How Jeff Baxter started

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 5 Jul 2018 7:20 am

From an interview with Vintage Guitar exactly twenty years ago.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 5 Jul 2018 7:27 am

Has to be read from the left to the right. Sorry!

Don R Brown · Post by **Don R Brown** » 5 Jul 2018 8:05 am

Actually Joachim, I had to read it from right to left. But since I'm on the other side of the world from you, I guess that makes sense!

Seriously, though, very interesting and thanks for posting that. I was around back then, I just wish I had discovered steel at the time.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 5 Jul 2018 8:15 am

Don you're welcome. I guess my scanner was US made.

Rick Stratton · Post by **Rick Stratton** » 5 Jul 2018 10:23 am

Thanks Joachim! Great info. I too, always enjoy "different" kinds of players!

Michael Castellana · Post by **Michael Castellana** » 5 Jul 2018 4:45 pm

skunk is the bomb! i learned how to play guitar shedding those first few steely dan records or spinning the fm dial till i found one of their tunes to play along to.

i've got a bunch of early dan live shows and his playing is ridiculously hot and I've <always> wanted to know what fuzz he was using live back then to get that over the top exploding fuzz thing happening (think Boston Rag etc)

finally, i was super surprised first time i learned he was playing an emmons as his steel tone's so squishy i assumed it was a fender. wonder if he was going direct?

thanks for the article,
mike

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 6 Jul 2018 10:29 am

Michael my knowledge about the Dan is sketchy, but I know a few of their albums. Some songs start off as easy as a Dylan song (like Positivly Fourth Street), then they suddenly go weird. They don't sound weird but interesting but then they suddenly become hard to copy. Did you manage that in the early days?

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 6 Jul 2018 12:47 pm

Interesting.

What would just as interesting, if not more so, is how Baxter became a rocket scientist.

Bobby Nelson · Post by **Bobby Nelson** » 10 Jul 2018 1:38 am

Interesting. I didn't know he played steel.

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 10 Jul 2018 7:30 am

Jack Hanson wrote:Interesting.

What would just as interesting, if not more so, is how Baxter became a rocket scientist.

Lest people think you were joking, here is an old WSJ article that sheds some light on his other career as a missile defense consultant.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB111689939107541385

Jack Hanson · Post by **Jack Hanson** » 10 Jul 2018 7:54 am

Fred Treece wrote:Lest people think you were joking, here is an old WSJ article that sheds some light on his other career as a missile defense consultant.

It's of special interest to me, as what reportedly got Baxter interested in missile defense in the first place was his next-door neighbor, a retiree who spent his career with the US Navy's Sidewinder missile program.

As a kid, we lived in Ridgecrest, CA, which is adjacent to the China Lake Naval Weapons Station, where the Sidewinder was developed. Some of my earliest memories were attending demonstrations at the base, where the Navy's test pilots practiced shooting F-86 Sabre drones out of the sky with the Navy's hottest new jets equipped with the Sidewinders (which are still being produced to this day).

Fred Treece · Post by **Fred Treece** » 10 Jul 2018 9:29 am

Jack Hanson wrote:
Fred Treece wrote:Lest people think you were joking, here is an old WSJ article that sheds some light on his other career as a missile defense consultant.
It's of special interest to me, as what reportedly got Baxter interested in missile defense in the first place was his next-door neighbor, a retiree who spent his career with the US Navy's Sidewinder missile program.

That is the story I heard too, and the neighbor was fascinated with the things Jeff was doing with his guitar effects.
Iâ€™m not much of a military guy, but your story of watching sidewinders shoot drone aircraft out of the sky as a kid does indeed sound like a blast

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 12 Jul 2018 2:56 am

"South City Midnight Lady"... always makes me want to sit down and play along with it.

Excellent tone and harmonics.

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 17 Jul 2018 12:52 pm

Just stumbled upon this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt7kEqWlSyc

Be sure to put it on full screen and grab a tissue if you're and old timer like me.

After further research that may not be Skunk Baxter on the Emmons. Skunk still defined the steel part to that tune.

Can anyone confirm who is on the steel?

Thanks

Not steel related but catch it before it disappears..
Kenny Loggins dedicated it to us old timers at his concert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFM-VaUO_CE

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 17 Jul 2018 1:17 pm

John McFee

Matthew Dyer · Post by **Matthew Dyer** » 17 Jul 2018 2:00 pm

Just saw this and had to type it out so I could read it without my brain exploding. Apologies for any typos; I didn't proof read it beyond a spell check.

---

VG: I still want to hit specific solos later, but let's do some history. What was the first professional band experience we might know you from?

JB: Well, it's actually kind of ohard to say. I was in a band called the Tarantulas, in Mexico City. I was only 10 years old. We knew somebody who owned a recording studio and we went down and made a record calledd "Tarantula." It got playe don the biggest radio station in Mexico City. There was a blind American deejay who, for two hours every day, would play American music and was nice enough to let us come up and set up out instruments in the control room and play. I never saw any money from it. I guess it was my first lesson in the music business. But I was so happy to make a record that I didn't really think about anybody selling it. But, I guess the first professional band some people might know would be the Ultimate Spinach.

VG: Were you already playing pedal steel by then?

JB: Yes I was. I had been repairing a lot of them. I had a guitar repair shop in Boston when I was going to college, and there was a gentleman named Tim Jachrimo, who was running a music store called E.U. Wurlitzer. I had repaired a few steel guitars and was really beginning to want to play the instrument. This was back in 1967. It sounds silly, but I would do virtual practicing. Like if you're ever shot baskets in your mind, or visualized things. Because I knew the workings of the pedal steel guitar from repairing them... there was actually a pretty large country music scene in New England.

I listened to a lot of steel guitar records, and every once in a while I'd get a chance to rent one. I played a little bit of steel on the Ultimate Spinach record. So Tim said, "Listen, obviously you want to be a steel player and these things are very expensive, so I'll tell you what. I'll give you an Emmons doubelneck and you can pay me back by repairing guitars and I'l just take 25 percent of of repair and apply it to the instrument."

I mean, you talk about good people, I was very lucky to meet all the people we've talked about. If it hadn't been for these kinds of people, I don't know what would have happened. They were people who out of the kindness of their hearts gave me wonderful opportunities.

VG: So, you basically taught yourself steel?

JB: Oh yeah, there as no teacher. Basically it was just shedding. You say and played it for eight hours a day until you figured it out.

VG: Okay, so after that you moved to Buzzy Linhart's band?

JB: Yeah, now there was a band! As a matter of fact, I was just cruising the net and saw something about Danny Trifan, who played bass in that band. The musicians in that band--Luther Rix, who I still stay in touch with, an unbelievable drummer.Danny was an unbelievable bassist. The horn player, Peter Ponzol... it was jsut an incredible band.

VG: I actually found that album about 20 years ago in a used record bin for $.29. I knew nothing about it, but saw your picture, and thought it might be worth it.

JB: Well, I hope you got your money's worth.

VG: I sure did. How did the Steely Dan connection come about?

JB: Let's see, I was playing in Boston, doing some studio work. A friend of mine was playing in a band called The Bead Game. His name was Jimmy Hodder. He was a drummer, and Gary Katz was producing The Bead Game. He was also working with a wondwerful lady named Linda Hoover in New York. Linda was doing songs written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. So, Gary had thought it would be a good idea for me to come down to New York and play on these records. After it was all over, I told them I thought the music was amazing, and they said, "Well, we've never heard a guitar player who plays it like you do. Let's think about doing a band situation."

The plan was if anyone could find a record deal then we would all sort of call each other up and make it happen. So, Donald and Walter went tothe West Coast and got a publishing deal with ABC Records. I was moving to eh West Coast with the intent of playing steel with Chris Hillman's band, and ended up playing sometimes at the Palomino in the house band.

About that time, we formed Steel Dan and got Jimmy Hodder to come in from Boston and play drums and Dave Palmer, who was a leader singer in a band called Middle Class. I had met their guitar player a number of years before at Dan Armstrong's--a guy named Ricky Phelps. Another one of these very different kind of players. He played with a flatpick and one fingerpick. He had a whole 'nother way of playing. I learned a lot from him. So that's how the band got started. Gary Katz managed to convince ABC Records to give the band a recording deal, mostly because we were rehearsing in the office of the president of the company and he just wanted to get the stuff out of his office. It was the beginning, for me, of what was a tremendous ride.

Marc Muller · Post by **Marc Muller** » 19 Jul 2018 6:57 am

I did a project with him in Mexico City in 97. I was playing steel and he was on guitar. I was so excited because it was his steel on South City that was the 1st I had heard (or Jerry Dire Wolf) and inspired me to play. We were set up and I eagerly bust into the steel part on South City. He looked confused and didn't have any idea what I was playing. Funny. Quite poss I just sucked at it, or it was just another session for him. Great experience though.