Directed by Allen Farst, “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” provides an epic, in-depth look into Leavell’s life both on and off the stage. Leavell has played and toured with the Rolling Stones since 1982, and his status as rock royalty may be equaled only by his stature within the world of environmental forestry, where he previously has been named the National Tree Farmer of the Year in the United States. It’s this fascinating combination of passions, coupled with more than 80 gripping interviews from legendary musicians with a combined 58 Grammy Awards, that has already produced quite the buzz for the film.
The documentary originally captivated crowds at both the Macon Film Festival and Sedona International Film Festival, the latter of which recognized the film as the 2020 People’s Choice Award. Then earlier this year, with capabilities of reaching more than 100 million homes in North America and nearly 1 billion homes worldwide, Gravitas Ventures acquired the digital streaming rights to the make this must-see movie available on several VOD platforms, including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, VUDU and Delta Studio (where it now sits at #1.)
The soundtrack alone is worth the 102 minute run time and many of the passengers on Delta Flights have been attracted by the music. The documentary is full of star power with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, Dickey Betts, Paul Shaffer, Chris Robinson, Charlie Daniels, Miranda Lambert, Charlie Watts, Bruce Hornsby, Juliann Lennon, Mike Mills, John Bell, Pat Monahan, Ronnie Wood, Warren Haynes, John Mayer, David Gilmour and more.
While the music and star power might attract viewers, people are loving the film as they continue to watch because of the man, Chuck Leavell.
There is no doubt that Leavell is a master musician. He’s had an incredible career and his contributions are many, spanning across musical genres. But Chuck’s story is more than music. It’s about life, love and the precious world we live in. While Leavell’s advocacy for environmental forestry and tree farming is also a noteworthy contribution to the documentary, it’s Chuck’s heart and warm personality that truly takes the film to the next level.
Perhaps the greatest take away is that the film is a grand testimony that finding love and life is possible in a career known for its devastating impact on many musician’s lives. The balance that Chuck Leveall seems to have found between his talents, passions and the love of his life, Rose Lane White, is a rare story to find in a “rock-u-mentary.” It almost contradicts the “fame, fall, and comeback” formula that most of these kinds of films rely on for structure. In ‘Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man’ we learn that being generous with talent, serving others with a smile, and loving with all your heart, is actually what it takes to make it to the top…and stay there!
The former Allman Brothers pianist and honorary Rolling Stone talks to Kevin E G Perry about inadvertently giving ‘Top Gear’ its theme tune, celebrating 40 years with the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, and the ‘big loss’ of Charlie Watts.
ven if you don’t know Chuck Leavell by name, you’ve almost certainly heard him play. You might know his piano work from the Allman Brothers Band’s thrilling 1973 instrumental “Jessica”, which achieved hummable ubiquity across the UK as the theme tune from Top Gear. Then there’s his session playing for bands such as Train, who put Leavell front and centre on their huge 2001 hit “Drops of Jupiter”. Alternatively, if you’re one of the countless millions who’ve caught The Rolling Stones live at any point since Leavell started touring with them in 1982, you’ll have noticed his unruffled presence anchoring the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band from behind the keys. The 70-year-old with a cherubic face and snowy white beard from Birmingham, Alabama, credits his half-century of success to his ability to lend a touch of Southern rock authenticity to any song he graces. “My hands,” says a grinning Leavell, raising them up as if to play a riff on an invisible piano, “have a Southern accent”.
He’s speaking over video call from a hotel room in Amsterdam, the day after the Stones continued their 60th-anniversary celebrations in front of a local crowd of 53,000. The show had been postponed from June after frontman Mick Jagger tested positive for Covid, but he made a full recovery in time for the band’s massive appearances in London’s Hyde Park. “Mick’s back in perfect form. He’s a madman running around. He must be from another planet, is all we can figure,” says Leavell with palpable awe. “Most of us felt like it was between [the second Hyde Park gig] and Milan as the two best shows of the tour so far, but all the shows have been very consistent.”
He says it with a note of pride in his voice. When it comes to the Stones, consistency is Leavell’s department. Ever since the Steel Wheels tour in 1989, Leavell has been meticulously taking notes of exactly how the Stones do what they do each night on stage. “I did handwritten chord charts for every song,” he explains. “And I would make note of the tempo. If we needed to bump the tempo up, or if it felt good to slow it down a little bit.”
