They say you should never meet your heroes, but being in radio made it easy. I first met Steve Walsh backstage in 1996 when I was the Music Director and later promoted to Program Director at Classic Rock KSLX in Phoenix, market number #13. We we interviewing Steve and Phil Ehart, they were both kinder and more down to earth than I could have imagined. Our station sponsored the concert. Here's my ticket from that night:
In 2004 I decided I wanted to thank all my heroes via email as I was feeling my mortality and thinking my radio career was ending. Of course I didn't have Steve Walsh's email so I sent his record label at the time my thank you email. Much to my surprise the very next morning he comes an email from the man, the legend himself thanking me! I'll never forget that day! My roomate was another person who ran for office like I did, Representative Debora Norris. She said, "Laurie you are glowing - I've never seen you this happy" she had known me for years. It became an "Endless Thank You Loop" as now I had to thank Steve for thanking me, so I made a website for him. I needed photos for it, so I asked him if I could take photos at his next show in Phoenix. I was in luck he said he wouldn't mind and there I was in the front row with a rotating stage, how could I miss:
A photo of mine of Steve Walsh in Phoenix, his fingers were flying on those keys, you can see that in the photo:
Steve said he liked the photos, I was so honored! A few months later in 2005 after I saw his show in London and since he was emailing me I got the courage to ask an outrageous dream come true question...
"Hey Steve, I'm a musician too, not just a radio person, would you play/and or sing on a song with me?"... Debora my close friend said... "Are you crazy? His stuff is hard rock, your stuff is like, I don't know... America, Bread ha ha soft rock. Have you ever written a hard rock song? Have you ever even recorded a song since you've been in Arizona? Your first album was done years ago. What the hell are you going to show him when he says yes???" "Don't worry I'm sure he'll say no, it's such a longshot, hopefully he will just take it as a compliment" I told her. Debora was right as usual, Steve said, "Sure, send it along". Now I'm in full panic mode and Debora in "I told you so" mode. What's the best studio in Arizona, I've got to go there and record a song and write one like overnight. Debora's just shaking her head. Off to Jim Brady Recording Studios I go, luckily he had an immediate opening. Out of sheer panic I record a tune I just wrote in panic mode, Architect of Dreams. Debora was like "This is even softer than your 1st album, no way is he going to play on it!" It's all I have to send though... so off it went. Steve was so gracious in his response, exactly as Debora had predicted, he said, "It's really soft, not that soft is a bad thing". So I called Jim Brady up for another session for a harder rock song I just wrote again in full panic mode: Light of Freedom -
In fact my whole 2nd album Aquila was a blatent attempt to get Steve Walsh to play on one of my songs. Instead he let me cover his songs, and was always kind after I sent each demo. I covered his songs So Many Nights, The River, All the World - that all made it onto the Grammy ballot and now... Wait Until Tomorrow - but this time it's different. I originally did the vocals and tons of super cool harmony parts. But then got his permission to use his vocals, wow... now I can finally sing with Steve! I had to wait a long time for this dream. O.K. I have to go to the best studio in Los Angeles now! But here's the problem... I have a really good ear for music... as much as I want to sing with Steve, he just sounds best just by himself, so I blew out all those cool harmony parts I did and left a whisper of me in the background. It's still an amazing dream come true and I paired him up with my other favorite heroes, Johnny Echols (best guitarist ever!) and Ed Cassidy (best drummer ever and we share a birthday, May 4)... & by God I'm playing the bass! So I finally got to jam with Steve long distance over the ether. I'm glad it's finally Tomorrow! What a Wait!
A photo I took of Steve and David Ragsdale in Las Vegas
A selfie with Stargazer lillies Steve sent me to thank me for the website & cover tunes.
Wait Until Tomorrow
Words and Music by: Steve Walsh
Originally recorded in 1980 by Steve Walsh off the album Schemer Dreamer
Lead vocals: Steve Walsh
Lead Guitar: Johnny Echols
Bass, Backing Vocals: Laurie Larson
Drums: Ed Cassidy
Arrangement: Laurie Larson
I pulled my shades to see the day
After sleeping way past noon
An ache inside my head was burnin'
The sky was gloomy, full of grey
And I knew I'd woke too soon
But far too late to be returning
The night before I lay in bed
And I thought of many things
Oh, how the world was full of sorrow
How people here still mourn their dead
Where the grip of war still clings
How they must wait until tomorrow
The buildings here conflict in style
And the church bells never ring
The statue's face is full of sadness
And no one laughs, no one smiles
And no one says a thing
So nothing lifts the air of madness
Ain’t gonna wait until tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow
Here's a quick sketch I did today of the mysterious bird that I recorded on my phone for my song Just North of Yesterday. My eyesight these days is not the best so I could not see him clearly on top of my Saguaro bellowing out this song. A friend of mine Joy came over and had this app on her phone that can name any bird by a song sample. So she played Just North of Yesterday. Out popped Cactus Wren, she said that doesn't sound like a Cactus Wren. After she left I looked up everything about them, our state bird! It was indeed a male Cactus Wren with a call that "marks his territory" so he wants credit on the song now ha ha...well alright then! Thanks to the Planetary Group for helping promote my album, this was their favorite...
Just North of Yesterday
Bird sounds: That's Mr. Cactus Wren to you!
Words and Music by: Laurie Larson
Lead Guitar: Johnny Echols
Bass, Guitars, Keys, Drums, Vocals: Laurie Larson
Can you come out and play
Meet me just north of yesterday, just north of yesterday
When minutes have been forsaken
It’s time that I awaken
Help me find my way
Just north of yesterday
Send me a love letter in sound
You know where I can be found
It’s where I long to stay
Just north of yesterday
My vignettes seldom agree
But this time they all want to be
Somewhere lovely they say
Just north of yesterday
Random tales become an autobiography
All the things that made me
Are on full display
Just north of yesterday
Somehow I will cope
I’ll hold on
It’s your message of hope
Just make sure there’s no delay
Just north of yesterday
The River is Wide
Words and Music by: Billy Admire and Gary Knight
Originally recorded in 1967 by the Forum
also recorded in 1969 by the Grass Roots
Lead Guitar: Johnny Echols
Bass, Guitars, Drums, Sound Effects, Vocals: Laurie Larson
The sky was clear on that windy day
Till the clear blue sky began to turn to gray
The lightening flashed, the thunder roared above
Then fell a drop of rain to start our love
Let the river get wide – the river gets long now
The water runs deep as our love gets strong now
So baby, don't you fight, and say you belong now to me
Upon the roof we heard the gentle rain
With the rhythm of our heartbeats, down it came
As it hit, each drop, our hearts could feel the pain
No one on Earth can stop a drop of rain
And the river gets wide – the river gets long now
The water runs deep as our love gets strong now
So baby, don't you fight, and say you belong now to me
Let the river get wide – the river gets long now
The water runs deep as our love gets strong now
So baby, don't you fight, and say you belong now to me, yeah
Let the river get wide – the river gets long now
The water runs deep as our love gets strong now
So baby, don't you fight, and say you belong now to me...
I first heard The River is Wide when Ralph Gilmore first played drums on my music. Ralph has played drums on all of my songs on my second album, Aquila, my third album, A Striking Resemblance, and six songs on Story Road. Ralph is the best dummer in all of Arizona for any genre and is in demand all the time. Here he is with Rob Grill on American Bandstand when he played on their very last studio album:
I played everything on this except lead guitar, which Johnny Echols nailed! One of Johnny's first bands was called "The Grass Roots" but Lou Adler stole the name! Here's Johnny with the full story: We were The Grass Roots, until a serendipitous encounter with Lou Adler. Bryan and I were on a break at The Brave New World, where we were appearing nightly, clearly billed as The Grass Roots. A gentleman whom we had seen at the club a number of times, walked up to Bryan and me and introduced himself as Lou Adler. Accompanied by a stunning young lady, he began complimenting us on our group. He was effusive in his praise, stating that we were going to be huge and that with his help we could become the next Beatles. Truth be told, he was a bit inebriated and all of his over-the-top rhetoric seemed more about impressing the chick with how important he was than signing us. Being that we didn’t know who he was anyway, we didn’t take him very seriously. After several minutes, Bryan interrupted him and said our break is over and he should speak with our manager. As we turned to walk back inside, all hell broke loose. Adler began screaming and cursing, how dare we disrespect him like that, didn’t we know who he was? He then said something that caused us both to start laughing… “You’ll never work in this town again!” A couple of months later, one of the regulars at The Brave New World came up to Arthur and me at Canter’s, a local eatery and musicians “hang-out” and told us how much she loved our new record. Since we didn’t have a record out, I asked her what she was referring to. She told us that she had heard a song on the radio called ‘Mr. Jones’ by The Grass Roots and everyone assumed it was us. As it turned out, Lou Adler had produced and released a record called ‘Ballad of a Thin Man,’ by Bob Dylan. And he had purposely appropriated our name in order to get our substantial fan-base to go out and buy it, thereby giving it a huge bump in sales. His subterfuge worked…and the record quickly moved up the local charts, due to a large number of purchases by our unwitting fans.
We spoke with a couple of attorneys and were told that though we would likely win, it would be a very expensive proposition to fight in court and that we would be better off professionally by simply changing our name. We were advised, in no uncertain terms, that Mr. Adler was a very important, and well-connected figure in the music industry. After serious thought, we began considering several different names, and we decided on Love. Again, on the advice of those very good lawyers, Arthur and I, filed the necessary paperwork to legally trademark our new name. And that’s how The Grass Roots became Love.
Both Rob Grill and Ralph Gilmore were not part of Lou Adler's "Grass Roots" at the time, although the only top 40 hits the "Grass Roots" ever had was when Rob sang lead. With Rob the Grass Roots was in the Top 10 - three times, the top 20 - six times and the Top 40 - 14 times! The Grass Roots are not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but Love is. Love also was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The River is Wide reached #31 on the Top 40, and #4 in Canada for the Grass Roots. I turned it into blues, and sang a ton of harmony parts including my lowest attempted notes ever. My free range chickens jumped up on my window sill to sing along it was so funny. Hope you sing along too: