patsy Cline.
(20:55):
She loved Patsy Kline and we did a lot of
Patsy clinb songs in the set. She was very sweet,
She wasn't a wallflower. She knew what she wanted, but
she also relied on the talent and the capability of
the musicians in the band. You know John Boyle and
playing keyboards, Richie Heywood on drums, you know, Andrew Gold
(21:18):
playing guitar, Bobby Wharford playing a guitar and polstring guitar.
I mean, what a band. Actually, I think we ended
up sort of leaving Linda's employ because the band was
so powerful, kind of steamroller every once in a while.
(21:39):
But we had a ball because we were again a
unified group of guys. Everybody was pretty much a studio guy.
I mean everybody had worked in the studios as well
as their own bands. And Richie Heywood, God, what a drummer,
little feet please you know. So where we played, everyone
(22:02):
loved her. It was like I had never seen anyone
walk out or be unhappy at all with her music,
and she was enthralling her her spirit and her voice
really got inside your DNA and it was beautiful. I
(22:24):
mean there were times when I thought maybe I should
just not play and sit back and enjoy this, but
you know, you gotta yeah, I gotta play. I was
playing pedal steel in the band.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Did you teach yourself pedal steel?
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah? Yes, I didn't. I couldn't find any books and
I figured, like guitar, you just shed spend the time
listen to everything that you possibly can learn from it.
And because I was repairing guitars, and I was also
(22:57):
repairing steel guitars, so I understand the mechanics of it.
So it helped me. I practice a lot even when
I wasn't playing the instrument. That's what I do when
I play the guitar too. I'll look at the music
and I'll be flying on a plane somewhere and I'll
have learned the song by the time I get there,
(23:17):
because I just practice virtually. And so I spent every
waking minute that I had the time practicing, whether it
was actually on the instrument or in my mind.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I see some guitars in the background. Do you just
pick up guitars all throughout the day and play around.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
When I have the time, when I have the time,
and then yeah, there's back there, there she is. You know,
there's my baby right there, my pedal steel. Much love
for that instrument. I think the pedal steel is the
most beautiful instrument in the world. It seems like it
(23:58):
has uncanny ability to get inside people's DNA. I did
something the other day for MAUI for some to raise
some money, and I did a pedal steel part on
Amazing Grace. I turned around and there were two ladies
in the room and they were like sobbing. I went,
(24:20):
did I screw something up? And they were no, It's
just so beautiful. The instrument has a special magic to
it when it's played right.
Speaker 4 (24:35):
I would imagine you saw Garcia play pedal steel at
one point and Sneaky Pete played pedal steel.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
Oh what a great steel player, Sneaky one. There was
a guy was right right out of the out of
the What can I say, the no holds barred for
Sneaky Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
You're talking about, you know how beautiful the pedal steel is.
And you know we produced this other podcast it's called
Music Save Me. It's about music and sort of the
healing forces. Do you believe music has healing supernatural powers?
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I would have to we would have to have a
separate discussion about the use of the word supernatural. But
other than that, absolutely. What many people don't understand is
why music has such an effect. From a purely physiological
(25:38):
point of view, brain operates on a cocktail of neurotransmitters oxytocin,
adrenaline that's oppressing serotonin. All of these neurotransmitters each trigger
a specific or a set of specific emotions, So when
(26:03):
you mix them in a cocktail, you then have the opportunity,
if you can stimulate that secretion of those neurotransmitters, the
opportunity to actually map out and produce emotions in people.
So when you fall in love, mostly you fall in love,
(26:27):
or at least physiologically and biologically you fall in love
because both of you are manufacturing hefty amounts of oxytocin.
They call it the love drug that bonds you to
that other person or binds you, depending on where you're
coming from. So there's no doubt in my mind. And
(26:51):
I've had situations. It's been kind of fun. I've had
crusty guys, you know, marine corps generals, you know. Ah,
yeah whatever. I said, Okay, man, sit down here. I'm
going to pick up this guitar and I'm going to
run you through a whole spectrum of emotions. And they go, ah,
all right, and by the end of it they're going WHOA.
(27:14):
I said, well, this is how this works. The different
combination of frequencies coherent oscillations that emanate from the instrument
are what stimulate the neurotransmitters in your brain and what
people A lot of people, it's not that they don't
understand it, they just never nobody's ever sat down and
explained it to the linearity of frequency from zero to
(27:40):
pure energy somewhat embodied an Einstein's equation equals mc square
energy equals mass times the speed of the square of
the speed of light, so that they're one and the same.
Music is just a portion of the spectrum that stimulate
human beings. Why does art stimulate human beings? Why are
(28:05):
the colors in certain combinations so effective. Well, if you
strike the A string on a guitar, it vibrates at
four hundred and forty times a second. In other words,
it goes through four hundred and forty full cycles, and
(28:25):
that we recognize as the note A below middle C.
If you multiply that times two, the harmonic of that
is eight hundred and eighty cycles per second, So you
hear A an octave above that note. Multiply it again.
