We are thrilled to announce the Rolling Stones 2022 Tour! Titled SIXTY to celebrate 60 special years together – Mick, Keith and Ronnie (along w/ Chuck Leavell) will be playing dates across Europe this summer, including two shows at London’s BST Hyde Park.
JUNE 01 – Wanda Metropolitano Stadium – MADRID, SPAIN 05 – Olympic Stadium – MUNICH, GERMANY 09 – Anfield Stadium – LIVERPOOL, UK 13 – Johan Cruijff ArenA – AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS 17 – Wankdorf Stadium – BERN, SWITZERLAND 21 – San Siro Stadium – MILAN, ITALY 25 – American Express Presents BST Hyde Park – LONDON, UK JULY 03 – American Express Presents BST Hyde Park – LONDON, UK 11 – King Baudouin Stadium – BRUSSELS, BELGIUM 15 – Ernst Happel Stadium – VIENNA, AUSTRIA 19 – Groupama Stadium – LYON, FRANCE 23 – Hippodrome ParisLongchamp – PARIS, FRANCE 27 – Veltins-Arena – GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY 31 – Friends Arena – STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
Rock and roll history is littered with ace session musicians and hired guns who never stepped into the spotlight. Nicky Hopkins has almost all of the instantly recognisable piano lines in nearly every classic Rolling Stones song, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who recognised his face. Stars as diverse as Billy Preston, Glen Campbell, Leon Russell, and even Marvin Gaye cut their teeth as anonymous backing players before stepping to the front of the stage, but many highly-talented musicians never make the transition to stardom.
That’s what happened to Chuck Leavell, the southern piano player who quietly left a major mark on the history of rock and roll music. With a friendly disposition and an easy-going attitude, Leavell had very little in the way of ego or vanity. Instead, he preferred to stay in the background, bolstering some of rock’s greatest tracks without so much of a call out or highlight reel. Leavell was only known to those who scoured the liner notes and songwriting credits, but to the people who religiously pored over those names, Leavell was someone who kept coming up again and again.
Growing up in the vibrant and traditional city of Birmingham, Alabama, Leavell was a self-taught musician who started his professional music career at a young age. But Birmingham had limited opportunities for someone as serious about music as Leavell, and based on a tip from producer Paul Hornsby, Leavell moved to Macon, Georgia to work as a studio musician at Capricorn Records. It was the same city and record label that was home to the Allman Brothers Band, but Leavell instead played sessions with the likes of Charlie Daniels and Mashall Tucker.
Thanks to his session work, Leavell hooked up with another master of boogie-woogie piano, Dr. John. It didn’t take long for Gregg Allman to notice this hot new keyboard player hanging around Georgia. Since Allman was most comfortable behind the organ, Leavell came in to flesh out Allman’s 1973 solo album Laid Back with acoustic and electric piano. The Allman Brothers Band were still reeling from the death of guitarist Duane Allman, and in late 1972, bassist Berry Oakley died in a similar fashion to Allman. It was decided that the band needed a fresh start, one that didn’t include replacing Allman on lead guitar.
In his place, Dickey Betts became the band’s sole lead guitar player, and Leavell was brought in to be a lead player all his own. The new focus on piano-driven tracks was immediately evident on songs like ‘Ramblin’ Man’ and ‘Jessica’, the latter of which was arranged with major contributions from Leavell. The musician contributed to every song that eventually made up Brothers and Sisters, the band’s critical and commercial peak, and he was fully integrated into the group as a full-time Allman Brother.
The success of Brothers and Sisters lead to major changes for the band: they were now playing stadiums, making hundreds of thousands of dollars on tour, and were able to visit Europe for the first time. Drug use was becoming rampant, and the strong core of the band began to erode as members of their entourage slowly faded. The familial Allman Brothers of the early 1960s no longer existed, and soon Gregg Allman found himself separated from the band, living in Los Angeles with singer/actress Cher while the rest of the band stayed in Georgia.
The follow-up to Brothers and Sisters was 1975’s Win, Lose, or Draw, which showed off the band’s disfunction. It didn’t take long for the Allman Brothers to fully implode, and in the aftermath of the breakup, Leavell formed his own band with drummer Jaimoe and Lamar Williams. Sea Level was more indebted to jazz than southern rock, and although the band toured without pause for nearly the entire latter half of the 1970s, they never saw the same level of success that the Allman Brothers Band had.