In what is perhaps an example of the essential yin-yang pull at the heart of the Stones, in the early days Leavell found that Jagger tended to want the tunes played faster, while guitarist Keith Richards was perpetually trying to ease things down a notch. “I think somehow, through all this time, we’ve found the balance of the right tempo!” says Leavell, whose encyclopaedic notebooks have become the band’s bible. “They’ve given me the moniker of musical director, which I scoff at,” he says. “Because Mick and Keith are the musical directors of the Rolling Stones.”
Over the past four decades, Leavell has been afforded the perfect vantage point to observe the miraculous, sometimes fractious, Jagger-Richards partnership. In that time the pair have sniped, squabbled and publicly made fun of each other’s genitalia, yet somehow they’re still together. What’s their secret? “First of all, it’s the songs,” says Leavell, reverentially. “Some of the greatest songs ever written in rock’n’roll. People ask me: ‘Don’t you ever get tired of playing ‘Can’t Always Get What You Want’? Hell no! I’ll play ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ any day of the week, baby, and twice on Sunday.”
Beyond the music, Leavell says, Jagger and Richards have reached their diamond anniversary the same way any couple does: sticking it out. “Yeah, they’ve been through turbulent times and they’ve had their differences,” says Leavell, “But it’s like a good marriage, man. I’ve been married 49 years. Have we had bumps along the road? Hell yeah, but the more we stuck it out the stronger our relationship became. I think it’s the same with Mick and Keith.”
In a band of notorious hellraisers, Leavell’s half-century of steady marriage and his easygoing manner sets him apart, but he cops to having enjoyed his share of wild nights. “Look, every band I’ve been in and artist I’ve worked with, pretty much at some point in their careers have experimented with this, that and the other, and, you know, guilty!” says Leavell, putting his hands up. “I’ve tried just about everything, but enough to know that, for me, the important thing was being able to play music.”
Times have certainly changed since the debauched Stones tours of the Seventies. These days the band are what Leavell calls a “big organisation”, with hundreds of road crew, and the drugs backstage come with a prescription. “We have a team of doctors that come and go, swapping in and out,” explains Leavell. “We have a Covid compliance officer. We have nurses. We have several rapid PCR testing machines, and we’re all tested at least three times a week.”
Leavell always dreamed of being part of a “big organisation” like the Stones. When he was 13, growing up in Tuscaloosa, Leavell went with his sister to see Ray Charles. He was never quite the same again. “It just absolutely blew me away,” says Leavell wistfully. “It was the Raelettes and the whole presentation. Billy Preston was playing organ, and Fathead Newman [on saxophone]. I left there thinking: ‘Wow, if I could ever be in a band that would move people like that just moved me, then that’s what I’d like to pursue.’ It was life changing.”
By then Leavell had already been learning piano for over half his life. His mother, Frances, was a keen player who would keep him occupied by sitting him at the keys. “She’d say: ‘Hey, Chuck, what do you think it would sound like if there was a big storm outside?’” recalls Leavell. “So I’d rumble in the low end and do some lightning strikes. Then she’d ask: ‘What do you think it would sound like if you hit a home run?’ She instilled in me the idea of thinking about music in terms of feelings and emotions rather than just chords and melodies.
At 18, Leavell moved to Macon, Georgia, the home of Capricorn Records, where his future wife Rose Lane White was working as an assistant. Leavell was trying to find work as a piano player, and one of his first gigs was with legendary New Orleans bluesman Dr John, real name Mac Rebenack, who had no qualms about putting aspiring musicians through their paces. After Rebenack told the band they might not be up to his standards, Leavell decided to pay him a visit at the Holiday Inn to get to know him better. “We talked a little while, and then he says: ‘Hey Chuckie, I’ll be right back’,” recalls Leavell. “He goes to the bathroom. I knew he was on methadone, but I didn’t know he was still copping on the streets. Time goes by, and I see this notebook. Curiosity got the best of me and I turned the cover over and on the first page was the name of everybody in our band, and to the side was all these voodoo symbols. I thought: ‘Oh, my God, what have I gotten myself into?’” As it turned out, the symbols were lucky charms. Reunited years later, Rebenack gave Leavell an envelope full of actual lucky charms. “And boy,” says Leavell with a wide smile, “Have I had good luck ever since!”
It was while playing with Dr John that Leavell caught the ear of Gregg Allman, who invited him to play on his first solo album Laid Back. Eventually, Leavell began jamming with the rest of the Allman Brothers Band, who were still reeling from the tragic death of lead guitarist Duane Allman in a 1971 motorbike accident. To his surprise, the band invited Leavell to join full time.
Joining the Allman Brothers catapulted Leavell to the top of the rock stratosphere. The band’s concerts were the stuff of legend, and Leavell was there at Watkins Glen in New York State in July 1973 when 600,000 people turned out to see them on a bill with the Grateful Dead and The Band. The show’s mammoth attendance broke the record set by Woodstock. That August they released Brothers and Sisters, their first album with Leavell and their most commercially successful. It contained timeless classics like “Ramblin’ Man” and “Jessica”, which featured Leavell prominently and has been synonymous with Top Gear since 1977. “It was so well known in England!” says Leavell happily. “It took a while for me to know that it was on the programme. One of my British friends told me: ‘Hey, man, did you know that song opens every episode?’
I was going to become a tree farmer. My wife said, ‘Well that’s interesting, but the Rolling Stones called you today’
Chuck Leavell
When the Allman Brothers split in 1976, Leavell continued playing with bassist Lamar Williams and drummer Jaimoe for a few years as Sea Level (a pun on the “C Leavell” the pianist had stamped on his tour cases). By 1981, however, Leavell thought his days as a touring musician might be behind him. Rose Lane had inherited land in Georgia, and Leavell told his wife he might focus on building a new career as a tree farmer. Fate had other ideas. “She listened patiently,” remembers Leavell, “And then she said: ‘Well that’s interesting, but the Rolling Stones called you today’.”
Within 36 hours, Leavell was on a plane to Massachusetts to audition. Although former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan was chosen for that tour, Leavell impressed Jagger and Richards enough that he made a guest appearance when the tour came through Atlanta, and then joined full-time on their 1982 European run. He’s been there ever since, an essential component of a line-up that remained remarkably unchanged until the death of longtime drummer Charlie Watts following a heart procedure in August last year. “It still stings hard, it really does,” says Leavell. “It was just a shock, because everyone figured Charlie would recover, the doctors included. There was never a feeling of: ‘Hey, we’re going to lose Charlie’. It was just: ‘Hey, he’s got to have this thing done and in two to three months he’ll be fine.’ But it didn’t go that way. It’s a big loss all the way around: personally and musically. I think of him every day, and miss him.”
Away from the band, Leavell did stick to his plan to grow trees. In 1999, he and Rose Lane were named the National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. “We need to really start thinking hard about not blowing this thing up,” says Leavell when asked what his conservation efforts have taught him about the future of the planet. “For me, there’s a personal connection. Where does that piano come from? The thing that’s given me so much joy and a great career. There’s a spiritual connection for me, to wood.”
As Stones backing vocalist Bernard Fowler quips in The Tree Man, a 2020 documentary about Leavell, the pianist isn’t “just good at piano, he’s good for the environment.” He’s become, as Keith Richards once put it, the Stones’ “own Southern Gentleman”. Occasionally he still likes to take centre stage. His 2018 album Chuck Gets Big, recorded live with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, saw him revisit music from throughout his storied life, with Stones, Allman Brothers and Sea Level tracks all in the mix. “I wanted to have a representation of who I am and what I do, and also wanted to make sure that the songs would adapt well to the big band arrangements. We had a lot of fun with that, it was quite a trip.”
This goes for forestry and nature. But in other cases, it might be the other way around. The lack of moss could also be a sign of vitality and freshness. It depends on the type of stone.
You may have noticed, dear reader, that I have been silent a bit longer than usual. I apologize for that. The reason may not be acceptable to everyone, but it is simple:
I sneaked off to get old(-er). Not like the elephant hiding away to die. More like me trying to prove that I’m not that old after all. So, there happens to be a band that is the same age as me – as a band. The members of the band are slightly older than me. What I did was that I went to their hometown to see them live in the local park called Hyde Park.
A birthday selfie at Carnaby Street No 9 in London.
What’s that got to do with forestry?
A most relevant question. Well, apart from that I after my vacation temporarily ran out of things to write about: Hyde Park is a combination of a meadow and a forest. We did see a fox there so I think you can call it a forest.
A nicely carved log in Hyde Park that we sat on, listening to Elton John the day before the Stones, and the Eagles the day after. About a mile from the Great Oak Stage.
Also, the main stage of the arena that is used for concerts is called the “Great Oak Stage” and it has a big oak on it. I’m not sure if the oak is real, but it’s there anyway, to the far left on the pic below (taken with my phone at a distance). And even if this oak is fake, there are many more, enough to call it a forest, in Hyde Park.
The Great Oak Stage in Hyde Park with the oak on the far left.
The Tree Man
Furthermore, the Rolling Stones keyboardist since 1982, Chuck Leavell, is known as “the Tree Man”. He is a forest owner from Georgia, US who combines his passions for music, sustainable forestry, and the environment. Chuck has his own tv-show, American Forests with Chuck Leavell where he informs about forestry and forest products.
Chuck Leavell at the keyboard behind Mick and Keith in Stockholm 2017.
Personally, I find it amazing that “we” (the forestry people) have a guy among us who is a professional musician. In most jobs and professions, you can start as mediocrity and then work yourself up on the job. To get a job as a musician, working with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Allman Brothers, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams Jr, the Stones, and many others like Chuck do, you must be the best from the start.
Let´s hope there will grow no moss on those Stones for many years yet.
The Rolling Stones opened their 2022 tour on Wednesday (June 1) in Madrid, Spain, a city they hadn’t played since 2014. The latest edition is named “Sixty” to mark the band’s 60th anniversary. For now, the tour is limited to 14 concerts, all in Europe and the U.K. The band had closed the 2021 U.S. edition of their “No Filter” tour – held entirely in the U.S. and first without Charlie Watts – – on Nov. 23 in Hollywood, Fla.
The opening night concert, before 53,000 fans at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, featured 19 songs, and the setlist was almost identical to those performed last year. The evening’s biggest surprise wasn’t lost on the audience: Mick Jagger let them know that it was the first time that the Stones performed the set’s fifth number, 1966’s “Out of Time,” in concert. Watch it and many other clips below.
Jagger and Keith Richards are 78. Ronnie Wood turned 75 on opening night (and the audience sang “Happy Birthday” to him). They were joined, once again, by drummer Steve Jordan, Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (piano/organ), Karl Denson (sax), Tim Ries (sax) Matt Clifford (keyboards), and Bernard Fowler/Sasha Allen (backing vocals).
As the lights dimmed, a brief video montage of Watts appeared on the giant screens. And when the tribute ended, there were the Stones, kicking things off with “Street Fighting Man.”
Pianist and vintage keys pro Chuck Leavell has been at the top of his game for more than 40 years, playing on record and live with The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, John Mayer, The Black Crowes and – of course – The Rolling Stones.
In addition to his prolific and prestigious musical career, Leavell is also an active environmental campaigner, and co-founder of the influential Mother Nature Network(opens in new tab) website.
As long-standing Musical Director for The Rolling Stones he’s currently with the band, starting out on their brand new ‘Sixty’ tour – celebrating 60 years of great music – taking The Stones out on the road for 14 dates across Europe. We caught up with Chuck in rehearsals before the first gig in Madrid…
How are you doing, Chuck? Is the tour all set?
“It’s fantastic. Of course, we’ve had the sad loss of Charlie Watts but Steve [Jordan] came in for the tour of the US last year and all of us have known Steve for a long time, so it’s not like he’s a new guy. And he’s known ‘the book’ backwards having worked very closely with Keith on solo projects. Now that we’ve got one tour with Steve under our belts and the rehearsals are just finished it feels really, really natural now.
“Of course we miss Charlie – Charlie was there for 59 years – and Steve honours certain of his parts, of course. Just like I try to honour some of the parts by Nicky Hopkins or Billy Preston or Ian Stewart. It’s really feeling like a band now and we’re anxious to bring it to the people.”
Charlie always seemed like the ‘firm hand on the tiller’ of the Stones. Keeping everything together.
