Blackhawk Thrilled To Join Rockers At Farmaid
The trio of musicians making up BlackHawk - lead singer and mandolinist Henry Paul, keyboardist Dave Robbins and guitarist Van Stephenson - are veterans who teamed up a couple of years ago after living through what Stephenson terms the “self-destructive ways of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s rock ‘n’ roll culture that we grew up in.”
As veterans, they count themselves lucky to be identified with youthful tastes. Stephenson says he was “really happy” to be able to go onstage at the latest FarmAid concert in Louisville, Ky. The group was chosen by FarmAid co-founder Willie Nelson to help Nelson represent country music in the company of such hot pop acts as Pearl Jam and Hootie & the Blowfish.
“I listen to those groups, and I’ve got children who think those groups hung the moon,” Stephenson says, saying that he believes BlackHawk can appeal to Pearl Jam/Hootie devotees as well as country fans.
Paul says in choosing BlackHawk for FarmAid, Nelson “was looking for something in country music that really kind of stated his case from a social standpoint, the outlaw deal, and how he could employ some friends in country music to sort of say what he’s been saying all along, but in a younger, more vital sense.
“If he’s going to invite somebody from country music, why not invite BlackHawk? They’re tough boys, aggressive and good for a laugh.”
Paul notes that while he was going through earlier, wilder days in Florida as a co-founder of the country-rock group The Outlaws, Robbins and Stephenson were living through a similar era as songwriter-musicians in Nashville, and - unlike some of their less fortunate peers - “we all got through it.
“And everybody turned to us and said, ‘Well, I see that you have survived. Would you like another chance?’ And we said, ‘Yeah, we could sure appreciate a second chance.’
“Not to go out and make a mess of it. To go out and try to do it right.”
New Whitley album out
The late Keith Whitley died seven years ago, but he has a new studio album on the market.
“Wherever You Are Tonight” is a collection of songs, which Whitley wrote or co-wrote and made demonstration recordings of before his death in 1988 from alcohol poisoning. Two co-producers recently took the demonstration recordings, stripped off the original musical background and added an entirely new one.
Whitley “wrote songs from his heart,” says co-producer Steve Lindsey. “He wrote about his life experiences. The songs on ‘Wherever You Are Tonight’ reflect that.
“The title track is the heartwarming story of a late-night radio disk jockey and a regular caller to his request line - ‘She brought love to this lonely place, though I never even saw her face … this song goes out to you, wherever you are tonight.’
Lindsey says every person involved in putting together the new Whitley package “has a special admiration for Keith and his music … background vocalist Penny Cardin likened singing with Keith to ‘singing with an angel.”’
The idea for a new Whitley album came earlier this year when RCA and BNA Records executives were in Dallas with Whitley’s widow, Lorrie Morgan.
They were promoting Morgan’s new album at radio stations just as Alison Krauss’ “When You Say Nothing At All,” from a tribute album to Whitley, was becoming a big radio hit. Fans called in to talk with Morgan about Whitley. It was evident that fans were still interested.