(28:47):
Every time you go up you get a higher note
an octave above, which is just the physics of it. Well,
you know what happens when you multiply A four forty
times ten to the twenty third power. You know what
the super harmonic is, it's green. The color green. All
(29:07):
that is is the super super harmonic. The frequency four
and forty cycles per second, vibrating millions of times, so
it's all connected, so color, light, sound. When you go
up the frequency scale, and the human being there's sensor
(29:31):
package is only attuned to certain parts of the frequency spectrum.
So after you get past about twenty twenty five thousand cycles,
your ears don't hear anymore. Then you start to move
up the spectrum and all of a sudden your skin
gets warm. Ah, you're in the infrared. And then if
you keep going, you get past the infrared into the
visible spectrum red, all the way through yellow, green, and
(29:55):
then all the way to blue. Then it disappears again
because your central acting is only attuned to a particular amount,
till finally you're ending up with gamma rays, and you know,
billions of frequency, frequency of vibrating abillions of times a second,
and that's where you get things like the crushing of
(30:18):
hydrogen atoms into helium and releasing tremendous amounts of energy.
That's how star works. What bind SEB atomic party goes together,
frequency electromagnetism. It's all the same. People said, well, how
did you get involved in all this defense stuff? I mean,
how do you know anything about that? Said, hey man,
(30:41):
radar is just an electric guitar on steroids. Physics is
all the same. Once you understand the physics of it,
it's all the same. It's beautifully organized and euristic.
Speaker 3 (30:55):
May I call you doctor Baxter?
Speaker 1 (30:57):
No, no, no, no, no, I don't deserve that.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
Are you still doing defense work or the war college
kind of work?
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Wargame stuff?
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Absolutely, a lot of war gaming, and I mean I
can't I gotta be careful, but I do a lot
of work that has to do with space and space
warfare and ISR intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, things
(31:32):
that are a little to the left or right of
conventional thinking. I think that's why they keep me around.
Speaker 4 (31:42):
Let's talk about the work you're doing musically now and
how it excites you, because you know, we got the
dates coming up. I know you love being out there,
you know, talking to people and playing in front of people.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
But talk about the work now that you're doing in
the studio.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Well, I still do a little bit of studio work.
It's really in my time. It's a time management problem
between my day job working for Uncle Sam and going
out and playing. I just don't have a lot of
time to do too many sessions anymore. But the solo project,
(32:22):
I've never done anything like it, and it's been a
delightful journey to go out and play what I want
to play, and working with a tremendous musician, CJ. Vanston,
who was my co producer and we co wrote a
lot of the music on this record, finally gave me
an opportunity which I had had opportunities before to do
(32:47):
a solo project, but never either had the time or
felt that I really wanted to. But CJ and I
were working on and off in the studio, and I
guess it's like a jar full of pennies. Eventually you
got to roll them up. I mean, you know you're there.
(33:07):
It's full now. So that's kind of what happened with
this solo project, and I'm having a just a ball.
The musicians I'm playing with are thank god. The drummer
Mark Damien, first call studio guy, younger guy, but in
the pocket he's an old soul. He plays like he's
(33:31):
an old soul. Our bass player Hank Corton from Detroit,
his first call bass player, great lead singer, also happens
to be the bass player for the Detroit Symphony. I mean,
then our keyboard player cj obviously you know, producer, composer,
(33:52):
you know, incredible musician. He hasn't been able to be
out with us for a while. So our new keyboard
player is a gentleman named Jay Raymond. Who James Raymond, who, sorry,
Jay Raymond was the four star general head of Space Force.
I got them all computed. James Raymond is David Crosby's
Sun and is infused with musical DNA. Frightening keyboard player,
(34:17):
frightening musician. So yeah, I'm just having way more fun
than probably is legally allowed playing with these guys. And
then when we play, I get to tell stories because
people seem to want to hear as it seems that
as you and I are having our discussion here, they
want to hear stories. They want to hear the next
(34:41):
song of things. They want to know how people interacted
and where things come from. So we're just having too
much fun.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
That's awesome. City Winery, November ninth.
Speaker 4 (34:53):
In closing, I want to ask you if there's anybody
that dead or alive that you could have had a
studio session with. Who Who would these people be?
Speaker 1 (35:06):
It's hard to say, because I've had a chance to
play with everybody from Oscar Peterson to Gene Simmons. You know,
I'd have to think about that, and I'm not trying
to be disingenuous. I've been pretty lucky to play with
the folks that I want. I guess one guy I
(35:27):
would have loved to play with was Manita Seplata, the
classical guitar player. That guy has some something, some magic karma,
halo energy or something or other. I would have loved
(35:47):
to have been able to be inside that energy field.
But I've been pretty lucky guy to play with a
lot of great folks.
Speaker 5 (35:58):
Well, I'm pretty lucky to get to talk you, and
i can't tell you the joy of the music that
you continue to give us is so appreciated, and the
Taking a Walk Podcast is proud to have you on.
If anybody who wants to share this with all their
(36:18):
gazillion friends, we would really love that we're available everywhere
you get your podcasts. But Jeff skunk back Start's an
honor to talk to you and thanks for being on
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Thank you very much for your hospitality.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a
Walk podcast. Share this and other episodes with your friends
and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking
a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
and wherever you get your podcasts.
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