“Absolutely. He has a certain delicate touch. I’ll tell you a secret about Charlie. He used big heavy sticks. But he had a light touch. The heavy sticks created that Charlie Watts sound, but his technique was very delicate, which made for a unique style of drumming, as we know.”
Tell us about being Musical Director of the Rolling Stones. They’re quite an unpredictable bunch…
“Yes, it’s a challenge at times! I sort of scoff at that moniker. Mick and Keith are the Musical Directors of the Rolling Stones. Back in ‘82 – that was my first tour with the band – the setlist was the same every night for the 20 to 30 shows that we did. But in ‘89 we had a new record – Steel Wheels – and I made a point of saying to the guys ‘let’s not do the same set every night, you’ve got this incredible catalogue, you’ve got new songs, let’s go deep’.
“When we started the rehearsals and started to explore the songs, I started making hand-written chord charts of them, and making notes. So if there were background vocals, where did they come in? If there were horn parts, what were the horn parts? And the roadie I was working with at the time said ‘hey man, you’ve got pieces of paper everywhere, I’ve got to organise this for you’ and he went out and got a notebook with plastic sheets and he alphabetised everything.
(Image credit: R. Diamond/Getty Images)
“And this went on for the next tour – Voodoo Lounge – and the next one, the next one, the next one… Consequently I’ve got two deep volumes of notebooks, alphabetised, with all the notes and chord charts. Most of it I can keep in my head, but if there’s ever a question – ‘Hey Chuck, does the solo come before or after the middle eight?’ – y’know? I started to be able to give those answers.
“And Charlie felt comfortable if I could give him cues. So, if there’s a breakdown coming up, I’d give visual cues to him, or to Mick. Sometimes when Mick is out there entertaining the crowd he might get a little lost and I can be ‘Hey, it’s a verse’ [he holds his hand in ‘V’ shape] or ‘It’s a chorus’ [he makes a letter ‘C’]. So that’s kinda how the moniker came about. They were being kind to me and they put ‘Musical Director’ in the program these days, but I laugh at it. I’m just happy to do what I can.”
We were watching Martin Scorsese’s Shine A Light movie the other day and they won’t tell him the setlist until one second before the show starts. I guess things are a little more locked down for this tour?
“I draft the set list and in rehearsals I draft the songs of the day. And of course, I do this with Mick. We get together and I’ll compile a list and say ‘Hey, we haven’t done this one… All Down The Line… Or Rocks Off… Or She’s A Rainbow. Maybe we should go over these?’ And he’ll pick and choose. And we work together.
You know you’re gonna do Start Me Up. You KNOW you’re gonna do Can’t Always Get What You Want. And you’re gonna do Tumbling Dice every night. And Street Fighting Man…
I keep a database of every setlist we played at every city on every tour. And so here we are in Madrid. It was 2014 the last time we played here and I can see what the setlist was. And we played Barcelona in 2017 so I want to look at that to compare, just so we can make it a little different.
“That said, you know you’re gonna do Start Me Up. You KNOW you’re gonna do Can’t Always Get What You Want. And you’re gonna do Tumbling Dice every night. And Street Fighting Man… 65% of the set you know what it’s gonna be, but you can fool around with the rest of it. I won’t spill the beans but there’s one song now that the last time it was performed was in 1969. So it’s fun to work on these and bring something fresh to the audience. It’s fun to be a part of making those decisions.”
So you do know what song is coming next?
“There’s a part of the show – we’ve been doing this for about 15 years – we call it ‘the vote song’ and it’s officially known as ‘by request’. We put four songs up on social media and we let the fans pick. It’s a great way to let the fans have their say. We’ve had over 200,000 votes on songs. It’s a wonderful way to interact.
“But the setlist is always decided by the soundcheck. I’ll send a draft to the guys and if there’s any last minute decision about this or that, then we can make that call. Then the list is printed for all the crew three hours before the show.”
So what’s the opening song for this tour?
“I can’t tell you, man! I can tell you that the last tour we did, Sympathy [For The Devil] was the opening number a few times, which was a rare thing so we won’t be doing that. Jumpin’ Jack Flash we did quite a lot so we won’t be doing that. I can’t reveal the setlist. That’s top secret. [SPOILER: The band opened at Madrid with Street Fighting Man]”
You’ve worked with so many big stars. Why do you think they want to work with you?
“You want to know the secret? Work cheap, man! Look, my career has always been ‘one thing leads to another’ y’know? The Allman Brothers band… My years with them in the ‘70s. I got to know Bill Graham as a good friend. And then he became Tour Director for The Stones. He was kind enough to put my name forward when they were trying different people on keys. And the Steel Wheels tour had Eric Clapton as special guest on about half a dozen shows and they set him up, close to me on the stage, and we did Little Red Rooster together so there’s a nice musical dialogue between us.
“So then I have a voice on my answering machine [in an English accent] ‘Hello, this is Eric Clapton calling from Hong Kong. I’d like to know if Chuck Leavell would be interested in doing some shows at The Royal Albert Hall?’ Well, yes I would…
We did not think Unplugged would be Eric Clapton’s biggest selling record of all time, but it’s an honour that it is.
“The timing was good. And that led to the George Harrison tour. His last tour, the one in Japan. That was an amazing experience. It’s literally been one thing leads to another. John Mayer is a good friend. He’s spent a lot of time in Atlanta in my home town of Georgia. He was working with a guy called Clay Cook in the ‘90s and I did a session remotely on a song they had written together. And he was like ‘Let’s try Chuck on an album or two’. And then David Gilmour…
“I was Musical Director on a show in Passaic New Jersey at The Capitol Theatre in the MTV era. It was called Guitar Greats. I put the band together and we backed up guitar players. Dickey Betts was on the show, Tony Iommi, Lita Ford, Link Wray and David Gilmour… And then my wife was looking at the messages on the guest book of my website and she says ‘Hey Chuck, there’s a guy here that says he’s David Gilmour’. And the message read ‘It’s David Gilmour here – honest.’ And he left an email. I was reluctant to get in touch ‘cos I thought someone was scamming, but I did and sure enough it was David.”
You played on Clapton Unplugged. Did you realise at the time what a giant that was going to be? What is that – 26 million albums sold?
“It’s pretty crazy. At that time Eric was playing with Greg Phillinganes as the lead and I came in to replace Alan Clark who’d gone back to play with Dire Straits. We did 24 nights at The Albert Hall, and then the Japan tour. At the end of that Greg decided that he didn’t want to tour anymore so I got the chair. Unplugged was the next thing after that.
“During the event it was great, but the feeling was, ‘there’s been a lot of Unplugged’. A lot of artists had done it – at least a dozen at that point – and so maybe this is just another one? We did not think it would be his biggest selling record of all time, but it’s an honour that it is.”
(Image credit: Chuck Leavell)
On Tears In Heaven you’re playing a harmonium? That’s quite something. It would have been so much simpler to bring a synth?
“[Laughs] Well, we wanted to be true to the name ‘Unplugged’. There have been some artists who’ve cheated a little bit on the show, but we were adamant that we were going to do it the real way. But I can tell you, my legs got a workout that day!”
You’re obviously an amazing pianist too, but surely you’re not bringing a full-size piano out with The Stones these days?
“Well, thank God for the digital age. Technology is so amazing. I’m using a Yamaha CP-4 for piano. And there’s a specialised phased Rhodes sound on there that I use. There’s also a Wurlitzer and that’s the real deal. I’ve yet to hear a digital reproduction of the Wurlitzer that’s as accurate as it needs to be, so I use the real thing. I use a real Hammond, too. Used to be the original Hammond B3 but I’ve retired that now and now use an XK-5. It’s still made by Hammond. Suzuki bought the Hammond name many years ago and they’ve worked really hard to recreate the sound of a B3 and they’ve finally done it. I’m really, really pleased with this instrument.”
When I hear all those synthy sounds from the ‘70s I’m kinda glad that I didn’t go that route. I guess I’m just a purist.
Does that have a Leslie on it as well?
“I use a pedal called The Ventilator. A friend of mine, Greg Black, is a Hammond organ technician. He owns Black Hammond who do great work on Hammond organs, and he turned me on to it. I tried it in rehearsals and I was amazed. The first time I used it the sound man said ‘Man, that thing sounds incredible’. We used to have a Leslie inside an isolated case, but you still get a muffled sound and the wind sound of the horn spinning round but with this pedal just get a direct sound without any distraction. I’m very happy with it.”
I was listening to your big band album which is great. Is that a digital piano there or is that the real thing?
“That’s the real thing. I was invited to come and play as a guest artist with The Frankfurt Radio Big Band and I sent them 12 MP3s of songs I wanted to do and they had three arrangers do the arrangements for them. They had a rehearsal without me there and I arrived the next day to play with them. I was scared shitless. These guys were so good! I’m sitting there thinking ‘You better raise your game up, Chuck, ‘cos these cats ain’t foolin’.
“The album was so well recorded. When we came to the mixes I said ‘Let’s see if we can take the audience out’ and make it more intimate and that’s what we did. The isolation on the recording was so good. So it’s absolutely a live record, front to back, but we’ve just taken the audience out.”
I loved Blue Rose on the album. It’s a great opportunity for you to cut loose with some soloing.
“I’m not a great songwriter but I do like to paint a picture musically with instrumentals. I got to give a shout out to the folks at BMG who were kind enough to put my big band record out. They have the solo records of Keith and Ronnie and Charlie. I think it’s great that they’re supporting us guys.”
Let’s go right back to your work with The Allman Brothers… Jessica, Ramblin’ Man… What were you playing back then? Just whatever was in the studio, or were you playing something special?
“Well, it was a Steinway. It wasn’t a Model D as I recall. It was about a six and a half-foot piano and we used that. Then we did a tour with Greg Allman as a solo artist and we played all these beautiful halls in all these cities, and we played Carnegie Hall. And they had a Model D – nine foot – and it was just brilliant. It was the best piano I’d ever played and everyone who played it wanted to buy it. But the overseer of Carnegie wouldn’t sell it. But then he died, two weeks before we got to play there. So we asked if we could buy it and they said yes!
“We got it back down to Capricorn Records in Macon and so all the records I did subsequently were on that Model D. But Capricorn went bankrupt in 1980 and everything got sold off. I think it went to a church somewhere. That was a special instrument.
“There was a time in the early 80s when there were synthesizers on all the records and I thought ‘I’ve gotta start learning this technology’. I married up with the Korg company and did a lot of clinics around the country, demonstrating their different models, but I thought ‘I just love the piano… And I love the Wurlitzer…’ Vintage keys like the Clavinet and the Rhodes. When I hear all those synthy sounds from the ‘70s I’m kinda glad that I didn’t go that route. I guess I’m just a purist.”
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Tell us about your documentary film, The Tree Man. What’s it like being centre stage for a change?
“The impetus for that was just to have a document for my family and future generations. But part of the contract was that ‘Chuck, you must make every effort to secure interviews with all the artists that you work with’ and I was like ‘Oh god, what have you done… Now I gotta go asking favours’. It was a little embarrassing. But we ended up as a tag team where I would do the first ask – ‘Would you be willing?’ – and then [filmmaker] Alan Forrest would do the hard asks. We thought if we can get 60% we’ll be happy… But we got 95% And that was very flattering and a big shock. It worked out great.”
So are you looking forward to the tour ahead?
“Y’know, what an amazing opportunity to celebrate a band’s 60th anniversary? It’s an honour that none of us take lightly. This isn’t just another tour. It’s an amazing thing to be able to go out and do it at this level. Of course, it’s The Rolling Stones and I’m just a part of that, but it’s to celebrate them writing great songs, making great records and playing great shows. We want it right, from the beginning to the end.
“Mick is so dedicated. He does vocal exercises every day and his pipes have never sounded better. His energy has never been better. He knows how to work it.
“Keith and Ronnie on guitar. Everybody has cleaned up and sobered up. Ronnie had a little bout with cancer and got over it so there’s a feeling of ‘Wow! We’ve gone through all this stuff and we still get to do it’. So let’s do it to the utmost that we know how.”
Are Mick and Keith speaking to each other right now?
“They’re brothers. Totally, brothers. I read an interview with Mick and they asked him about that, and he said that the older they get, they realise that whatever conflict here and there they may have had in the past is not there any more. To see them together with Ronnie in rehearsals laughing it up, going off and playing a blues song and Mick grabbing a harmonica and playing so beautifully… They’re brothers. I think we’re all brothers at this time.”
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.
