Bob Harris celebrates the 40th anniversary of The Old Grey Whistle Test. Remembering each series with archive recordings, plus new interviews and exclusively recorded sessions.
Series 1 - Episode 6:
Episode aired last night September 28, 2011 on BBC Radio 2.
Mick Fleetwood & Lindsey Buckingham appear in this weeks episode via old 1976 interview footage that was recorded about a year and a half after Lindsey and Stevie joined the band & during rehearsals in 1976 prior to an upcoming tour. With Rhiannon on the charts at the time, Mick and Lindsey talk about finishing up the recording of Rumours, how the album compares to the white Fleetwood Mac album that was released the year before and how Lindsey and Stevie joined the band.
Stevie Nicks is then interviewed, which was recorded when she was in the UK in June. She comments on the video footage of Mick and Lindsey being interviewed in 1976 and on the Rhiannon video that was filmed during the rehearsals that day... Stevie describes how innocent the guys look and that those were the men she fell in love with, that innocence... Then she proceeds to annalyse the 1976 Rhiannon video footage and it's lasting legacy.
Overall this section of the show is about 8 minutes long. Listen again on the BBC Radio 2 website. If you don't want to listen to the full hour long show, the Fleetwood Mac section starts at about the 51:30 mark.
Rock goddess Stevie Nicks will be in town for a couple of intimate shows at The Historic Fillmore October 8-9, and KFOG has a free pair of tickets for you as well as a chance to meet Stevie at the 10/9 show!
You must be a registered FOGHEAD and be logged in to enter. Entries must be submitted on KFOG by 9am on Monday, October 3, 2011. They will select one winner at random and contact him or her via email. One runner up will receive a free pair of tickets to the 10/9 show. KFOG Website
Stevie also plays the Mountain Winery 10/5. Tickets for all of her Bay Area shows are on sale now at LiveNation.com.
Joe Scarborough, R-Fla., serves as host of “Morning Joe” - On the show Thursday
Pat Buchanan, Donny Deutsch, Gillian Tett, Politico, Ken Burns, Goldie Hawn, Lindsey Buckingham, Simon Hobbs.
Ron & Fez Show - SiriusXM
Also... Lindsey is apparently going to be on the Ron & Fez Show tomorrow... Not sure what time he's on or even what time the Ron & Fez show is on I can't find any info on either... Going by a couple of Tweets.
Lindsey Buckingham Takes His ChancesFleetwood Mac guitarist delivers hits, new tunes in NYC
by Matthew Perpetua
Rollingstone
Lindsey Buckingham has been sticking to a handful of talking points in all of the press for his new solo album, Seeds We Sow, and he repeated them in his stage banter at the Town Hall in Manhattan last night. Basically: he's been splitting his creative life between what he calls "The Big Machine" (Fleetwood Mac) and "The Small Machine" (his often iconoclastic solo career), and the difference is akin to making blockbuster movies and arty independent films. This is a good analogy, but it seems more applicable to his studio output than this live performance, which erred on the side of an earnest blandness, at odds with the genuinely quirky sounds of much of his early solo work (not to mention his music with Fleetwood Mac).
Buckingham opened this show with a handful of solo acoustic tunes that showcased his impressive finger-picked guitar technique before being joined by a trio of sidemen, who performed with great precision without necessarily augmenting his style. Though some selections from Seeds We Sow, such as the anthemic "In Our Own Time" and a driving "Illumination," made a good case for Buckingham's continuing creative vitality, it was difficult to buy his assertion that toothless numbers like "Stars Are Crazy" and "End of Time" are an artistic leap forward when they immediately followed the truly odd (and still magnificent) "Tusk" on the setlist.
Live review: Lindsey Buckingham at the Town Hall
by Hank Shteamer Timeout - New York
Between songs at the Town Hall on Tuesday night, Lindsey Buckingham spoke wryly of the big and small machines that have governed his career. The former was of course Fleetwood Mac, the protean pop outfit that Buckingham joined in the mid-’70s and subsequently helped transform into a megaseller. The latter, as was clear from the large number of empty seats, was Buckingham's solo career, which he likened to a Hollywood director's side gig crafting commercially iffy yet artistically fulfilling indies. Throughout the show, Buckingham deftly balanced the familiar with the fresh—including plenty of songs from his new record, the intermittently great Seeds We Sow—powering through the less fan-friendly segments with a riveting fierceness.
That edge was most apparent during the opening portion of the concert, which featured Buckingham alone onstage with an acoustic guitar (or rather, guitars, since an assistant brought him a new ax after each song). It's hard to know whether Buckingham feels he has something to prove—after three decades with the Mac, he's still far less famous than his bandmate Stevie Nicks—but he played with a near-demonic intensity, showing off his spiky, locomotive-style fingerpicking technique and still-deadly howl. Buckingham turned "Go Insane" (the new-wavey title track to his 1984 sophomore album) into a haunted meditation, and reached peak intensity on a barreling version of Fleetwood Mac's "Big Love." Folky Rumours lark "Never Going Back Again" showed up in impressionistic guise, with Buckingham stretching out each syllable of the verses to build maximum tension.
Lindsey Buckingham’s fingers started to race as soon as he’d basked in some applause at Town Hall on Tuesday night. A half-dozen songs later, all played solo with guitar, they had barely rested. His fingers had done dazzling things: fingerpicking that could be pristine and meditative or pointedly aggressive, counterpoints of staccato thumb-picked bass lines and gliding melodies, quasi-Baroque austerity leading into frenetic strumming.
The guitar was the full partner of his voice, and sometimes the senior partner, pacing the songs and stoking their dynamics, supporting the vocals or sparring with them, hinting at ragtime and raga, grabbing the melodic foreground. Mr. Buckingham’s guitar parts tore away the pop exteriors of songs he originally recorded on his solo albums and with Fleetwood Mac. They unveiled the desperation in songs like “Trouble” and “Never Going Back Again,” and they propelled him to howl, moan and shriek. Performing alone, he stretched pained moments into huge crescendos.
Lindsey Buckingham's mastery of guitar, voice and songwriting at Town Hall
by: Jeff Slate, NY Rock Culture Examiner
Most of the over-55 rocker set are phoning it in these days, playing it all too safe amidst diminishing skills. So it was a true pleasure to be blown away by a set of mostly solo material by sometime-Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham's performance at Town Hall last night.
When you get home after attending a rock concert—a good rock concert—and you sit down and go through your pictures, you’re going to think to yourself one of two things: either, “Wow, that show was so intense, my ears are still ringing,” or “That show was really good—it’s a shame more people weren’t there.” Tuesday night’s Lindsey Buckingham show is a great example of the latter.
At the Town Hall, located on 43rd St. between Broadway and 6th Ave., Lindsey Buckingham, the lead guitarist and sole male vocalist of the legendary Fleetwood Mac, played an inspiring concert, promoting his new album, Seeds We Sow…though, it seems not too many people knew about it. The small concert hall was nowhere near sold out, but those who were in attendance were in for a real treat.
Lindsey Buckingham totally owned New York's Town Hall this past Tuesday night. Though it was an early stop on a fall tour supporting his sixth solo album Seeds We Sow, Buckingham was in fine fighting form mixing his more reflective, chance-taking solo material with long-embedded Fleetwood Mac classics.
This was my seventh sojourn to an LB solo show. His first Town Hall gig, complete with a literal guitar armada, was on March 31, 1993, in support of the brilliant Out of the Cradle, still one of my system-audition benchmark discs. A decade-plus later, he hit Town Hall on October 10, 2006 to share the acoustic-driven Under the Skin. Wherever and whenever I've seen him, he's always been riveting, intense, and driven — just as he was on Tuesday, from my 10th row just-a-hair-left-of-center vantage point. And Town Hall's wonderful artist-friendly acoustics well-suited the ebb and flow of this fabulous 100-minute set.
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Long before the success of Fleetwood Mac, when band founder Mick Fleetwood was a kid in the U.K. learning how to play the drums, he dreamed of having his own restaurant. His parents entrusted the then 9-year-old with the stable of the old farmhouse they lived in, and young Fleetwood turned it into something of a children's speakeasy that he called Club Keller. Instead of booze, he poured Coca-Cola.
"I used to serve up Smith's crisps and fish and chips and stuff for other children to come round," the bearded rocker recalled during a recent interview, his eyes twinkling at the memory. "I had my radiogram and my drums in there and it was my world."
Now, five and a half decades later, Fleetwood is creating a new world for himself and his music: He's opening a restaurant in his adopted hometown of Lahaina on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Fleetwood's on Front St. is set to open early next year, and its namesake sees it as the next professional chapter in his life: A place where he can indulge his taste for fine food and drink (including his own Mick Fleetwood Private Cellar wines), perform with his friends and run the whole show. He plans to showcase local musicians and artists and invite the occasional famous rock star. The new establishment is essentially a large-scale, souped-up version of his old Club Keller.
"I've always wanted to do this," Fleetwood said on a visit to his manager's office in Beverly Hills. "I'm like one of those weird Chinese creatures where you see something 30 years ahead. It's petrifying and exciting and fulfilling, because... if you keep focused, and it's a corny thing, but if you visualize and visualize and visualize, a lot of stuff really does come to you."
Club Keller itself may actually be resurrected, said Fleetwood's business partner, Jonathan Todd. "We have an option on a smaller place downstairs and, if we get it, I swear we're going to call it Club Keller," Todd said.
Developing the restaurant is dominating Fleetwood's time. He helped choose the site (a historic building dating back to 1916 – the year his mother was born), select the décor and create the menu, but he insists "it's not a shrine to Mick Fleetwood."
"You'll know that it's my place but it will be very tastefully done," the 64-year-old said. "It's not a museum for Mick Fleetwood. This is a real working restaurant."
He says he'll draw on the "heritage of Fleetwood Mac" to inform its atmosphere.
"All of this is a responsibility to do it properly, and selfishly a responsibility to something that's very precious to me, which is everything I've done with Fleetwood Mac and my partners and the music," he said.
The restaurant has taken him away from music a bit, and he expects that to continue, but that's fine with him: "Now I will have a place to play when I want to or need to."
Besides Fleetwood Mac, the musician has two other bands, the Mick Fleetwood Blues Band and Mick Fleetwood's Island Rumours Band. With or without his bandmates, Fleetwood plans to play at the restaurant often – and there's at least one more Fleetwood Mac tour planned.
"We're going out next year," he said. "We're all creatures of habit and we love what we do.... Whatever has happened, we are together.
"The whole thing is powerful, and all of that is somehow resonating into what I'm doing with the restaurant, Fleetwood's," he continued. "It can't help but have that filtering through it. It's my place."
But as his beloved band slows down ("Within the next five to seven years, I sort of doubt that Fleetwood Mac is going to be horribly active"), Fleetwood said he's excited to devote himself to his new endeavor.
"It's a sense of plugging who I am and what I am into something," he said, "and for me it's the perfect vehicle."
If you were not at Lindsey Buckingham‘s show at Town Hall in New York on September 27, 2011, you missed something special. Lindsey Buckingham seems to get better with age as he still makes amazing music and when he performs live, he sets the bar a little higher for the definition of the word “amazing.” In his nearly 2 hour set, Lindsey Buckingham ran the gamut of his career playing songs from his early days in Fleetwood Mac to his recent album “Seeds We Sow.” He began the show with a 5 song acoustic set that included “Trouble,” “Go Insane,” “Big Love,” and “Never Going Back Again.” The show could have ended at that point and you would have gotten your moneys’ worth, but the show was just beginning. Lindsey Buckingham’s voice was absolutely flawless and when he sang in his whispered voice, you could hear a pin drop in the theater. After nearly every song, Lindsey received a standing ovation.
The first look at Cabo Wabo's Off The Record video series starring Mick Fleetwood, of Fleetwood Mac, and Nicole Atkins. Check back on October 11th for the full length video including tales of legendary nights on stage, epic songwriting sessions, tour secrets, and performance moments from Mick and Nicole.
Off The Record is a music conversation video series presented by Cabo Wabo Tequila, the original rock 'n roll tequila. It shares tales of legendary nights on stage, epic songwriting sessions, tour secrets, as well as performance moments from featured artists. Off The Record gives music fans a chance to get on the inside track of the biggest and emerging names in music.
If you missed Lindsey earlier today on The Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC in NYC, you can stream the interview above or download the podcast on the WNYC site HERE
Ticketmaster United States Meet Lindsey Buckingham
Enter for your chance to see Lindsey live, meet him backstage and check out his legacy at the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame!
The Sweepstakes begins at 12:00 PM PT on September 26, 2011, and ends at 12:00 PM ET on October 10, 2011.
PRIZES: One (1) Grand Prize consisting of one Rock Flight for one winner and a guest to see a Lindsey Buckingham Seeds We Sow Tour. Rock Flight includes round-trip charter/value economy airfare for two (2) on Funjet Vacations value flights from a major gateway airport nearest winner’s residence within the U.S. to Cleveland, OH, departing November 5, 2011 and returning November 7, 2011; one (1) double occupancy standard hotel room for two (2) nights from November 5, 2011 to November 7, 2011; two (2) general admission tickets to see Lindsey Buckingham Seeds We Sow Tour at Lorain Palace Theatre in Cleveland, OH on November 6, 2011; meet and greet and two (2) tickets to Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH and a docent led tour at a to be determined time during winner’s stay in Cleveland, OH; and one (1) $300 cash gift card. Approximate Retail Value of the Grand Prize is: Two Thousand Two Hundred Dollars and No Cents ($2,200.00), depending upon winner's point of travel origin and airfare fluctuations at the time of taking the trip.
OFFICIAL RULES OF THE LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM SEEDS WE SOW TOUR CLEVELAND SWEEPSTAKES.
NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. MAKING A PURCHASE WILL NOT IMPROVE ENTRANT’S ODDS OF WINNING. THIS SWEEPSTAKES IS OPEN ONLY TO NATURAL PERSONS WHO ARE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND WHO ARE AT LEAST EIGHTEEN (18) YEARS OF AGE AT THE TIME OF ENTRY.
Lindsey Buckingham on The Leonard Lopate Show 9/27/11:
Guitarist/singer Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac talks about his career in music with that band and as a solo musician, and discusses his new album, “Seeds We Sow.” He’s not only the male lead singer and guitarist for Fleetwood Mad but also penned some of their biggest hits.
WNYC 93.9 FM. Listen live online. The show airs on the east coast at what looks like 12 noon and repeats at 12am.
Lindsey Buckingham on new album, Seeds We Sow, and Fleetwood Mac By Joe Bosso Music Radar September 26, 2011
Since 1979, on Fleetwood Mac's masterpiece Tusk, Lindsey Buckingham has spent considerable time recording on his own in his home studio. On his vibrant, luminous new solo album, Seeds We Sow, the musician takes the DIY approach one step further: producing, engineering, singing and playing every instrument on all but one track. He's even releasing the record himself.
"There can be feelings of isolation when working alone," Buckingham admits, "but it's a good isolation. It's very meditative, much like painting. People who paint are usually pretty isolated. It's a solitary pursuit, but it lets you get one-on-one with your canvas."
Seeds We Sow is Buckingham's sixth solo album, and true to form, it's a compelling, wholly original rendering of shadows and light, cries and whispers. Whether pensive or blissed-out, rocking impulsively or examining the human spirit, the guitarist fuses his irrepressible, idiosyncratic songcraft with waves of breathtaking vocals and luxurious, fingerpicked guitar patterns into something that's become a rarity in modern music: a sublime, top-to-bottom, soul-nourishing experience.
A few weeks into a 50-city theater tour, Lindsey Buckingham sat down with MusicRadar to discuss Seeds We Sow. In addition, the Rock Hall Of Famer talked about his approach to guitar playing, the advantages of home recording, loving The Rolling Stones, his work with Fleetwood Mac (expect to hear from them in 2012!), and some of his essential guitars.
In much the same way that great method actors don't "act," but rather they "behave," your work on Seeds We Sow goes beyond craftsmanship.
"Well, that's good, I guess. [laughs] You want to be good at your craft, but you don't want to wear all the construction on your sleeve. If you're doing that, you might not be doing your job. Over the years that I've been doing this, and particularly since I started making solo records with greater frequency, I've looked into whatever my center is, which is the guitar, and I've looked into the emotional side of that, as well. That's really the idea: touching on what's essential, both musically and lyrically.
"I do think my lyrics have gotten...not necessarily more poetic, but more open to interpretation; they're less literal. All of that fits into what you're saying."
You've had a home studio for many years now. What are some recent changes you've made to your setup?
"Not a lot, really. I still have an old, unautomated console that I got in the late '80s. And I still do a lot of work on an old, reel-to-reel digital machine. I just love the VSO. [laughs] Not that you can't do that in Pro Tools – you certainly can. I do have Pro Tools, but they seem to come later in the process.
"My setup is not that different from what it's been for a while now. What happens is, you find a way that works for you, and at that point… You know, there's an adage that would apply here: 'It ain't what you got, it's what you're doing with what you got.' [laughs] It's true."
On the new album you do a beautiful version of The Rolling Stones' She Smiled Sweetly. You've covered them in the past. And even Go Your Own Way owes something to the Stones –
"Yeah, the drum pattern on that. I wanted Mick to do something like Street Fighting Man, and he put his own thing to it. But that's right, exactly."
So besides the obvious – that they're a great band – what is it that you like about the Stones so much?
"Well, I think they're a band that has held up rather well, particularly the period that I cover, which is when Brian Jones was at his peak, right before he started to go downhill. He was starting to bring in European sensibilities that kind of balanced out the Chuck Berry-isms of Keith. I always thought there were a lot of undiscovered gems on albums like Aftermath and Between The Buttons.
"Everything else on this album, all of the original songs, I wrote them out as snippets of ideas right before I went in to start the actual recording. She Smiled Sweetly was the only thing I had recorded previously; it had sitting around for a while, waiting to find a home. It seemed somehow appropriate to end the album with it. It turned out pretty nice."
Stevie Nicks has said that, given the chance, she would have joined Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Conversely, would you have joined the Stones had the situated presented itself?
[laughs] "That's an odd question! Hmmm, well, that's sort of an odd thing for Stevie to say, too. I guess she was just looking at bands she likes. The Stones…uh, sure! [laughs] What a great situation. They have a raw, primitive approach to music, and I relate to that – I'm kind of a refined primitive myself, having never been taught music.
"It seems like a thought that is so far-fetched. Probably the Tom Petty thing, too. I can't imagine Tom asking a woman to join his band; he's got such a guy thing going on. As for me joining The Rolling Stones…it's a nice thing to think about." [laughs]
You first demonstrated your fingerpicking technique on your initial albums with Fleetwood Mac. It's really developed over the years, into a rolling style – like a waterfall of notes. The title track, Seeds We Sow, is a fingerpicking extravaganza!
"Why, thank you. Sure, you can look at songs like Landslide and Never Going Back Again for that. On Never Going Back Again, I'm sort of enhancing the basic folk approach. Over time, I've developed it and tried to make the rhythms more sophisticated. Big Love was the song where I really started doing it on stage to such a degree. With that, a light bulb went off over my head and I started thinking, Hey, I've really got to look at this as being one of the mainstays of my style.
"It has become more rolling. I seem to keep gravitating back to some sort of 6/8 time signature. It's like a measure of four over a measure of six as far as my picking is concerned, but it's only revealed as 6/8 when my singing comes in. It's an area of playing that I've become very interested in and tried to expound upon, especially since I've done more and more solo albums. It seems to be working out."
Your vocal performance on the title track is quite dramatic, especially at the end. Is singing a catharsis for you, a release?
"Sometimes. Yeah, I think there's some songs on new record where it's releasing something, where it's about moving on to the next phase. On the song Seeds We Sow, it's very much a comment on where things are going in the world, but in sort of a schizoid way it comes back and examines those same tendencies in a relationship."
From a production standpoint, Illumination and That's The Way Love Goes recall the quirkiness of the Tusk album. Do you have any kind of production aesthetic?
"Oh, God! I couldn't put any kind of label on my production aesthetic. [laughs] Certainly, I feel that this album has a good representation of things that are living in the left side of my palette, and it's got some things that move more to the right.
"You've got songs like End Of Time which are more, for lack of a better term, kind of 'Fleetwood Mac-y,' and that's an emotional tone that's just as valid as anything else. Yeah, you want to keep exploring areas that are both familiar and unfamiliar. What I like about this record is that it represents pretty well the musical landscape I have going, from left to right."
In a recent interview with Guitar Aficionado, you likened working in Fleetwood Mac to big-brand movies like Pirates Of The Caribbean, that it wasn't "chancy" –
"Here's the thing: I think it could be chancy. Sometimes it is quite chancy on a political level. But I think that you've got to understand that the collective politics tend to align themselves with what Warner Bros. or any record company might want us to do, which adheres to 'the brand,' such as it is.
"You know, we went out last year and toured without a new album, and it was actually a great deal of fun because we've got this big body of work that stands on its own. There's a freedom in knowing that and feeling that and being able to perform that.
"But I think the collective wheel of Fleetwood Mac tends to want to take less chances, certainly less than I would on my own. That's one of the nice things about having both things, Fleetwood Mac and a solo career. I guess you can look at Fleetwood Mac as the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies and my solo career as indie films."
Right. But at this point in you career, both solo and in Fleetwood Mac, surely you can do whatever you want.
"Yes, if you step back and look at that, sure I can. But what's interesting about Fleetwood Mac is that we're a band of people who have never wanted the same things. In a weird way, we probably don't even belong in the same band together. For whatever reasons, we can't always say, 'This is what we want, and here are the reasons.'
"If I'm not off doing my thing, then Stevie's off doing her thing. It probably drives John and Mick crazy. And, you know, I think there should come a time when we can just be Fleetwood Mac for a longer period of time, where we can connect the dots, each one of us. I'd love to see that happen.
"If we can do that, then maybe we will be able to, as you say, 'do what we want.' But what I want isn't necessarily what Stevie wants or what John wants or what Mick wants. It makes it difficult on a political level; it also makes it interesting."
If working on your own is, as you say, akin to painting, can't collaboration in a band context be equally challenging and rewarding artistically?
"Well, sure. And it is. There are big differences, though. For one thing, when you're working on your own, you can start with the smallest of ides. You don't have to go in with something as fleshed out as you would if you're working with others. You can just go in and throw the paint on the canvas, and the work will evolve and take on its own life and lead you in directions you weren't expecting. There are definitely opportunities for surprises and spontaneity.
"You'd think that spontaneity would only go with the collaborative thing, but that's not always the case. Collaboration can be spontaneous, but so can working on your own. It's a process that's served me well for a long time. I seem to be getting better at it, so why stop now?"
Where do you find inspiration nowadays? Is it a different experience than when you were younger? Do you have to work harder to find it?
"I think that when you're quite young, you tend to be part of a community of people who are aspiring to something similar as yourself, or they share the same sensibilities, and because of that you have conversations and exchange ideas – that's where the inspiration comes from.
"The older you get and the more you find your own style, the less important that becomes, because you're not looking for things to draw from so literally. That communal exchange falls away as youth recedes.
"The things that inspire me are a certain way of thinking. I can be in the car and listen to what my daughters want to hear, which will be the station that plays Katy Perry and Lady Gaga or whoever, and that's all very well and good. But I can go and find a college station on satellite radio and find stuff that isn't getting heard by a broad range of people. Usually they'll be groups or people that I can relate to for the reasons they're making music.
"Some of these acts have broken through: Arcade Fire, Phoenix, Dirty Projectors, Vampire Weekend – there's a lot of groups out there that are making really good, smart music. It's about the spirit behind it all."
Rick Turner guitars have been your go-to instruments for a while now. What do you like about them so much?
"Before I joined Fleetwood Mac, my electric guitar of choice was a Fender Stratocaster - I think a 1963 model. The reason why I liked the Stratocaster was because the sound of it was very suited to fingerpicking. It's very percussive and cuts through other instruments.
"Of course, that tone didn't suit the pre-existing sound of Fleetwood Mac. From the rhythm section of Mick and John and the guitarists who had played on the records, it was a fatter sound. When I joined the band, I had to start using a Les Paul, which wasn't ideal for a fingerpicking style.
"Rick had been making John's basses, and after getting to know him for a while, I asked him to make me some sort of a hybrid guitar, one which was like a Les Paul in that it was fat enough, but it would also have the percussiveness of a Stratocaster. This is the guitar he came up with, and it really works for me."
Do you have any other essential guitars?
"Yeah. I have an old Martin D-18 that I still use a lot. I got that when I was about 19 years old, up in the Bay Area. I use that in the studio quite a bit. I love the baby Taylors. If you get a good one, they record very well. Also, there's the Stratocaster that I mentioned.
"Let's see...what else? There have been guitars I've played and they've served me well, but for whatever reason, I've had to use other guitars. You know how it is: your needs change."
Many people whose resumes include one of the best-selling albums of all time would probably be content to sit back and either recycle the riffs that made them famous or simply collect royalties.
Lindsey Buckingham is not like many people.
More than 30 years after “Rumours,” his second album with Fleetwood Mac, topped sales charts, Buckingham continues to hone his skills as a songwriter, guitarist and producer.
His new CD, “Seeds We Sow,” is the first on his own label, Mind Kit Records. His current tour will take him to the Mayo Performing Arts Center Thursday night (Sept. 29).
“Seeds We Sow,” with its layered guitars and vocal harmonies, is the latest step in a career that began in the late 1960s. As a teenager growing up in California, Buckingham taught himself to play guitar and banjo by listening to the Kingston Trio and other folk acts.
In the early 1970s, Buckingham and his then-girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, traveled to Los Angeles with a handful of demos in search of a record deal. Polydor Records released “Buckingham Nicks” in 1973. Despite a rather risqué cover photo of the two musicians, the album sold poorly, and they were dropped by the label.
In the years since, however, “Buckingham Nicks” has been appreciated for its unusual folk-influenced harmonies and the caliber of the musicianship. The lineup included Ron Tutt and Jerry Scheff (both of whom had played with Elvis Presley), drummer Jim Keltner and other top session players.
The songs also caught the ear of other musicians, including John McVie, Mick Fleetwood and McVie’s wife, Christine. The three were looking for a new guitarist for Fleetwood Mac and were impressed by Buckingham’s skills. Buckingham agreed to join only if Nicks could join the band, too.
The result was a potent combination of the traditional blues-based Fleetwood Mac sound coupled with Buckingham and Nicks’ folk-rock-pop. The reconstituted Fleetwood Mac released a self-titled album in 1975 that sold well.
But the 1977 followup, “Rumours,” launched the group into the stratosphere, in part thanks to Buckingham compositions such as “Go Your Own Way.”
After “Rumours” (and after splitting with Nicks), Buckingham insisted on a more experimental tone, resulting in the offbeat double-album “Tusk.” In the 1980s, Buckingham became less involved with the band and more involved in pursuing a solo career, beginning with his 1981 album “Law and Order,” which yielded the hit “Trouble.” He also wrote the song “Holiday Road” for the movie “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”
As his 1984 album “Go Insane” proved, Buckingham has an ear for intricate arrangements. The centerpiece of that album was a suite dedicated to the memory of the late Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys, and other tracks reflected some of the more nuanced songs of Brian Wilson.
For a time, Buckingham put his solo work on hold to rejoin Fleetwood Mac in the studio and on the road. But in the past six years, he has released three acclaimed solo albums and a live disc.
With this burst of creativity and a national tour under way, Buckingham shows that there is more to his reputation than just “Rumours.”
Written by Bill Nutt - NJ Press Media Daily Record
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