Leavell declined to rejoin the Allman Brothers when they reformed in 1978, but just two years later, Sea Level came to an end. Less than a year after the final Sea Level album, Leavell received an invitation to jam with The Rolling Stones, who were looking to add a new keyboard player to their live lineup. The job eventually went to former Faces member Ian McLagen, but Leavell left a positive impression on the Stones. When McLagen declined to return for the band’s 1982 tour, Leavell landed the job, which he continues to hold down to this day.
The 1980s proved to be a dysfunctional time for the Stones, with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards engaged in what Richards referred to as “World War III”. During the periods of strife and inactivity, Leavell restarted his lucrative session work, backing up Aretha Franklin on her rendition of ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ from her 1986 album Aretha and taking part in Chuck Berry’s 1986 concerts that eventually became the concert film Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll. The Stones reformed in the late ’80s, but Leavell himself was on a roll, opting to pull double duty with and without the band.
Just before the launch of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Steel Wheels Tour’, Leavell contributed keyboards to The Black Crowes debut LP Shake Your Money Maker. Leavell also befriended Eric Clapton and George Harrison in the early ’90s, leading Leavell to be tapped for Harrison’s final series of concerts during his lifetime: a short 12-stop tour of Japan. Clapton also asked Leavell to appear on his 1992 Unplugged album, which subsequently became Clapton’s highest-selling album of his career.
These days, Leavell has continued his tenure with The Rolling Stones while fitting in session work and guest appearances for the likes of John Mayer and David Gilmour. Leavell has also continued to release solo albums and embark on tours under his own name, often paying tribute to classic blues players who inspired him in his youth. For someone with such a low profile, Chuck Leavell has left a remarkable lasting legacy within the history of rock and roll, including hit songs, record-breaking tours, and number one albums. In fact, if you look carefully, you might just find Leavell playing on some of your favourite works from the past and present.
As we celebrate another Earth Day we can take pride in the conservation progress of the last half-century. Our nation is a richer, safer place with abundant wild places to appreciate. As woodland owners and conservationists we look with wonder at what our nations mosaic of forests gives us every day in a bounty of clean water, clean air, wildlife habitat, recreation and good paying rural jobs. We are thankful for all this.
However, this time of the year also brings a reminder of the looming threat of wildfires. The catastrophic wildfire seasons of today, fueled by a changing climate, run hotter, last longer and do more damage to people and nature than any time on record. These raging conflagrations are putting at risk much of the conservation progress of the last 50 years and the benefits our forest provide. They threaten communities, families, fire fighters, power supplies, businesses as well as nature. They release enormous pulses of carbon back into the atmosphere fueling further climate change.
Our challenge is to use the ethos of conservation to mitigate the menace of wildfire, to conserve nature and shield our lives and built environment. This is an especially daunting task as wildfire is a naturally occurring phenomenon, one twisted by climate change and years of unnatural suppression into a destructive force. There are some conservation principles that can let us both honor nature and protect lives.
Mimic nature. Our natural forests often have fire as a key component to its resiliency. We can use that lesson to let wildfires burn when they won’t create catastrophic damage, and when its safe, use prescribed fire to keep forests in balance. Use mechanical thinning to restore forests that have become overgrown to their heartier state with stronger trees.
Use nature’s boundaries, not property lines. Most of the forests in the US are privately owned and the largest segment of forests are owned families and individuals. Wildfire runs across all these forests. We need to make the tools of fire resiliency available to all these lands.
Respect special places. Our National Parks and Wilderness Areas have been given protected status because of the unique characteristics they have. We should continue to guard them from commerical exploitation but ensure that they are not destroyed by catastrophic wildfire or pass it along to neighboring communities.
Support sustainable systems. Consumers can make choices to buy products that mitigate climate change and wildfire. Sustainably grown wood products are more climate-friendly than plastic, concrete or steel – and can help provide markets for the wood thinnings needed to reduce risk.
Honor the people that make this possible. We have too few wildland firefighters and other forest workers and they are often underpaid for the work they do. A focus on training and recruitment is desperately needed.
Learn from the past. Knowing how forests thrived in the past has helped create a path for a more resilient future. We need an assessment and learning strategy to gather information from the evolving wildfire world, identify then quickly spread best practices as they emerge.
In recent months the Biden Administration and Congress have committed to significant future investments in addressing the catastrophic wildfire issue. This is a good step forward. But as we see in natural systems change will take time. The wildfire issue has taken decades of suppression and climate change to reach this critical state and the danger will not abate quickly. Fires will burn even as good work to mitigate them goes on.
As woodland owners and conservationists we have learned that patience isn’t just a virtue in forest management, it’s a necessity. As the wildfire season heats up again and smoke fills our skies there will be those that understandably shriek for instant solutions and those that say we can (or should) do nothing. We have learned that we can repair systems and help make them more resilient but it takes time, patience and an understanding of what nature teaches.
By Chuck Leavell, Owner of Charlane Woodlands and Keyboardist with The Rolling Stones; and Tom Martin, former President and CEO of The American Forest Foundation
A special guest paid Duluth a visit while recording an episode of his TV show, playing a song from a homegrown musician.
Chuck Leavell has been the Rolling Stones’ premiere keyboard player for decades. He also hosts a show on PBS called “America’s Forests,” highlighting the use of wood and the practice of forestry.
Leavell told WDIO News that Minnesota is a great forestry state and he’s pleased to highlight the great forestry practices in the state.
Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell performed with Big Wave Dave and the Ripples during a visit to Duluth.
Kyle Aune/WDIO-TV
When he knew he’d visit Duluth, Leavell knew he should take the opportunity to play a song by Bob Dylan.
“We couldn’t resist the fact that Dylan is from this area. I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Bob on a few occasions, sitting in, he has sat in with us — with the Rolling Stones — playing this very song, ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ and so there is a relationship there,” Leavell said.
On Tuesday at Sacred Heart Music Center, Leavell sang “Like a Rolling Stone” and played piano with Big Wave Dave and the Ripples.
Leavell explained, “I went through a few YouTube videos of different bands, I saw Big Dave and the band, and I said, ‘these are the guys I’d like to play with!'”
This is Leavell’s first visit to Duluth, but not Minnesota – he’s been in Minneapolis for concerts and recording sessions.
Leavell will be in town for a few days. He visited the Louisiana Pacific Mill Tueday and also plans to learn more about “Highway 61 Reforested,” a program that plays on the name of Dylan’s legendary “Highway 61 Revisited” album.
The episode being shot in the area is expected to air later this year.
Through an amazing and multi-faceted career, Chuck Leavell never lost sight of his Southern roots.
The Alabama native learned piano and keyboards (mainly self-taught) as a youngster. started a band by the time he was 13, played on several records at the Muscle Shoals studios, and moved to Macon in 1970, attracted by the music scene sprouting around Capricorn Records. In the years since, Leavell has played with the Rolling Stones, the Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, George Harrison and many other rock headliners.
When Leavell was barely 20, he was asked to join the Allman Brothers Band following the death of guitarist Duane Allman. After the group disbanded for a time, he founded the rock-jazz-blues fusion outfit Sea Level, which recorded for Capricorn. He toured with the Rolling Stones in 1982 and eventually became their musical director. He finished his latest tour with them just this past fall.
Leavell is also a passionate tree farmer and environmentalist who has written and spoken extensively on both subjects. He lives on a woody spread just outside Macon where he farms trees. Recently, he answered some questions via email from Atlanta Senior Life. Answers have been edited for length.
Q. What got you interested in music, particularly the keyboard?
A. My mom played piano, not professionally nor was she a teacher, but she played for family enjoyment. I loved hearing her play, I was fascinated watching her hands go up and down the keys and loved the melodies and harmonies I heard. I eventually started figuring some things out and even took lessons for a short time, but I mainly I just experimented on my own and started learning the ropes on the instrument.
Q. What was it like at Capricorn in the early 1970s and what led to your joining the Allmans?
A. I had worked previously with some artists on the Capricorn label both in the studio and on tour. The sessions were going quite well and sometimes in the evenings the rest of the ABB would come in and jam. After a couple of weeks of those jam sessions, I got a call from Phil Walden, the band’s manager, to come see him. I wondered if I had done something wrong.
When I went in for the meeting, the rest of the ABB was there. A few pleasantries were exchanged and then the shoe dropped. “The guys feel like things are sounding really good playing with you and would like to know if you would like to join as a member?” It was quite a surprise, certainly a welcome one.
Q. How different is being on tour today compared with decades ago?
A. The technology has played a bigger role on every tour. Everything from the audio and production have become more and more sophisticated and played a bigger and bigger role every time we embark on a new tour. Musically, the band [the Rolling Stones] has become much more consistent over the years. The more we do it, the better we get as a unit. So much is just instinctive now when we play together.
