Bobby Whitlock's been on quite a ride in his lifetime, both musically and personally. Through failed relationships, a near-death experience, bankruptcy, trusting the wrong people, making a few bad choices. And those are just the things he's experienced in his adult life.
His childhood was another story entirely, as his autobiography shows.
It appears that things are looking up for him these days, though. He's still traveling the world, writing new music and sharing the joy of performing in front of audiences no matter where they might be. And he has the love of his life, CoCo Carmel, as his partner in everything he does.
He's gone through a spiritual transformation a time or two, which shows in the gospel way that he sings. He sings from the heart, with soul. I've enjoyed that sound ever since I started listening to the songs off the "Layla" album years ago. It's a sound that hasn't lost its impact through the years, at least to my ears.
Bobby doesn't just sing with gusto. He plays the keyboards with it too. Just watch him playing in newer videos with Steve Cropper, Eric Clapton, or Paul Schafer. He hasn't lost his touch, not by a long shot.
In people like Bobby Whitlock, we find a lifetime's worth of musical experiences and memories that bring back good times and hard times as well, joy and pain. It all comes through in the music, and the way that music is played.
Chances are, people like Bobby Whitlock will keep on playing music until the day they die because it's what they love, and it gives them joy to bring so much joy to their audiences. It may not always bring them monetary riches, although we think or wish that it could because it's deserved based on their talent, but it at least enriches them and us by having them doing it, and doing it so well.
We'll have to keep our eyes and ears open for Bobby and CoCo's latest album release. Bobby's seen a lot through a lot of years in the music business, working with a lot of people. He's happy where he's at now.
If you haven't been "introduced" quite yet, meet Bobby Whitlock. It's very safe to say that he's been around the music block a time or two. If you have been "introduced" before, stay tuned over the next few days for a fun ride with a part of soul and rock 'n' roll history.
Bobby Whitlock (All photos used permission of Bobby Whitlock)
Whitlock's life is literally an open book. When you read it, Bobby Whitlock: A Rock 'n' Roll Autobiography (edited by Marc Roberty, with a foreword by Eric Clapton), you will find it is a who's who on some of the greatest names in rock music history,
but it goes well beyond that. I had seen reviews on Amazon and read
comments about it from Bobby's Facebook friends about how honest it was,
and they were all spot-on.
Bobby is brutally honest in the book about his
childhood of poverty and abuse at the hands of his father, his days as a
rock star (recording on the Stax label with Sam and Dave, Steve Cropper, "Duck" Dunn; with Delaney & Bonnie; on George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass" studio sessions where he teamed up with "guitar god" Eric Clapton, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Gordon in the earliest stages of the band Derek and The Dominos and recording the beloved rock album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs"; on through his post-Dominos career) when he would do "rock star things," matters of life and
death when it comes to his own health, his relationships, and continued
hard times as a result of bad decisions made by himself and others, but
it all comes "full circle" to an encouraging end.
His experiences
are rich, and they are told in a very down-to-earth, conversational
way. It's like just sitting down with Bobby as a friend and letting him
tell his stories in his own way, with him just "letting it flow."
Whitlock will answer questions posed by me in an email interview to be published here on Wednesday, questions that came as a result of reading his book.
His stories from his childhood in the South are gripping. He went on to quickly become known as a dynamite keys player and a soulful singer, which helped him to land at Stax where he played with some of the great soul and R&B musicians in the history of the genre. Then it was on to Delaney & Bonnie and a bit of musical groundbreaking, which helped to turn into a big launching pad with the likes of a true gentleman named Eric Clapton, the sessions with the "quiet Beatle," the history that would go on to be made with the "Layla" album with Whitlock as a key songwriting partner and close friend with Clapton, a songwriting career with Whitlock tunes being recorded by the likes of Ray Charles, George Jones, Tom Jones, and a solo career that has had plenty of its own stories with deeply personal ups and downs.
It's no wonder Whitlock decided to put his story into book form. And he's been open enough about his life that his autobiography has been a bestseller on the rock music book charts since it was published in the winter of 2010.
There is so much music history behind Bobby Whitlock's story, it's impossible to contain it all in one blog article. For that reason, I'll spread it throughout the week.
TODAY: The introduction, music through Delaney & Bonnie and Friends TUESDAY: Moving on to Derek and The Dominos with "Layla" WEDNESDAY: The email interview with Bobby Whitlock THURSDAY: Bobby Whitlock, post-Dominos FRIDAY: Bobby Whitlock, "The Time Is Now"
Baron Chase is one hell of a bass player. I've been saying that to anyone who'll listen for about 33 years now. I'm saying it even more now, trying to get even more people to pay attention to what he has done and can do.
No, Baron and I aren't blood brothers, but we might as well be. We became roommates in college in 1978, and our backgrounds were as different as could be -- Baron coming from the city around Washington, D.C., where they actually played progressive rock and jazz-fusion on the radio on a regular basis, and me coming from rural Idaho where radio never stretched beyond Top 40 hits.
Baron Chase plays his fretless bass. (Photo By John G. Miller)
Baron and I hooked up as roommates and became good friends, and the experiences we shared made us more like brothers both in the semester-plus we shared a dorm room together and in the few years after that when we'd get together whenever possible after I'd left school to take a shot at being a journalist or a radio disc jockey or whatever came along.
It was Baron who educated me on the "big picture" of progressive rock and jazz-fusion, and I soaked it all up like a sponge. He knew a music fanatic when he saw one. When he was without a vehicle, we'd load his bass into my car and drive off to jam sessions with his friends nearby. I went to a few of his bands' shows. I knew as far back as 1978-79 just what he could do with a bass, and I knew that if he stayed with it he could go far.
In 1984, we lost touch with each other. I found out later that he moved to the San Francisco area, and a while after that -- when I discovered that he had his own website (www.baronchase.com) -- I saw that he'd ended up playing with some of the people that we'd spent so much time together in college and beyond listening to and admiring.
I knew he could do it.
It took some effort, but Baron and I finally reconnected on the phone one night in the summer of 2008, around 24 years after we'd last seen each other. It was like we'd never been apart, even after all that time. Sure, we had a lot of catching up to do, but that closeness was still there like it was in the "old days."
Baron and me. (Photo By Chuck Steed)
Last December, Baron invited me to the Bay Area to visit with him in person (for the first time in over 27 years) and to help celebrate his 52nd birthday with one of his now-annual birthday jam sessions on New Year's Eve. In the past, he's celebrated at his jams with friends like former Santana and fusion percussion/drumming great Mingo Lewis. In the last birthday jam, I got to meet his good friend and neighbor and the guy Baron helps out as music director, Lester Chambers. That's Lester Chambers from the iconic 1960s soul/psychedelic/rock/gospel group The Chambers Brothers, the group that gave the world a song like "Time Has Come Today," the Lester Chambers who did lead vocals when The Chambers Brothers had a hit with the classic "People Get Ready."
Baron may have some great contacts in the world of music, he's done some impressive work with his playing and composing. That's not his full-time career, though, as much as he'd love it to be. And when guitar legend Steve Cropper played with Baron and Lester and their Blues Revue in a benefit show for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund (a charity that's helped people like Lester through some rough times himself) at Yoshi's in the Bay Area a while back, it was Steve Cropper who looked Baron in the eyes and told him flat-out himself that Baron needs to become better-known.
Quite a compliment. I've been saying that for years.
There are a lot of musicians out there who could have similar stories. In the case of Baron Chase, though, we're talking about my bro.
