As some of you may or may not know, my first instrument was drums. I got my first drum set at age 5 and that set the next 46 years of my life in motion. I had drum clothes, drum posters, drum birthday cakes.. you get it.. a drummer was what I "was". It was before the computer age so there was no Google, or Youtube or much of any way to research my passion except to peruse through my brothers collection of vinyl L. P.s and read who played what on who's record etc.
I can remember pulling the big paper sleeve out of the L. P. cover and hoping that it contained the names of the band members, who wrote the songs etc. I loved to match up musicians from one band that played for others. For instance.. Jimmy Messina would appear on his own records, those of "Poco" and the "Eagles". For some reason that was really cool to me.
Fast forward to the fall of 1977. I had just begun my career as a radio announcer or as they called it then a "D. J." and was just absolutely loving it. Listening to music all day, getting to talk and actually getting paid for it was pretty much heaven. At around 5:00 p. m. on a Friday in October my life was set on an odyssey that took 30 years to complete and come full circle.
On that Friday afternoon a 45 rpm single came in to the radio station from "Jackson Browne". I knew who J. B. was and was already fond of his music. I knew that he hung out with the likes of the "Eagles" and I figured I would more than likely dig the song. I threw it on the turntable without auditioning it just after the ABC News at 5:05. (What happens next and over 3 decades is a somewhat un-believable yet inspirational story.)
The first seconds of "Running On Empty" washed over me like a warm Pacific breeze. The pounding of the drums, the "road sound" created by the percussion section, the LIVE sound of the recording and the first vocal line "Lookin' out at the road rushing under my wheels" set it all in motion. I was hooked by the rhythm. That rudimentary, tribal beat made my heart jump, my foot tap and my mind wander. What it must have been like to be on that tour bus, play those venues, meet the people, write the songs. I could actually see my future.. but didn't know it at the time.
A week or so later, as it was done at that time, the radio station received the L. P. of "Running On Empty". I immediately opened it and WOW... a full TOUR BOOK came sliding out in to my grubby paw. Oh MY.. I hit the jackpot. Huge full color pictures, anecdotes, liner notes and in the band line up a familiar, yet as of then, un-explored name... "Russ Kunkel" on drums. Oh my, the rootsy, tribal pounding was coming from the guy that played for James Taylor? So I began to dig deeper. Wait, surely not.. that's him on my favorite "Crosby Stills and Nash" album, and "Linda Ronstadt" too?
As I researched the entire record collection at the station I found this man's name on nearly every pop/rock record of the time. I became a somewhat obsessed with his playing. As I played in our little band at the "Stardust" club and the "Empire Lounge" I would try and play like Russ. A few more toms, and build ups. Solid snare beats maybe a little behind the vocal. Straight forward kick drum that set up the framework. We even learned and played "Running On Empty"... Man just listening to this guy was making me a better drummer... yes.. Russ Kunkel had become my "DRUM HERO"!
Over the next 20 some odd years, I kept track of Russ' career. His playing on tour with "Stevie Nicks" nearly sent me over the edge. His work with Jimmy Buffet (another one of my musical heroes) stretched the limits. I had often wondered what it would be like to meet the guy and what I would say if I ever got to talk to him although I never thought I would.
Fast forward again (can't you just hear the tape player going woomp, woomp woomp as we head for the new century?) to 2006. My brother, Keith, my niece, Shawna and I began to write songs for what we thought was going to be a demo project for Shawna. We had grown weary of getting song demos from Nashville that did not fit her voice or style, so we decided who better to write Shawna's songs than us? We had written 4 or 5 songs with no real plan on how to record them when one day I got a call on my cell phone. It was Mike Turner a keyboard player and studio engineer we had worked with in Ty England's band. Mike wanted to know where Shawna was and what she was doing at the moment? By chance, (or maybe fate) Shawna and I were in Oklahoma City at another studio working on a voical warm up project. Mike asked if we had a minute to come by "Upstairs" studio and have Shawna sing a few tunes on some new gear they were installing? Sure we said, we'll be right over.
Here's where it gets "spooky". After a couple of hours of singing in Upstairs studio, the owner, Ted Curtis, asked this question "Have you ever heard of Russ Kunkel"? WHAT? Russ Kunkel. Of COURSE (here's where I launch in to a diatribe about my drum hero). Well, Curtis adds, I've been looking for a way to bring him here to record and after hearing Shawna's voice, I think this is the perfect project to pitch to him. Are you interested? I nearly blacked out.
I began to sweat a little and didn't really know what to say.. except to fall back on the statement that has always gotten me in trouble before... "Sure, let's do it"!
Now keep in mind, we had NO funding or any idea how this would happen, but for the moment it sounded really good. Over the course of the next few weeks Ted and I were in touch regarding the "project" and lo and behold one afternoon in October he called and said these words... "Russ is booked for xx November... let's do it"....
I'll respectfully skip all of the side stories of how we funded it, what other great musicians came to OKC to record with Shawna and Russ and cut to the proverbial chase.
Russ Kunkel, bigger than life, famous drummer came to OKC and recorded Shawna's "Goddess" album. He is a great guy. Humble, quiet, an expert at what he does. A guy you respect so much that you want to call him "Mr. Kunkel" but so friendly that he's just "Russ".
He and I became instant friends. He was respectful of our writing and impressed by Shawna's abilities. He made great suggestions and kept everyone on their toes. He gladly told stories about J. T. and Linda and CSN and even though we were all "gurming" him a little, he obliged us smiling all of the way.
The moral of the story is.. Life is strange.. who would have thought a farm boy from Cromwell, OK would spend a few days of his life in a studio "producing" his life long hero? That I would become friends with the man that inspired my music and creativity. That I would visit him in L.A. and drink Margarita's while staring at the famous "Hollywood" sign? Or get passes to see him perform with Lyle Lovett, exchange holiday greetings and emails with someone so far removed from the farm in the "River Bend" where I lived when I first heard the pounding of "Runnin' On Empty"?.... Life truly is strange, "it's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you'll get", but most of all.. life is what you make it. It's preparedness meeting opportunity, it's never giving up, it's the journey... and all of the other sayings on posters at the mall.. but it REALLY is... and if you are living it with passion you too can experience it.. just as I did...
Cloudwatcher signing off... heading out in the Willie Bus... "Lookin' out at the road rushing under my wheels, looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields".....
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