Chuck Leavell
Q. What’s your take on today’s popular music?
A. There are so many bands and artists on the charts and being streamed and downloaded these days that I have no idea who they are. It’s not something I tend to focus on very much. Some of the ones I can relate to, like my friends in Tedeschi Trucks, Government Mule, Blackberry Smoke, Randall Bramlett and the like, I do keep up with.
Q. How has COVID affected the music business?
A. It has changed quite a lot. All of us involved in any way on this [Stones] tour have been double- or triple-vaxxed. We have a staff of doctors, nurses, a COVID compliance person. We are all — band, staff and crew — tested 2-3 times a week and kept in a very tight bubble. We are discouraged from going out much and are always masked when we do.
Q. What does your tree farm and environmental work spring from?
A. I joke that it’s “all my wife’s fault.” Her family has been involved in farming, cattle, the outdoors, and forestry for generations. We knew the importance of keeping the land in the family and doing right by the land.
After several months of study and research, we decided to focus primarily on long-term, sustainable forestry. There was a personal connection for me. Where does that thing that has given me so much joy and such a great career come from? Wood of course, as does most musical instruments. So, I began a journey of learning about forestry.
Q. Do you have a favorite variety of tree that speaks to you?
A, Well the dominant tree from Virginia down the eastern seaboard over to East Texas was the longleaf pine. Most of all these forests were converted over time primarily to loblolly pine. We have joined efforts to reintroduce longleaf to that landscape.
Q. What do you do when you’re not working in the tree or musical spaces
A. Well, I maintain a pretty healthy physical regime and I enjoy riding our horses, working with our hunting dogs and spending time with our two daughters and their families whenever possible. There is also the occasional speech or presentation I give, and probably another book or two on the horizon.
DULUTH — Not many people can say they’ve played “Like a Rolling Stone” with Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones. Only one person can say he’s played the song with those artists as well as Big Wave Dave and the Ripples.
“It didn’t take me a minute and a half,” said Chuck Leavell about watching a video of the Duluth band, “to say yeah, these guys can play. He can sing. Let’s have some fun.”
That fun was had late Tuesday afternoon at Duluth’s Sacred Heart Music Center, where singer Dave Adams and seven bandmates joined Leavell to record a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” for an upcoming episode of the PBS series “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell.”
Big Wave Dave and the Ripples perform with Chuck Leavell, hidden, Tuesday.
Steve Kuchera / Duluth News Tribune
“We always try to have a musical segment,” said Leavell, who referred to northern Minnesota as “Dylan territory.” The Minnesota episode, he said, will spotlight the Nature Conservancy’s initiative Highway 61 Reforested . The name of that program echoes the title of Dylan’s classic 1965 album “Highway 61 Revisited,” which opens with “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Leavell may not be a household name on the order of Mick Jagger or Keith Richards, but he’s been an integral part of the Rolling Stones’ sound for the past 40 years as a keyboardist and music director, on tour and on record. Previously, he was a member of the Allman Brothers Band: That’s his buoyant piano on the beloved 1973 instrumental, “Jessica.”
He became interested in forestry, he said, after his wife inherited a thousand acres in 1981. Leavell studied forestry via correspondence courses while on tour with the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and the couple began managing their Georgia land as a forest. Over the decades, Leavell became a passionate advocate for forests, which he called “probably the most important natural resource that we have.”
“America’s Forests,” which debuted in 2017, sees Leavell visiting different regions of the country and talking with people engaged in using and preserving forestland. Leavell and his crew were in still-snowy Minnesota this week recording a winter episode, with hopes to make a second Minnesota visit in warmer weather.
“We haven’t done anything in the winter before,” said “America’s Forests” executive producer Bruce Ward. “That was a really high priority for us.”
On Monday, Leavell said, he and the show’s crew were at the Red Wing (Minnesota) Environmental Learning Center. By the time they made it to Duluth, a gathering snowstorm was threatening to give them a little more winter than they’d bargained for.
“We’re a little concerned about that weather report,” he said, but added, “we’ve learned that we have to be flexible” in making a show focused on the outdoors.
A camera operator films the audience’s reaction after Chuck Leavell and Big Wave Dave and the Ripples finish a take of “Like a Rolling Stone” at Sacred Heart Music Center.
Steve Kuchera / Duluth News Tribune
Everything was snug and dry at the historic Sacred Heart space on Tuesday, as a crowd of about 50 people who responded to a call put out by the venue watched Leavell and the Ripples run through an arrangement they were finalizing on the spot. “Right before your very eyes!” Leavell said with a laugh from behind the piano after a successful run-through.
Adams said that when he heard Chuck Leavell wanted to play a Bob Dylan song with the Ripples at Sacred Heart, “it sounded like a Mad Lib to me. We were all like, ‘What?’ But we were pretty excited to jump on the opportunity.”
Chuck Leavell and Big Wave Dave Adams trade lines while performing “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Steve Kuchera / Duluth News Tribune
Leavell and Adams traded lines in their version of the song, an unlikely top five hit for Dylan given its relatively sprawling length of over six minutes. Leavell admitted he needed a lyric sheet, but trusted the audience to know the words to the song’s chorus when asked to join in at full volume for the song’s climax.
Producers also encouraged audience members to capture the single-song session with their own phones and cameras. The episode will be ready in the fall, Ward said — but that doesn’t necessarily mean stations will pick it up for broadcast.
“We have to do some advocacy to get the PBS stations to air it,” he explained. In other words, the more buzz the session generated, the better.
Arno Kahn, president of Sacred Heart Music Center, said the show’s producers connected with board member Mark Nicklawske through the Duluth Dylan Festival, where Nicklawske’s also on the board. Nicklawske suggested shooting either at Sacred Heart or the Duluth Armory, where Dylan saw Buddy Holly perform just days before Holly’s untimely death.
“But the Armory,” said Kahn, “the part that they would want to use is not heated or renovated. It’s pretty deteriorated on the upper floors. So they said no, that really is not going to work so well for what we’re trying to do.”
(In December 2021, the nonprofit Duluth Armory Arts and Music Center announced a partnership with developer George Sherman to renovate their historic venue, but the project will require several million dollars of state support that has yet to be secured.)
Chuck Leavell and Dave Adams confer during rehearsals before doing a recorded take of “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Steve Kuchera / Duluth News Tribune
Standing in a venue just blocks from Dylan’s Duluth birthplace, Leavell said he’s met and performed with the Nobel laureate numerous times over the years, including on “several occasions” when Dylan has joined the Rolling Stones to play their namesake song onstage.
While Big Wave Dave and the Ripples have done Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm,” Adams said, Tuesday was their first time tackling “Like a Rolling Stone.” The Rolling Stones’ arrangement served as a basis for the way the Ripples played it with Leavell.
Adams said it was “exhilarating” to take the stage with an artist like Leavell, and to represent Duluth for the benefit of a national audience. “I’ve always felt like we’ve had a really vibrant music scene in this town,” Adams said. “Any chance we can get to show that to the wider world is really good for us, and good for the town.”
Big Wave Dave Adams, left, and Chuck Leavell pose for a picture after performing a take of “Like a Rolling Stone” Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
Steve Kuchera / Duluth News Tribune
Leavell, whose previous TV episodes have included two set in Wisconsin, said he appreciated the chance to visit the forests of northern Minnesota.
“You have a lot of maples up here. Aspens, birches and different species that would be indigenous. … it’s wonderful for me to be able to travel around and see these different forests and to learn about them and then to expose them to the general public,” he said.
In addition to the vocal version of “Like a Rolling Stone,” Leavell and members of the Ripples recorded a pared-down instrumental version that will be heard on the show while the camera travels along Highway 61. The full band version included solos from every member of a three-piece brass section, with Brian Wells on organ handling the hook famously improvised by Al Kooper during Dylan’s original sessions.
Once the arrangement was set, just before the cameras rolled, Leavell looked around at the band, standing on the former altar that now constitutes Sacred Heart’s stage.
“Everybody good?” he asked. “Any questions? You want to fire me?”
No. 9 on our list of top Local Spins stories of 2021 is our revealing interview with Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who talked about the iconic band’s U.S. tour which revved up Detroit in November.
Longtime Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell calls it “not much short of a miracle” that the legendary band’s mammoth U.S. “No Filter” tour has happened at all.
After being unceremoniously shelved for a year due to the COVID pandemic, the rescheduled tour suffered an even bigger blow when beloved drummer Charlie Watts passed away just a month before the Stones were set to touch down in America. The Rolling Stones played Detroit’s Ford Field on Nov. 15.
“We knew he couldn’t make the tour, but we were told to expect he would recover and possibly even make an appearance towards the end,” Leavell told Local Spins.
Still Thrilled: For Chuck Leavell, every night is a treat on tour with the Stones. (Courtesy Photo)
“Then the worst of all things happened right at the beginning of our rehearsals, when he passed away. It was a gut punch: devastating. We took a couple of days to just take a breath, think about all the times we had with him, what he meant to all of us, and just grieve together and individually.”
Leavell called it “a huge challenge” to assemble the tour after the COVID cancellation and Watts’ death, “but miracles do occur, and between our promoters, Concerts West/AEG, they got it done.”
And, he added: “Charlie would never want to be the reason the band would stop. We all knew that, so we just had to suck it in and start rehearsing with (drummer) Steve (Jordan) and all of us. The music very much helped to heal us, and kept us all engaged mentally and on our toes.”
Leavell, 69, has been a mainstay in The Rolling Stones lineup since the early 1980s, serving as musical director on tour and providing his keyboard wizardry on the band’s studio albums. So returning to the stage with the likes of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood after a long hiatus has been electrifying.
“My friend, this is the Rolling Stones. Every moment of every show is a thrill,” said Leavell, who’s also made his mark with the Allman Brothers Band, various solo projects and collaborations, and as a leading conservationist and Georgia tree farmer.
“I never get tired of playing any one of the hundreds of songs we go through in rehearsal, and even the icons that are in the set every night. Looking over at all the guys, passing lots of smiles and grins between us is such an honor and a joy. One never wants it to end. We know it can’t go on forever, so we cherish every moment.”
DRUMMER STEVE JORDAN’S CARE ‘TO HONOR’ WATTS ON KEY SONGS
Leavell called drummer Jordan an ideal replacement for the irreplaceable Watts.
“Steve is a monster on the drums. And as you know, he’s sort of been a part of the family through his work with Keith. He pretty much knew the book coming in, and he worked his ass off every day at rehearsals. He recorded everything we did on his iPhone and would listen back at night after rehearsals,” Leavell explained.
Honoring Charlie: Ronnie Wood, drummer Steve Jordan and Keith Richards. (Photo/Joe Maroon Photography)
“Look: His style is different from Charlie’s, so inevitably it will be different in the resulting sound of the band. He has a more aggressive style, hard-driving. But he is very careful to honor certain parts that are integral to certain songs, and honors Charlie in that regard.”
Leavell continues to assemble the nightly set lists, with four or five songs changing from city to city while recognizing “there are certain songs that are going to be there every night.”
“I propose the songs to Mick, and for the most part, he signs off on the choices. But sometimes, he comes back to me with comments and alternate suggestions. I always look back at what we played in any given city the last time we were there, so not to repeat too much.”
And Michigan fans found themselves in an ideal position, catching the veteran band near the end of its tour.
“It has been a great joy for all of us so far,” Leavell insisted, “and it gets better the more we do it.”
CONSERVATION PROJECTS, FILMS AND MORE FOR ‘THE TREE MAN’
Of course, when he’s not touring or recording with the Rolling Stones, Leavell — who owns a tree farm with his wife, Rose Lane White, near Macon, Ga. — has his hands in innumerable projects, documentaries and conservation-related work.
Despite the pandemic, 2020 saw the release of the documentary, “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” from director Allen Farst, a film which explores Leavell’s dual careers as a respected environmentalist and Southern forestry expert as well as a revered sideman and session musician.
“We had hoped for a proper theater release for it, but with COVID, that just wasn’t going to work,” he said. “So, we went ahead and released via streaming on most platforms like Apple TV+, Amazon Prime and others. It has done quite well for us and continues to get interest and have legs.”
He also hosts “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell,” a PBS series that examines “how vital forest habitats are to the well-being and economic health of communities across the country.” Nine episodes have been completed, and seven already have aired.
A Leading Conservationist: Leavell also hosts a PBS series on forests. (Courtesy Photo)
“So, all in all, I managed quite well through the worst part of the pandemic,” conceded Leavell, who has earned past awards as tree farmer of the year.
Beyond that, Leavell also oversees his treehugger.com website and plans to film a show titled, “A Night of Georgia Music,” next March with R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, violinist Robert McDuffie and a full orchestra.
“I’ll also continue to do some session work and hopefully get started on some new things of my own at (Macon’s) Capricorn Studios,” he added. “Looking forward to all of that and more.”
And despite the band’s advancing years – Jagger is 78, Richards is 77 – Leavell said the Rolling Stones are eyeing the possibility of touring again in 2022.
“We’ll see what happens after this. Next year is the 60th anniversary of the band,” Leavell said.
“We don’t know if the cards will fall together for us to go out again, but I believe the general feeling is that we all still love it and would like to if reasonable and possible.”
Longtime Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell calls it “not much short of a miracle” that the legendary band’s mammoth U.S. “No Filter” tour has happened at all.
After being unceremoniously shelved for a year due to the COVID pandemic, the rescheduled tour suffered an even bigger blow when beloved drummer Charlie Watts passed away just a month before the Stones were set to touch down in America. The Rolling Stones play Detroit’s Ford Field on Monday (Nov. 15).
“We knew he couldn’t make the tour, but we were told to expect he would recover and possibly even make an appearance towards the end,” Leavell told Local Spins.
Still Thrilled: For Chuck Leavell, every night is a treat on tour with the Stones. (Courtesy Photo)
“Then the worst of all things happened right at the beginning of our rehearsals, when he passed away. It was a gut punch: devastating. We took a couple of days to just take a breath, think about all the times we had with him, what he meant to all of us, and just grieve together and individually.”
Leavell called it “a huge challenge” to assemble the tour after the COVID cancellation and Watts’ death, “but miracles do occur, and between our promoters, Concerts West/AEG, they got it done.”
And, he added: “Charlie would never want to be the reason the band would stop. We all knew that, so we just had to suck it in and start rehearsing with (drummer) Steve (Jordan) and all of us. The music very much helped to heal us, and kept us all engaged mentally and on our toes.”
Leavell, 69, has been a mainstay in The Rolling Stones lineup since the early 1980s, serving as musical director on tour and providing his keyboard wizardry on the band’s studio albums. So returning to the stage with the likes of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood after a long hiatus has been electrifying.
“My friend, this is the Rolling Stones. Every moment of every show is a thrill,” said Leavell, who’s also made his mark with the Allman Brothers Band, various solo projects and collaborations, and as a leading conservationist and Georgia tree farmer.
“I never get tired of playing any one of the hundreds of songs we go through in rehearsal, and even the icons that are in the set every night. Looking over at all the guys, passing lots of smiles and grins between us is such an honor and a joy. One never wants it to end. We know it can’t go on forever, so we cherish every moment.”
DRUMMER STEVE JORDAN’S CARE ‘TO HONOR’ WATTS ON KEY SONGS
Tickets, $66-$446, for the Ford Field concert are available online at rollingstones.com/tour. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Monday (Nov. 15).
Officially kicking off Sept. 26 in St. Louis, the 13-date stadium tour finishes up Nov. 20 in Austin, and Leavell said drummer Jordan has been an ideal replacement for the irreplaceable Watts.
“Steve is a monster on the drums. And as you know, he’s sort of been a part of the family through his work with Keith. He pretty much knew the book coming in, and he worked his ass off every day at rehearsals. He recorded everything we did on his iPhone and would listen back at night after rehearsals,” Leavell explained.
Keyboardist and Music Director: Leavell (Courtesy Photo)
“Look: His style is different from Charlie’s, so inevitably it will be different in the resulting sound of the band. He has a more aggressive style, hard-driving. But he is very careful to honor certain parts that are integral to certain songs, and honors Charlie in that regard.”
Leavell continues to assemble the nightly set lists, with four or five songs changing from city to city while recognizing “there are certain songs that are going to be there every night.”
“I propose the songs to Mick, and for the most part, he signs off on the choices. But sometimes, he comes back to me with comments and alternate suggestions. I always look back at what we played in any given city the last time we were there, so not to repeat too much.”
Actually, Michigan fans might be in an ideal position, catching the veteran band near the end of its tour.
“It has been a great joy for all of us so far,” Leavell insisted, “and it gets better the more we do it.”
CONSERVATION PROJECTS, FILMS AND MORE FOR ‘THE TREE MAN’
Of course, when he’s not touring or recording with the Rolling Stones, Leavell — who owns a tree farm with his wife, Rose Lane White, near Macon, Ga. — has his hands in innumerable projects, documentaries and conservation-related work.
Despite the pandemic, 2020 saw the release of the documentary, “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” from director Allen Farst, a film which explores Leavell’s dual careers as a respected environmentalist and Southern forestry expert as well as a revered sideman and session musician.
“We had hoped for a proper theater release for it, but with COVID, that just wasn’t going to work,” he said. “So, we went ahead and released via streaming on most platforms like Apple TV+, Amazon Prime and others. It has done quite well for us and continues to get interest and have legs.”
A Leading Conservationist: Leavell also hosts a PBS series on forests. (Courtesy Photo)
He also hosts “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell,” a PBS series that examines “how vital forest habitats are to the well-being and economic health of communities across the country.” Nine episodes have been completed, and seven already have aired.
“So, all in all, I managed quite well through the worst part of the pandemic,” conceded Leavell, who has earned past awards as tree farmer of the year.
Beyond that, Leavell also oversees his treehugger.com website and plans to film a show titled, “A Night of Georgia Music,” next March with R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, violinist Robert McDuffie and a full orchestra.
“I’ll also continue to do some session work and hopefully get started on some new things of my own at (Macon’s) Capricorn Studios,” he added. “Looking forward to all of that and more.”
And despite the band’s advancing years – Jagger is 78, Richards is 77 – Leavell said the Rolling Stones are eyeing the possibility of touring again in 2022.
“We’ll see what happens after this. Next year is the 60th anniversary of the band,” Leavell said.
“We don’t know if the cards will fall together for us to go out again, but I believe the general feeling is that we all still love it and would like to if reasonable and possible.”
VIDEO: The Rolling Stones, “Street Fighting Man” (Live in Las Vegas)
LISTEN: The Rolling Stones, “Living in the Heart of Love” (from “Tattoo You 2021”)
A new guitar from Fender master builder Ron Thorn features quite the spectacular combination of wood.
Named ‘The Trees’, the custom-built Offset Acoustasonic features three kinds of premium tonewoods – all of which have mythological status.
Stradivarius spruce, a wood that originates from the Musical Woods in the Italian Alps, was used for the guitary’s body. Trees in this region have been protected and off-limits for centuries. Thorn got his hands on some of the wood after a storm felled a few of the region’s trees.
The mahogany used on the top was even harder to come by, says Thorn. It was taken from “The Tree” – a mythological piece of Honduran mahogany.
“In 1965, deep in the Honduran rainforest, a group of loggers came across a massive ten-foot diameter by 100-foot tall mahogany tree,“ he explains. “It was felled by axe, but landed in a ravine that proved too difficult an area to retrieve it from, so the loggers just left it and moved on.
“Fifteen years later, a sawmill owner rediscovered it, and upon closer inspection recognized its unique character and beauty. They had it cut into four sections to remove it, and once it got to the sawmill it finally revealed the most incredible figure ever found on mahogany.“
The final piece of wood is used in the guitar’s neck. Also mahogany, Thorn says he’s had the piece for 15 years. It was taken from a tree submerged in a Belize river for more than 75 years.
Thorn says the guitar is the highlight of his career. Check out his Instagram post:
The Intuitive Storyteller: HearHere / From a cult-favorite publisher launching a national-parks series to a Kevin Costner (& Chuck Leavell) –narrated app, these five new releases are reinventing the traditional field guide
The idea: Inspired by the joy that cofounder and former North Face president Bill Werlin had as a child traveling through Colorado while his grandfather narrated along the way, this GPS-generated audio guide shares storiesrelated to where you are at any given moment. Your phone’s navigational system and a tailored list of interests combine to bring the forgottenaccountsof the places you’re driving through to you as you go (from $7 for a weeklong subscription).
The difference: Unlike audio guides that solely focus on location, these narrativesabout people and popular culture will likely attract travelers who weren’t guidebook purchasers in the past. “Where a guidebook will help you learn about the place that you are visiting, HearHere is all about exploring the history and land you’re traveling through,” explains Woody Sears, its cofounder and CEO. “Think of HearHere as bringing to life the historical markers you pass every day on the highway.” Theaudio guides launched in August with entries for three states (California, Oregon, and Washington) but more than 10,000 tales,covering all 50 states, are planned for release by summer 2021.
Simply prioritize your favorite topics from a list of predefined interests (including history, sports, colorful characters, and natural wonders) in the app before heading out on your road trip. Every time you arrive in a destination with a storythat matches your preferences, you’ll get a notification on your phone. From former basketball legend Phil Jackson narrating the history of the Beartooth Highway as you make your way into Yellowstone National Park to a profile on groundbreaking Danish photographer Benedicte Wrensted and the Shoshone people she photographed in Idaho, the storiesare both entertaining and informative.
Fun fact: Actor Kevin Costner is an investor and narrates some of the entries.
