“David came up with the brilliant call to let Grin take over after we lost the Three Dog Night guys, and we carried on and kept making great music with Donovan.” Lofgren recalls that scheduling obligations pulled Three Dog Night away from the project at one point. Everyone got along well, and we had a great time.” Having my best friend, David, there was amazing - and he was the only reason I was there. We made our little chord charts and started recording. He played us these new songs he had written, and we learned them. We could see him clearly, and he could see us. ![]() “Donovan was in the booth alone - where he sang and played acoustic guitar - so our sound wouldn’t bleed into his parts. “All of a sudden, I was heading into Hollywood with David to record with Donovan and Three Dog Night.” “I don’t know how the hell David pulled it off,” Lofgren says, “but they let me fill in on guitar.” He says it was a “stunning revelation” when he found out about the opportunity. to do some recording sessions with the famous producer Mickie Most, and they requested that Three Dog Night come and back Donovan in the studio.īriggs got the gig to engineer the sessions, and it turned out that Three Dog Night needed a fill-in guitarist. He became my mentor and kind of a big brother who produced all my Grin records,” Lofgren says.īriggs happened to be close friends with comedian Murray Roman, who was good friends with Donovan. “Neil turned us on to David Briggs, his producer. When Lofgren got to L.A., he called his friend Neil Young. When I was 17, I hit the road as a young rock musician with my band Grin and ultimately went out to Los Angeles.” I also got into Motown, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Little Richard, and all of it inspired me. I discovered the British Invasion, which included Donovan, who is still a hero of mine. I started listening to The Stones and The Beatles. Like Donovan, Lofgren also cherishes the music and the memories the two artists shared, and tells Phoenix New Times how the session came together. “Each song on Lunarian,” he adds, “highlights the journey of Linda throughout her life, including the release of her new book, Luna Love.” (Pictures from her book can be seen in the video for "Still Waters.") The two celebrated 50 years of marriage in 2020. “These are nine of my songs selected from many, many more that I have written for Linda Lawrence over our relationship of 55 years,” Donovan says. "Still Waters" is included on his recently released album, Lunarian, a tribute to his “wife and muse,” Linda. Other times, the vocals and music intertwine, creating a sonic braid. ![]() The guitar twists down its own path, which lets it shine at strategic points throughout the tune. The tune is inviting from the jump as the singer’s voice quickly pulls you in for the ride. “When we met, I realized Nils was like me: a one-off guitar player, with his piece of fabric nailed to his Telecaster - a road gypsy boy,” he saysĭonovan specifically mentioned the song “Still Waters” in his Twitter announcement. It’s been five decades since these two seminal talents joined forces in the studio to cut a sprinkling of beautiful tracks that meld Donovan’s angelic, fluttery vocals with Lofgren’s guitar work.ĭonovan fondly recalls working with Lofgren. ![]() In this case, “years ago” means approximately 50. The legendary Scottish performer announced that he had unearthed some rare songs that he had recorded years ago with Nils Lofgren, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, member of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, and longtime Valley resident. Folk singer Donovan recently took to Twitter to drop a bit of intriguing news - the kind of dispatch that makes fans more than a little dizzy.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |