In conversation with Jerry Donahue ...
Jerry Donahue was born in New York - the son of USA Forces big band saxophonist Sam Donahue, and actress Patricia Donahue - but grew up in Los Angeles, which is still his home today.
Encouraged by his parents, Donahue took classical guitar lessons as a child, but it was Gerry McGee (who later joined The Ventures) who made the biggest impression on him, when a 14-year-old Donahue witnessed him perform. Donahue then took lessons from McGee. Throughout high school Donahue formed a succession of his own bands and recorded his first album, aged 15, with “The Zephyrs”. At college in Germany, Donahue ‘roomed’ with “Freebo”. Donahue encouraged him to play bass and together they formed a band called “The Avengers”, playing in local clubs, US armed services bases. etc. “Freebo” went on to become the bassist with Bonnie Raitt, Dr John, and Crosby, Stills & Nash, Ringo Starr, to name but a few.
Jerry Donahue first moved to the UK in 1961 and, after finishing scholastics, took a job in 1968, working at Selmers Musical Instruments in Charing Cross Road in London, where, apart from selling guitars to the likes of Eric Clapton (his first red 335, used for Cream’s farewell concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall), Justin Hayward, Barry Gibb, and more, Donahue also got his first taste of being in a professional band from there, and he has never looked back. In a spectacular career, spanning the past 5 decades, Jerry Donahue has been a key member of globally renowned bands such as “Fotheringay”, “Fairport Convention”, “The Hellecasters” and “The Yardbirds”, also touring with many renowned international artists and has also enjoyed huge success as a session musician. Technically, Donahue mostly plays in finger-picking or hybrid-picking style with his right hand. However, his left hand technique made him famous among guitar players: Since his first encounter with guitarists Gerry McGee and Amos Garrett as a teenager, Donahue was fascinated by, and eventually mastered the technique of, string "bending". Telecaster master, Danny Gatton, praised him as "the string-bending king of the planet". Around 1997, Fender made a Jerry Donahue signature Stratocaster in Japan, but Donahue's style and technique are closely associated with his signature Fender Telecaster and Telecaster in general. His signature Stratocaster was even modified with a metal plate under the bridge pickup to more closely emulate the heftier Telecaster sound. More recently (2005) Peavey released the Omniac JD signature guitar. The current guitar bearing the Jerry Donahue name is the Fret King Black Label JD model, designed by Jerry and world renowned guitar designer, Trev Wilkinson. Guitarist magazine in the UK have given this guitar the coveted Guitarist's Choice award with 4.5 stars out of 5 rating, proclaiming it “Jerry Donahue’s best yet”. Still dividing his time between living in the USA, and the UK - I caught up with Jerry at his Lancashire home, whilst taking a day out of his immensely busy schedule to chat about his life as a musician, and all that he has in store for 2015....
HR : Is there a huge difference between the folk scenes here in the UK, and the USA?
JD : It’s quite different because the British folk scene never quite made it in the states in the 60s and 70s when it was at its peak. With the mainstream, Rock n Roll, you had all the bands that were big in the UK like The Beatles, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, etc., and all of the bands who were really big in the USA, like Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Beach boys , and all of that, but they were just as BIG in both countries and embraced by everyone, whereas during the folk scene you had so many people over in the States like Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and many more – all iconic folk people - but, over there, they weren’t really in tune with what was going on in the UK – we had so many great folk artists and music ; Sandy Denny, “Fairport Convention”, “Fotheringay”, “Steeleye Span”, “Lindesfarne”, “Magna Carta” and so many more! When I play some things over in the States now, even if we’re just playing in a bar, the whole room becomes silent when we play this English folk rock – it’s like a new kind of music to them. They don’t remember it; they don’t hear it as dated, because they missed it the first time around! The stuff really leaves a big impression on American ears.
Did you find it frustrating back in the 60s and 70s, that you weren’t getting wide-spread recognition for what you were doing?
Well, yes I guess so, but there were a lot of frustrating things that happened back then - The untimely end of “Fotheringay”, for a start! When I finally got my hands on the tapes of “Fotheringay 2” – nobody knew we had done another album because it got shelved when Sandy Denny was impelled into going solo after her second consecutive Best British Female Singer award in Melody Maker, magazine’s readers polls.
The powers that be had wanted her to go solo after she left “Fairport Convention” for the first time, and really it was her winning the second “Top Female Vocalist” award (on this occasion when she was with Fotheringay) above the likes of Shirley Bassey, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield and more – through Melody Maker (who were huge at the time, alongside of NME).
The second award – which came at the time we were in the midst of recording the second album - really sealed their decision to yank her out of the band and persuade her to go solo. She never wanted to do that. None of us were particularly happy, to say the least, about the way any of that worked out – it was a total misreading of the fans’ intentions, and made as much sense at the time as pulling Paul McCartney out of “The Beatles” if he had won it for best male vocal the year before! You know? Beatles fans wouldn’t have wanted him going solo then, and likewise with Sandy, the majority of her fans were, by no means, happy about her leaving the band. “Fotheringay” had become a most popular band by that time, and that decision really pulled the carpet out from beneath everybody.
People didn’t want to see her leave “Fairport” the year before, but there was a quick recovery with the introduction of “Fotheringay” and the success we had with the first album. People really loved it.
But it didn’t end her relationship with you all, or “Fairport Convention” ...
No, and it’s all related. We did a lot of gigs together with “Fairport”. There was no animosity. She left simply because, with all the new material that Richard Thompson and Dave Swarbrick were writing, her outlet as a songwriter was becoming increasingly diminished. In total empathy re the potential dilemma, they supported her decision to leave and even helped her to find musicians for what was later to become “Fotheringay”.... As far as her subsequent departure from Fotheringay was concerned, we never blamed her, as we realised the pressure she’d received from the powers-that-be, to go solo. It ended up being an unfortunate career move for her, but none of us could know that at the time.
So how did you become involved in the first place?
Well, before I was known, at all (I had little to no profile up to the end of 1969) I’d been in a band with Albert Lee called “The Poet & The One Man Band”, though, my first experience in a fully professional setting (i.e., no day jobs). Sandy had asked Richard Thompson if he knew any guitarists who could do the English folk thing but who also had an American/country sensitivity, too. Sandy’s husband – Trevor Lucas – was a big fan of that style of music - Bob Dylan, The Band, Little Feat, etc. So Richard recommended Albert [Lee] (who was getting to be pretty well known). But he stayed only for a couple of days into rehearsal because, as much as he liked the music, it was very medium tempo, a little low key, and not really the best vehicle for his upbeat guitar style). Albert had already suggested the bass player for them, Pat Donaldson, and then Pat recommended me. Having been in a band together before, he thought my style of playing was just right for the music Sandy and Trev were performing. Actually Pat bulldozed me into going along – at the time I was perfectly happy in a country band called “The Tumbleweeds” with Dave Peacock – from Chas and Dave (long before “Chas and Dave”) on bass - but Pat persuaded me to go along to the session with Trevor, on the pretence that if they heard me play, I would maybe get a way in to session playing through that.
It only took one number to convince me to join – it was “The Way I Feel”. I just loved the harmonies and that inspired me to come up with that arpeggiated riff, which they really fell in love with, and ... that was it!
Would you say that “Fotheringay” was your favourite project?
Pretty much, yes ...
I was there from the beginning (apart from a couple of days rehearsal they’d had with my buddy and former band-mate, Albert Lee) - it wasn’t even a band until a week or so after I’d come on board. In fact, it hadn’t even got to the point where there were any shows booked or recording studios visited. That would come together as soon as we’d sit down and figure out what to call ourselves. We worked purposefully and came up with a plethora of offerings that were ultimately reduced down to two remaining faves: Tyger’s Eye and Fotheringay, the latter of which won, three to two.
And, from that point, it was to be the same line-up the whole way through. It was the nearest thing to a family that I can say I’ve ever felt in a band. It was very much a team effort - we enjoyed each other’s company so much and just loved the music we shared together. Sandy or Trevor would offer a new song and, en masse, we would work to shape it, capping it with the Fotheringay spirit.
It was a very rewarding time for me - I was still at the beginning of my career really, but starting to write and it’s really why it was so devastating to me - when she was suddenly yanked out and we couldn’t carry on making the second album. We’d been so excited about the way it was going, and it just ended ... ... .... I was never totally able to close the book on what happened to our special band. Even with the death of a loved one, in time you start to move on, but with this, it just kind of never went away. Every now and again I would approach Island Records, and ask them if I could please have the tapes to complete the record, but their response was always “Well why would we give it to you?” and I would tell them, every time, that all I wanted to do was finish it and give it back, but they would always come back with “What’s the point? We’re not interested in releasing it anyway”. So they wouldn’t even let me finish it. They saw “Fotheringay” as a ‘flash in the pan’, and were totally disinterested ... So when did you start to put it together?
Well, 2007 I finally got in touch with an administration at the label who were prepared to try and make it work. Prior to that I had hit one wall after another, the record company kept rewriting the contracts, and wanted to lease it to me, incorporating stipulations such as, if a six month of a lapsed release availability were to occur at any time, the rights would immediately revert to them - basically I couldn’t agree to it.
Eventually, Universal/Island Records found a loophole, and ultimately the surviving members and the estate of Sandy and Trevor, bought the tapes and the rights back from them: being an unfinished work, they realised that they couldn’t do anything with it, even if they’d wanted, a detail that allowed them, contractually, to actually release the work to us – it was amazing! They simply ascertained what the 1970 sessions had cost (a pittance to today’s standards), and asked us to pay them back, which, of course, we happily did.
However, the new record company we subsequently leased it too, then put me under pressure to get everything together for a 2008 release, compelling me to rush the mixing process. As that 5-year lease has now reached maturity, I’ve found the time to rework the selections in question, and we’re now planning an enhanced Spring 2015 release with new cover and notes, as well as a song that hadn’t been ready for inclusion on the 2008 version, and as well as some very interesting and often very funny studio chat that occurred in between takes, as the tape continued to roll.
Some of the mixes I have left alone but (most likely), about half I‘ve redone - because not all of the backing vocals were complete, or included at all, on the 2008 release (Bob Dylan’s “I Don’t Believe You was half finished) - we’d, of course, run out of time! This new release has afforded me much freedom to transfer it to digital and find all of the perfect bits from all the takes that were available to me, to put together the best performances and make this a truly wonderful album at this stage in time.
Pat [Donaldson], and Gerry Conway also got on board to help me finish it. Gerry re-recorded some of his drum parts, and Pat wanted to change some of his bass lines. And we added our backing vocals. We don’t have Trevor and Sandy with us to re-do their parts, but, thankfully all their ‘guide’ vocals were there, and personally I think that Sandy often effected better ‘guide’ vocals than subsequent re-recorded vocals. She used to get very nervous when the red recording light would go on – when the focus was totally on her. She would always give a great performance, but she gave a spectacular performance at the outset of a song’s recording, when the focus was more on the band. She would just sing the “guide”, to see us through. Just imagine: she was having the most fun at that time, when the song was freshest – she’d be more inspired and, of course, she would have the whole band performing with her in the room – which is a huge difference to being in a control booth, on her own, with a set of headphones, whilst the band are sat up in the control room, all studying her! As previously mentioned, the new release will also include some previously unreleased material, and there’s also recording of chat between all of us in the studio -they used to leave the tapes running between takes and some of what was said was hilarious, so that’s going to be bonus material, and I’m sure the fans will love it. There was very little ever heard of Sandy, bar a few interviews at the time. Its’ a much better master and there are new sleeve notes – it’s much more complete, and I’m really happy with it now.
This material that I waited so long to work on - all of those songs that we were so excited about at the time, and that we thankfully had the chance to take out on the road then - finally available to everyone to enjoy. It was quite an emotional experience - in a good way – hearing all the voices coming through the headphones made me feel like I was actually back in the studio with them! It was the nearest thing to having a time machine! [Laughs] It helped me considerably to find personal closure on the original dissolution of the band now, too ... How long in total has this taken to come to fruition?
Well, it was 37 years back in 2007! So ... as of today - 45 years!! That should be in the Guinness Book of World Records, surely?! [Laughs] Talking of Fairport Convention now – was that an organic transition once “Fotheringay” had been ‘shelved’ as a project?
Not entirely, no - after “Fotheringay” dissolved, I started calling around for work. I’d done some session work with Gary Wright – he’d been in a band called “Spooky Tooth” by that time, long before ‘Dream Weaver’! [laughs]. He had just finished an album and needed a band to take it on the road, so my fellow Fotheringay band mates, Gerry Conway, Pat Donaldson, and I - joined Gary Wright for that. We subsequently worked on another recording for him, where George Harrison played acoustic guitar, on one of the tracks. Unfortunately, though, George’s record company wouldn’t let Gary put his name on it! Following that Gary had a call from Johnny Hallyday’s manager, and asked Gary if he would be the Musician Director – Gary brought Pat and me into the equation, and as a result of that Johnny booked Pat to play in his band.
And at that same time, Johnny’s then wife, singer Sylvie Vartan, recruited me for a tour of Japan, which I then recruited Dave Peacock for, on bass. Following that tour, Sylvie and I flew back to LA where Johnny had booked me to record and MD another studio album. We did a live tour off the back of that, lasting the better part of a year! By that point I was missing England and wanted to head home. In the meantime Trevor Lucas had been asked by “Fairport Convention” to produce “Rosie”, and I was asked to join them for the record, which subsequently led Trev and me to join the band. They knew me pretty well by then since “Fotheringay” had done a number of tours together with them, 18 months prior....
I was with “Fairport” from the middle of 1972 - one year after Richard Thompson left. They’d carried on without him and had Simon Nicol upgrade from rhythm to lead guitar. But when he left, though they auditioned and toured with a few others, Trev and I were the next recording members, essentially replacing Simon and Richard in the band. Trev and I remained then until the very end of 1975.
I recorded four studio albums with them - “Rosie”, “Nine”, “Fairport Live Convention” (titled “A Moveable Feast” in the US), and “Rising For The Moon”. There was also one track from this new line-up (Trevor Lucas, the three Dave’s [Pegg, Swarbrick, Mattacks] and me) that was included on a concurring Island Records release “The History Of Fairport Convention” – boy, was that ever a premature title offering! [Laughs] Imagine writing the history of Fairport Convention in 1972! They might have waited 40 years or so....
I think it slid for a while, maybe they’d thought it was coming to an end. but the new line-up when Trevor and I joined, and even more so when Sandy rejoined in 1974, of course, seemed to become an important time for the band, giving it a boost for the fans ; and giving it new life - we lived up to their expectations and “Fairport” became popular again.
Do you have a favourite out of those 4 albums?
Oh, I like them all. There are songs on all of them which I love very much. Probably the best overall, would be “Nine”. I’ve heard it from a number of sources that “Nine” has been considered the best post-Thompson album.
“Rosie” we came in on mid-way. They had Richard on guitar on one track, Ralph McTell on another, but the remaining songs were recorded with this new line up, with Trev, me and Dave Mattacks back again on drums. Of course the line-up changed again when DM left a few years later, giving rise to a couple of new drummers (Paul Warren, and Bruce Rowland), This was not long before Sandy, Trev and I were to move on....
Arguably the strongest piece of music that’s documented of that original “Nine line-up plus Sandy” is on the new re-release of “Rising For The Moon” – it’s a re-mastered 2 disc set including some live tracks, and a bonus CD that hadn’t been previously released. Held back for many years by Wally Heider studios was their recording of a live gig that we’d done at the LA Troubadour in 1974. The record company hadn’t paid them for the tapes. Thankfully, though, Heider had hung onto it all of this time. And it’s now considered the best gig we have a recording of, of that particular line-up.
Thankfully the record company never lost interest in “Fairport Convention”! [laughs]. Outside both of those projects, you’ve had a great solo, and highly successful session career too. Do you prefer going it alone as opposed to being a part of a bigger project?
Oh no. I’ve always been a team player. I loved being a part of “Fairport” and “Fotheringay”, and “The Hellecasters”. With “The Hellecasters”, I wrote a third of the material, and with “Fairport” I wrote “Tokyo”, and also “Dawn” with Sandy – but regardless of whoever wrote it, it ended up being OUR music, and we would arrange it together and give it the presentation that people still enjoy today.
I had a great time working with Joan Armatrading, Andy Fairweather Low, The Proclaimers, Chris Rea, Gerry Rafferty and people like that, but with any session stuff, you’re pretty much playing other peoples songs and you don’t feel quite an integral part as you would as a full band member - an equal member within the creative process.
I do have a new solo record coming out next year – all instrumentals once again. I manage to do one every decade, whether people are ready or not! [laughs] I don’ know what it will be called yet ... How about “One Every Decade”?
[Laughs] That’s a great idea! Out of all those people that you’ve worked with as a session player – do you have a favourite collaboration?
Well not really. I’ve done so much and everybody is different - I enjoyed working with all of them, in various ways. I’ve been working on a great album with an artist from Fife – Janey Kirk – it’s called “Streets Of Loneliness”, and I’ve really enjoyed that – it’s close to completion now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzKE1qQJw-4
I toured for a time with Warren Zevon – I was the first person he played “Werewolf of London” to, sitting at the piano - I can hear it again in my head now ... hopefully not for the rest of the day! [Laughs]
Bruce Springsteen came up to me after a gig at NYC’s Bottom Line club, and said “really nice guitar playing” – which was quite a compliment coming from him!
I missed out on recording with Warren, because I had had a call from Glyn Johns asking me if I would join Joan Armatrading, and that was going to be a more permanent arrangement.
After that, I stayed in LA and started a project with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, who had moved over there because they were frustrated that their hits in the UK weren’t making it Stateside, so they catered their sound more to the American market and ended up having six number ones in the time I was with them. We had a great band together out there called “Thieves” - Gerry [Conway] was with us - they moved him out from London together with his family. We were all on great retainers, all our bills paid, taxes paid, we had houses. It was a great time. But success eventually went a bit to their heads, I believe, and the partnership soon ended at the end of 1982.
Gerry went back to England and joined Jethro Tull. When “Thieves” then dissolved, Rusty Buchanan, the bass player, Linda Lawley (one of the 3 girl singers), and I started up a kind of fun cabaret band called “The Roomates”, and that did us really proud for about 3 years – certainly paid the bills ... until I made the move back to England, and started getting involved in the “Fairport” Cropredy Fesivals, as well as recording albums again, such as with Linda Thompson, Doug Morter, Cathy Lesurf, Gerry Rafferty, etc.
I met Doug Morter (ex “Magna Carta”) who, as producer, enlisted me to play on Cathy Lesurf’s album, resulting in a life long friendship. Consequently we formed “The Backroom Boys”, who are still playing together periodically. We also formed “The Gathering” - myself and Doug, along with Ray Jackson from “Lindisfarne”, Rick Kemp from “Steeleye Span”, Clive Bunker from “Jethro Tull”, and my daughter Kristina, 4-time Fairport guest at the Cropredy festivals - that was quite a line-up. 1990 is when The Hellecasters started, and I was back and forth between England and the States again, and a whole lot of other session stuff ensued in between!
Who were the Hardest Artists to work for?
Chris Rea was quite demanding but actually, Gerry Rafferty was probably the hardest gig I ever had. It could take quite a long time to find exactly what he wanted. The “North and South” album was very rewarding for Gerry, and myself, though. I was involved in that from that start - it took about 4 years to record, and bits were done whenever I was in town. Gerry would do basic tracks, and then work with me on the rest. There was one solo that he brought in Bryn Haworth for, but apart from that I play guitar the whole way through that album. It’s arguably his best album!
I’m glad to have been on “City To City” too – that’s when I got my foot in the door with Gerry. I was actually on the road with “Fairport” at the time they were recording that album. Gerry had saved “The Ark” until last, as it was his favourite track. “Baker Street” etc. were already down.
I literally got back into town to a string of messages that my wife had taken down from Gerry and Hugh Murphy, his producer, and I said “ah that’s great, I’m really tired, so I’ll call them first thing tomorrow”, and she said “I think you better call them tonight because I believe, from the last message left, they may be finishing up tonight or tomorrow.”
So I called up and was directed to Marquee studios, spoke to Hugh who said “Well we’re actually just into mixing the last track, “The Ark”, and we have to hand it to the record company tomorrow, but if you can get down tonight we’ll replace the guitar and mix it first thing tomorrow”.
So off I went, from Putney to Soho, and laid down the solo that a lot of people say is one of my best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDwpMfv6kkg Gerry Rafferty - The Ark (2011 re-master)
What do you feel is the best guitar work you’ve done?
The Ark was one of those, actually – another would be the solo on “One More Chance” from “Fairports”, “Rising For The Moon” album. My solo on a track off Joan Armatrading’s “Joan Armatrading” LP called “Tall In the Saddle” caused Glyn Johns to throw his arms around me when I was called into the Control room. That was a triumphant moment, as you might imagine!
The Proclaimers were great too, and I’ve ended up having a couple of their tracks becoming my most famous works – “I’m On My Way” was featured in the first “Shrek” movie – I believe that was the one I’m thinking of. And, they’re another example of how things in the UK don’t always make it Stateside at the same time.
“500 Miles” I know was a huge hit here in the UK, but in America at the time, it only sold a handful of copies – it happened for them eventually, but not right away, and that was actually down to it being used in the film “Benny and Joon” , which starred Johnny Depp, and Mary Stuart Masterson. I didn’t even know it had been used until this one afternoon, I went to see the film with my daughter, Kristina, and as the film started up, I thought “I recognise that opening riff there”, and Kristina looked at me and said “Dad that’s you, isn’t it?”
What happened is the Director hadn’t decided on any music for this dance scene, and asked Mary Stuart Masterson if she would bring along something she liked, that had a beat. She turned out to be one of the handful of people who had bought “500 Miles” (upon its prior US release), and the Director fell in love with it there and then – he was so impressed that he ended up using it as the opening theme tune! This was 3 or 4 years after its (500 Miles) initial release that was all but ignore in the States. With the success of Benny and June, the Radio stations finally picked up on It and, it them became a huge hit in America.
I wanted to ask you about Kristina and her connection to your music, alongside her own career....
Yes, Kristina has been an integral part of keeping Sandy’s songs alive at Fairport Convention’s Cropredy festivals. At any Cropredy show there’s normally one girl who does the Sandy Denny spot – they’re always looking for different people to do it, but Kristina was invited back four times in the space of just over a decade. She was 19 the first time....
2008 represented 30 years since Sandy’s passing and they invited five girls along, as well as Robert Plant (as a surprise guest). To my delight, Robert chose Kristina out of the five, to sing “The Battle Of Evermore” with him. It was a big moment. Her voice fits Sandy’s songs so well, many people have said.... And there’s still a lot of love out there for Sandy, you know? It’s not too long ago that a 19 Disc box-set was released by Universal – it was presented as the complete works of Sandy Denny – Fotheringay were asked to lease the tracks back to Universal for that, which gave me great personal satisfaction! [laughs]. The success of Fotheringay 2 on Fledg’ling Records was the cause of their sudden interest in the band. It received a great response, too from the UK mags and papers – 4 and even 5 star reviews. Rolling Stone Magazine described “Fotheringay 2” as “a Sandy Denny masterpiece” ... you don’t hear that kind of praise so often these days!
Mick Houghton is releasing a Sandy Denny book at some point in early 2015, and we’ve got this re-master of “Fotheringay II” coming out in the near future; Universal are actually releasing a “Fotheringay” 4 disc box-set too, with the addition of some sessions we did Live at the BBC, and I’m mixing a ‘lost’ tape for them from a Festival performance we did in Rotterdam, both studio albums and a DVD of a Beat Club performance from 1970 – all this new footage of Sandy is really great. I feel 2015 could well be the Year Of Sandy Denny – and quite rightly so!
If we could get some shows together to mark all of this, then it could work out so well for not only us, but the book, the Universal box set and the enhanced version of what will be Fotheringay II. Watch this space ...
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