There’s an old adage that goes, “Never meet your heroes. They’ll surely disappoint.” I’m here to tell you that the old adage isn’t always accurate — and it’s a good story as well.
As an aspiring singer-songwriter who began honing his craft back in the mid-1970s, my heroes were the ones who wrote the best songs and then went out on tour and played them. Bob Dylan. Jackson Browne. Gordon Lightfoot. Joni Mitchell. Dan Fogelberg. Jim Croce. Carole King. Cat Stevens.
And James Taylor.
James was one of my favorites for both his songwriting and his musicality. His guitar style was like no one else’s, and his voice was also one-of-a-kind — mellow, soulful and honest to a fault.
As one was wont to do back in those days of vinyl records, reading album credits while the music played gave me insight on the people who created this music. James Taylor seemed to always have the same core group of musicians who played on his records and toured with him as well. When I read the credits on other artists’ albums (Jackson Browne, Carole King, etc.), I saw the same musicians credited there as well. Small world.
James’ old friend Danny Kortchmar played lead guitar. Russ Kunkel played drums. And this cat with long hair and a long beard named Leland Sklar played bass. Lee Sklar bore more than a passing resemblance to 1960s counterculture comic character Mr. Natural. He sported extra-long whiskers more than a decade before ZZ Top brought them to MTV. And he’s one of the most-recorded bassists ever. In addition to the above artists, Sklar has played and recorded with Phil Collins, Toto, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt, Tracy Chapman and Lyle Lovett, among others.
Sarah and I recently attended a Lyle Lovett and His Large Band show on the mainland. The rhythm section for the Large Band is none other than the old James Taylor rhythm section of Lee Sklar and Russ Kunkel. I was really looking forward to hearing them playing with the Large Band.
We arrived early, and Sarah wanted to check the merchandise table for some Lyle Lovett gear. One of the items available was a coffee table book from Leland Sklar, titled “Everybody Loves Me.” The book features some 6,000 photographs of everyone from celebrities and rock stars to random folks on the street — all giving Lee the finger. The books were autographed, and the guy at the merch tent said that Lee would come out after the show to personalize the autographed books. We got one.
Sarah took the merchandise haul over to a bench while I went to get us a couple of drinks. As I came around the bar trailer toward the bench, I stopped dead in my tracks and said, “Oh my God!” Sitting next to Sarah on the bench was none other than Leland Sklar, bassist extraordinaire and one of my biggest musical heroes.
The part of this encounter I didn’t see was told to me like this: Lee is out walking around the venue before the show and sees Sarah looking at his book. At that point, Sarah looks up, sees Lee, looks back down at the book, and she realizes that the guy standing in front of her is the guy from the book. They chat for a minute, and Sarah tells Lee that her husband is a professional musician and that me seeing both of them sitting together on the bench would break my brain.
Leland Sklar is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met at a show. We chatted for about 15 minutes about music, how COVID affected performers at all levels, and his gig with Lyle and the Large Band. He personalized our book, and posed with us for some photos before he had to get backstage.
As the premiere bassist who’s been on the biggest stages in the world, and recorded and toured with the A-List legends of the music world, Lee Sklar could easily just hang backstage and do the gig. The fact that he goes and makes an effort to meet his fans says a lot about the man. He has a cool YouTube channel as well, full of music and stories from his decades of working with the best. I’ll leave with a refutation of the old adage at the top of this column and say that meeting Leland Sklar was as far removed from disappointment as anyone could possibly imagine.
– Catch John live Thursdays at Sparky’s Landing, this Friday with Jade Storm at Lorelei, and Sunday afternoons at Skipjack Tiki. Find his music anywhere you download or stream your music. www.johnbartus.com • johnbartus.hearnow.com
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