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Post by the Scribe on Mar 22, 2020 21:39:40 GMT
MICKEY McGEE Artist Biography by Tom Kealey
Mickey McGee (born William Michael McGee, October 25, 1947, New Orleans, LA) spent his formative years in and around Phoenix, AZ, playing drums in various rock bands and developing his craft to the point where he longed for newer and loftier challenges. While touring with the band Goose Creek Symphony, McGee met Linda Ronstadt, who would later remember him and serve as a major catalyst for his career. Chris Darrow of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band convinced McGee, together with bandmate and good friend Ed Black, to head west for Hollywood and join him on a solo project.
McGee, found his way to Los Angeles in the early '70s and quickly made his presence known in the local country rock community where he again attracted the attention of Ronstadt and record producer John Boylan. Boylan asked both McGee and Black to remain in Los Angeles and work for Ronstadt. Boylan's confidence in the abilities of McGee and Black were such that he invited the pair to play on Ronstadt's 1973 album, Don't Cry Now, which went gold two years later. After the release of Don't Cry Now, McGee toured with Ronstadt, which gave rise to new relationships with other notables such as Jackson Browne, for whom he played drums on For Everyman.
What followed was a long but intermittent gig with the Flying Burrito Brothers that spanned a period from 1975 to 1981. As McGee's recording experience grew, so did his reputation as an experienced road warrior, making him the likeliest of candidates to assume the role of key sideman for the debuting RCA group, Juice Newton & Silver Spur. He agreed to be their drummer on a series of tours to promote their 1975 album of the same name, and concurrently was able to maintain his commitment to the Flying Burrito Brothers.
Another side of McGee would be uncovered after the 1975-1976 Juice Newton tour ended, which was that of a songwriter. Along with collaborator Doug Haywood, McGee penned "Blue," to be recorded on the second Juice Newton & Silver Spur album, After the Dust Settles, released in 1977. Two years later Juice Newton would record McGee's composition "I'll Never Love Again" for the album Well Kept Secret, which was Newton's first album as a solo artist. "I'll Never Love Again" has since been covered by many other artists, and was also performed on network television. McGee, while remaining very active in music, yielded to the temptation to take on yet another new challenge by expanding his expertise to include work in the motion picture industry.
He currently resides and still performs in Phoenix, Arizona.
www.discogs.com/artist/674456-Mickey-McGeeMickey McGee was Linda's hired gun the night we met. Mickey was on the quiet side which is something I can relate to. Great musician! Below is a photo I took of the band. Richard Bowden gathered the boys up for me and I got this photo: ronstadtfanaz Mickey McGee - Richard Bowden - Mike Bowden - Ed Black - 4/27/1972Here's the group still together after I met them backing Linda singing Long Long Time on the Midnight Special. They were helping out with her album Don't Cry Now and stayed together as a band until it was done.
The Midnight Special 1973 - 09 - Linda Ronstadt - Long, Long TimeMIKE BOWDEN Mike Bowden - Linda Ronstadt 4/27/1972Mike Bowden and Richard Bowden are cousins. Mike also played on Don't Cry Now and had a prolific career:
www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-bowden-mn0001498283/credits
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Post by the Scribe on Jul 23, 2020 6:42:53 GMT
I first saw Mickey when he was a member of Goose Creek Symphony and then later as part of Linda Ronstadt's band. I believe he may have played with Jackson Browne up at Arcosanti in Arizona mid-70's. That was a memorable concert. Nice guy, quiet but friendly.
Unfortunately Mickey and I both live in the Phoenix area which is in the state that was the epicenter of the Covid19 virus (in the world) at the time he came down with the virus thanks to incompetent governance and resolute ignorant people, conservatives and libertarians that refuse to wear face masks and physical distance from each other and anyone else.Remembering Mickey McGee, Phoenix drummer who played with Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Brownewww.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2020/07/22/mickey-mcgee-phoenix-drummer-linda-ronstadt-goose-creek-sympohny/5481339002/
Ed Masley
Arizona Republic
Mickey McGee, a Phoenix drummer who worked with Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon after launching his career with local country-rockers Goose Creek Symphony, died of complications from COVID-19 on July 20.
He was 72.
Billy Cioffi, a local musician and longtime friend, recalls McGee sharing the story of how he got the Ronstadt gig that changed his life.
Goose Creek Symphony had played a show with Ronstadt, when her drummer dropped by their hotel room to share some music with McGee and guitarist Ed Black.
"Don Henley came down to his room in the hotel and played him an acetate of the first Eagles album," Cioffi says. "And he told Ed, because they had gotten to know each other, 'Hey listen, we're leaving. The gig's yours if you want it.'"
How McGee found success in LA
At least that's how Cioffi came to understand the story of McGee and Black ending up in Los Angeles, where they performed on several tracks on Ronstadt's first gold record "Don't Cry Now," including "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," the Tucson native's first Top 20 country hit.
That same year, 1973, he drummed on Browne's recording of a song that Browne had co-written with Glenn Frey, the Eagles' breakthrough single, "Take It Easy."
In 1974, he drummed for Ronstadt when she was the opening act on Neil Young's massive "Harvest" tour.
From there, McGee worked with Juice Newton, the Flying Burrito Brothers, JD Souther, Rick Nelson and Zevon. He even drummed on "Two Sides of the Moon," a solo album by a legendary drummer, Keith Moon of the Who.
'He was of the same age as the Alice Cooper guys'
McGee was born in New Orleans but grew up in Phoenix and graduated from Washington High School.
"He was of the same age and era as all the Alice Cooper guys and the groups that eventually became the Tubes," Cioffi says. "He was on a track team that ran against Vince Furnier. So he grew up with that. They were all in high school rock 'n' roll bands."
Goose Creek Symphony's Bob "Willard" Henke met McGee in 1965 while playing in the Red White and Blues Band at the VIP, a Phoenix teen club, with two future members of the Tubes.
They struck up a friendship, and in 1968, McGee called to see if he had any interest in playing piano for a new band he'd just joined called Goose Creek Symphony.
Goose Creek Symphony press photo: (left to right in the back row) Fred Weisz, Paul Spradlin and Doug Haywood (Left to right in front) Mickey McGee, Charlie Gearheart and Bob "Willard" Henke.
Formed by Charlie Gearheart, a Kentucky transplant, Goose Creek Symphony signed to Capitol Records in 1970, appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" with Bobbie Gentry and shared the stage with Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers Band at the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival.
They released three albums in three years on Capitol — "Established 1970," "Welcome to Goose Creek" and "Words of Earnest."
After playing on the first two albums, McGee and Black both quit the group when Goose Creek relocated to the South, where the bulk of their gigs were.
McGee returned to Goose Creek Symphony on more than one occasion through the years, including a session for a 1985 release called "Oso Special."
Arizona music historian and DJ John Dixon credits Goose Creek Symphony and the Charlie Daniels Band as founders of the country-rock and bluegrass scene of the '70s, inspiring bands across the country.
"Charlie Gearheart brought his Kentucky holler roots to the desert and nurtured his backwoods stories and characters for months at Audio Recorders with a group of like-minded musicians, including Mickey McGee," Dixon says.
"Developing a Dead-like following from years of touring that continues to this day, Goose Creek is credited as the main influence on the new crop of bands popping up in Kentucky and elsewhere, including Tyler Childers, who always credits the band, and Gearheart, as his main influence."
Doug Haywood got to know McGee while playing bass in Goose Creek Symphony. The two toured with Zevon twice and co-wrote songs, including one that Juice Newton recorded.
"I think he kind of wrote the book on how to drum for country-rock," the bassist say. "If you listen to Linda Ronstadt singing 'Silver Threads and Golden Needles,' that's the way country-rock drums should be played. And that's the way Mickey played them."
Haywood saw McGee's approach to drumming on those records as a natural outgrowth of playing in Phoenix.
"If you got a country-western gig, you're gonna play rock 'n' roll at least half the night," he says. "So there was always country-rock here. You had to let 'em drink and dance, then hope they don't get into any fights before you get your stuff out of the club."
'Everybody knew who he was and who he had played with'
McGee moved back to Phoenix in the early to mid-'80s.
"His mother was sick and he had to take care of her," Cioffi says. "So he moved back to Phoenix. It's my understanding that he was offered to be in Glen Campbell's band but had to turn it down because his mother was ill."
Mickey McGee
The first time Mike Breen saw McGee was on a tour with Ricky Nelson at the Windmill Dinner Theaterin Scottsdale.
"And then a couple years later, he came back to Phoenix and that's when I met him," Breen says.
They were both in bands that would play on the street at the old Rawhide location in North Scottsdale.
"Everybody knew who he was and who he had played with and that he had played on all these records," Breen says. "So that's how we got to know each other. And when I became a bandleader, I started hiring him."
They ended up working together for more than 30 years.
'It really was about the song with Mickey'
"He was a great drummer," Breen says. "And he had his own style. He played loud and he could really rock it. But then, he could play all the country stuff as well. So he was just an-all around great drummer. A natural drummer."
Cioffi, who worked as a session musician in LA for 32 years, met McGee when they ended up sharing the stage at a corporate gig in late 2002 in Phoenix, playing country music.
They played together, on and off, for 15 years.
When Cioffi was hired to serve as the musical director for a PBS show called "Songwriters' Showcase at Tempe Center for the Arts," he hired McGee as the drummer.
Cioffi also used McGee, his "go-to drummer," on his own recordings.
"It really was about the song with Mickey," Cioffi says.
"He was more about the song than crazy chops or anything like that. He was very much like a Russ Kunkel or a James Gadson, one of those guys. He was in the pocket. Which is the mark of a really good session player. He would listen to the song before he played it."
'He was there at the right time, at the right age'
Mickey McGee
It's a common refrain when former bandmates talk about his drumming.
"Mickey, he was solid as a rock," Henke says. "If you ever wanted a good timekeeper, he was the man. Played with great taste. Didn't overplay. As far as wanting a great drummer in the band, Mickey would be my top choice."
McGee would sometimes talk about those years in LA after moving back to Phoenix.
"He loved it," Breen says. "He was there at the right time, at the right age, hanging out every night at the Troubadour when everybody was there. The Eagles. Jackson. Elton John. That was what he would do when he wasn't working or on tour or in the studios, hang out at the Troubadour and pick up girls."
He hadn't done much drumming lately due to health issues.
"It really got tough on him in the last few years," Cioffi says.
Mickey McGee
It's Cioffi's understanding that McGee learned he had COVID-19 around July 1.
"It really hit him hard," Cioffi says. "When I last spoke to him, I think it was last Thursday, he told me they wanted to take him to the hospital and he didn't want to go. But then he got so bad that he finally went. When I spoke to him, he was on oxygen."
Cioffi says McGee did his part to social distance.
"Mickey was quite a hermit in the last couple years of his life," he says.
"He wasn't a 'go out to the clubs' kind of guy at all. Especially at his age. Like a lot of us old rock 'n' roll guys, we calm down toward the end of our lives."
Breen says services will be held sometime next spring, either in person or via Zoom depending on how things are going with COVID-19 at the time.
"He was sweet," Breen says. "Really kind. Very humble. He loved to talk and tell stories. He was just an easy guy to hang out with. His main thing all his life was playing drums. Even just a month ago, he said, 'Man, I wish we could do one more gig.'"
Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @edmasley.
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Post by the Scribe on Jul 23, 2020 6:47:35 GMT
RIP MICKEY McGEE!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_McGee
Birth name William Michael McGee
Born October 25, 1947 (age 72)
Origin New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died July 20, 2020
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Drum set
Years active 1960s-July 2020
Associated acts Linda Ronstadt, Flying Burrito Brothers, Juice Newton, Rick Nelson
William Michael "Mickey" McGee (born October 25, 1947, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States) is an American drummer.
McGee spent his formative years in and around Phoenix, Arizona. While touring with the band Goose Creek Symphony, McGee met Linda Ronstadt, who would later remember him and serve as a major catalyst for his career.[1][2]
McGee found his way to Los Angeles in the early 1970s and made his presence known in the local country rock community where he again attracted the attention of Ronstadt and record producer John Boylan. Boylan hired McGee to play on Ronstadt's 1973 album, Don't Cry Now,[3] which went gold two years later. After the release of Don't Cry Now, McGee toured with Ronstadt, which gave rise to new relationships with other notables such as Jackson Browne, for whom he played drums on For Everyman.
What followed was a long but intermittent gig with the Flying Burrito Brothers[4] that spanned a period from 1975 to 1981.[5] As McGee's recording experience grew, so did his reputation as an experienced road warrior, making him the likeliest of candidates to assume the role of key sideman for the debuting RCA group, Juice Newton & Silver Spur.[6] He agreed to be their drummer on a series of tours to promote their 1975 album of the same name, and concurrently was able to maintain his commitment to the Flying Burrito Brothers. Another side of McGee would be uncovered after the 1975-1976 Juice Newton tour ended, which was that of a songwriter. Along with collaborator Doug Haywood, McGee penned "Blue," to be recorded on the second Juice Newton & Silver Spur album, After the Dust Settles, released in 1977. Two years later Juice Newton would record McGee's composition "I'll Never Love Again" for the album Well Kept Secret, which was Newton's first album as a solo artist. "I'll Never Love Again" has since been covered by many other artists, and was also performed on network television.
McGee has been signed four times. He was on Capitol Records with Goose Creek Symphony, Cotillion Records with Warren S. Richardson Jr., Curb Records with the Burrito Brothers Band and Infinity Records with Blue Steel. He has recorded for Linda Ronstadt, Maureen McGovern, Chris Darrow, Jackson Browne,[7] Keith Moon, Michael Dinner, Juice Newton, Rick Nelson, and J. D. Souther.[2]
McGee has toured with Bobby Gentry, Linda Ronstadt, Ricky Nelson, Billy Joel, Juice Newton, Jackson Browne, J. D. Souther, Warren Zevon, and Chris Darrow. He has recorded under producers Peter Asher, Bruce Botnick, Mal Evans, John Boylan, Jimmie Haskell, Felix Pappalardi, Jerry Goldstein, and Jack Nietsche.[8]
He currently resides and still performs in Phoenix, Arizona.
References
Kealey, Tom. Mickey McGee biography at Allmusic
"Mickey McGee Discography". Discogs.com. 1947-10-25. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
"Linda Ronstadt - Don't Cry Now (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
[1] Archived October 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
[2] Archived October 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
"Juice Newton / Silver Spur - After the Dust Settles CD Album". Cduniverse.com. 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
"Very Best of Jackson Browne CD Album". Cduniverse.com. 2004-03-16. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
"Mickey McGee - Drummer and Background Vocals. Hosted in 1iE". Main.1ie.com. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2015-12-11.
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Post by skip edwards on Jul 23, 2020 8:08:47 GMT
Skip Edwards From: LA,CA Post Posted 20 Jul 2020 4:58 pm Just got word that drummer Mickey McGee has left us, due to covid. Mickey was from Phoenix, and was one of the first-gen country rock drummers out here in SoCal in the early '70's. Mickey played with Linda Ronstadt, The Burrito Bros, Juice Newton, Swampwater, Michael Dinner, Bobby Gentry, and many others. He was the drummer on Silver Threads And Golden Needles. In 1974, I got called to be the leader and contractor on a session for Keith Moon for his solo LP, and Mickey was the guy I called. A longtime resident of Phoenix, and a compatriot of the late Ed Black, Mickey also played a little pedal steel. A solid drummer, a great guy with a notable history in the world of country rock. Adios, Mickey. Vaya con Dios... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_McGee |
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Post by Stu Schulman on Jul 23, 2020 8:11:00 GMT
Oh No!one of my favorite drummers ever,Mickey played in a great band with my friends Leonard Arnold,and Richard Bowden called"Blue Steel"I believe they recorded two CD's with Rosemary Butler on bass and vocals...Godspeed Mickey!!
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Post by Joachim Kettner on Jul 23, 2020 8:12:00 GMT
He played on one of my favourite rcords, which is Artist Proof by Chris Darrow.
RIP Mickey McGee.
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