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The Quiet Genius of Chuck Leavell, the Greatest Rock Pianist You’ve Never Heard Of

He’s known as one of the greatest living session musicians, a stellar musical director, and an expert pianist.

Chuck Leavell is almost entirely self-taught as a musician. He began playing the piano at an early age in his native Alabama before moving onto a wealth of instruments, such as the guitar, tuba, and more.

He launched his first band in the 1960s and played at the YMCA often. His beginnings were humble, but they led him to starting work as a session musician. His first gold record was a single by R&B crooner Freddie North, and he scored it before he even became an adult.

It wasn’t until his mentorship under Paul Hornsby (of The Hour Glass, the precursor to The Allman Brothers Band) that things started to really take off for Leavell. He worked as a studio musician and producer at Capricorn Records when he was only a teenager. He also did session work and eventually toured with Alex Taylor.

After a stint with Dr. John and some work with Gregg Allman, Leavell formally joined the latter’s band in 1972. His most prominent contributions are to the 1973 record “Brothers And Sisters.”

From there, Leavell became one of the most prominent session artists in the industry. He worked with a laundry list of musicians through the years, including Charlie Daniels, The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Train, John Mayer, Blues Traveller, and many more.

While working with the Stones, he became their unofficial musical director and helped Mick Jagger formulate each performance’s set list.

He’s been inducted into several Halls Of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

When it comes to his legacy, though, Leavell was able to blend seamlessly with wildly different musicians, both as a pianist and a singer/songwriter.

Take a look at some of your favorite records from the 1970s and 1980s. Leavell’s name might just be buried in the credits.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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How a case of mistaken identity led to the former Beatle’s last public performance

In 1997, @georgeharrisonofficial agreed to make a rare TV appearance, dropping by VH1 along with his longtime friend and collaborator, Ravi Shankar, and his wife to help promote Shankar’s latest release, “Chants of India,” which he had produced and played on.

VH1 host John Fugelsang recalled that George committed to a short interview consisting of a soundbite about Shankar’s album, and that, if all went well, Harrison “might stick around a bit longer.”

That turned into him staying for well over an hour, during which time someone from the station’s crew unexpectedly handed him a Martin D-35 acoustic guitar.

The instrument was provided by a young woman who was carrying a guitar case as Harrison and Shankar walked into the studio.

The “Guitar Lady,” as she’s referred to in the accompanying video, is Elisabeth Cutler.

Although she’d been invited to watch the interview taping, she “just happened to be on the way to a gig.

After some back-and-forth — and a request from Shankar’s wife — Harrison agreed to play “a couple of verses” of “Any Road,” a then-unreleased song that would later feature on his 2002 posthumous album, “Brainwashed.”

“What do you think?” Fugelsang asked Harrison. “Wanna try a Beatles tunes? You want to try a Bob song? A Carl Perkins song?

Harrison quips at one point that he “must be the only person who doesn’t know his own songs,” as he searches through the chord changes, bravely giving a live rehearsal in front of the cameras — all the while being given the assurance from the host that they would burn the tapes if he wasn’t happy.

The legendary Liverpool lad’s brief set featured four performances in all that day — three solo and one from the Chants of India album called “Prabhuji,” with Ravi Shankar and his wife, Sukanya.

Following “Any Road,” Harrison played “If You Belonged to Me,” a Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 cut originally sung by Bob Dylan, before he closed with a beautifully emotive version of his 1970 classic “All Things Must Pass.”

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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On this day March 9, 1976 @skynyrd played Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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Forever Arthur: Three Fantastic Songs in Commemoration of Late Love Frontman Arthur Lee’s 80th Birthday

March 7, 2025 marked what would’ve been the 80th birthday of @arthurleeandlove frontman of the acclaimed 1960s rock band Love.

Lee died from complications of leukemia on August 3, 2006, at age 61.

Love influenced many contemporary artists, including The Doors and a young Robert Plant.

The group reached its creative peak with its third studio album, “Forever Changes.”

The 1967 album offered a masterful blend of styles, with some tunes augmented by strings, and lyrics that reflected the political upheaval and revolutionary cultural changes of the time.

In commemoration of Lee’s milestone birthday, here are three great songs he recorded with Love:

“7 and 7 Is” (1966)

“7 and 7 Is” is a hard-driving garage-rock tune that appeared on Love second album, “Da Capo.”

Considered by some to be one of the first-ever punk-rock songs, “7 and 7 Is” features shouted, surreal lyrics and a galloping, incessant drum beat.

The track ends with the sound of an atomic explosion, followed by a slow blues-guitar outro.

“Alone Again Or” (1967)

“Alone Again Or” is perhaps Love’s best-known song. The tune, which is Forever Changes’ lead track, was written by the band’s then-rhythm guitarist, Bryan MacLean.

Lee and MacLean shared lead vocal duties on the song, although Arthur’s voice is more prominent in the mix. “Alone Again Or” features flamenco influences, induing delicate acoustic guitar and soaring horns and stings.

“You Set the Scene” (1967)

“You Set the Scene,” the closing track on “Forever Changes,” is could be viewed as Lee’s magnum opus. The epic psychedelic-folk tune features multiple sections and tempo changes, as well as breathtaking horn and string parts.

Lyrically, the song finds Lee reflecting on life, death, love, and the state of the world.

In a 1981 interview with Creem magazine, Lee admitted that the songs he wrote for Forever Changes were “his last words to the world,” because he believed he was going to die at the time.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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🤘 AFTERSHOCK 2025 4-DAY PASS GIVEAWAY! 🤘
Sacramento’s K-ZAP is cranking the volume to 11 and unleashing a chance for you to HEADBANG your way through ALL FOUR DAYS of Aftershock 2025 at Discovery Park! We’re talking over 120 bands—Blink-182, Good Charlotte, Deftones, Korn, and Rob Zombie—ready to melt your face off with riffs heavier than a lead-lined mosh pit. Want in? You could score a 4-day pass to this metal mecca!
To Enter:
Email free@kzap.org (mailto:free@kzap.org)
Subject Line: Aftershock 25
Include your name, address, and phone number (so we can call you when you’re too busy practicing your windmill moves)
⏰ Deadline: Midnight on April Fools’ Day—because missing this would be the ultimate prank on yourself! One entry per metalhead, and past winners might get the “sorry, you’ve already banged your head enough” treatment.
Aftershock 25—four days of pure sonic mayhem await. Will you be there to scream “MORE COWBELL!” (or at least more guitar solos)?
More FREE music from Sacramento’s K-ZAP!
#SacramentosKZAP #Aftershock2025 #MetalMania #HeadbangersUnite #FreeTickets …

@thekinksofficial guitarist @davedavieskinks wild tales of The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones

The Who
There was a wild, cliquey little gang of us in the 60s – me, Pete Townshend, Long John Baldry, Eric Burdon and Jeff Beck – and we used to hang out at the Scotch of St James. Me and Townshend used to spend a lot of time smoking joints in the back of tour vans.

The Kinks always used to look forward to playing on Ready Steady Go! because we’d always score drugs off Keith Moon. He’d be supplying us with uppers, downers and a bit of reefer.

Jimi Hendrix
In real life, Hendrix was nothing like the wild guy that he portrayed on stage. He was a quiet, introverted guy, like Ray was. He was explosive on stage, but very softly spoken off it.

I remember once sitting next to him on a plane bound for Stockholm. After a while we got talking a little and he suddenly said to me: “Y’know, that guitar riff you did on “You Really Got Me” was a real landmark.” You can imagine how I felt. To be endorsed by Hendrix was really something. It was a great compliment.

Brian Jones
I’m not putting down anyone else in the Stones, but Brian was the true artist in that band. Sometimes he was into the whole rock’n’roll thing, but other times he just wouldn’t play the game.

Someone might ask him something, and he’d just drift off or choose to look at a tree or a cloud. A lot of their early creativity was down to him. There’d be this great build-up to a Stones show, with people expecting lots of volume and noise. Then Brian would come on and play the guitar with a feather.

Every time the Kinks toured Paris, I’d meet up with a girlfriend there called Zouzou [actress and model Daniele Ciarlet] and we’d hang out, smoke weed and end up in bed together.

We used to have a great time. Then one day at the Scotch of St James, Brian and I got talking and I told him about this girl in Paris and how great she was. He looked shocked: “What? You mean Zouzou?” It turned out that he was seeing her too. So unbeknown to both of us, we were involved in a strange kind of menage a trois.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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Dear Mr Fantasy – A Celebration For Jim Capaldi Due April

Originally released in 2007, a new 2CD/Blu-ray release capturing the legendary concert staged to honour the life and music of Traffic co-founder and acclaimed solo artist Jim Capaldi, Dear Mr Fantasy – A Celebration For Jim Capaldi, is being issued via the Jim Capaldi Estate & Esoteric Recordings.

Held at London’s iconic Roundhouse on 21st January 2007, this extraordinary evening saw a stellar gathering of world-renowned musicians coming together to perform their favourite Traffic and Jim Capaldi songs. The line-up featured Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Yusuf (Cat Stevens), Pete Townshend, Joe Walsh, Gary Moore, Bill Wyman, Jon Lord, Dennis Locorriere, Simon Kirke, and many more, all paying tribute to Capaldi’s rich musical legacy through timeless songs such as ‘Light Up Or Leave Me Alone’, ‘Forty Thousand Headmen’, ‘Paper Sun’, ‘Whale Meat Again’ and ‘Dear Mr Fantasy’. 

This newly remastered edition, set for release on 25th April, presents the full concert across two CDs and, for the first time, a multi-region high-resolution Blu-ray video of the concert film (with 96kHz audio and surround sound mix), all housed in a clamshell box. The set also includes an illustrated booklet, offering a replica of the programme and new rare insights into the event and the artists who took part.

As a founding member of Traffic, Jim Capaldi played a pivotal role in shaping one of the most innovative and influential bands of the late ’60s and ’70s. Beyond Traffic, his career spanned decades of collaboration with musical greats and a successful solo journey that left an indelible mark on rock history. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, his legacy endures through timeless songs and unforgettable performances.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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@georgeharrisonofficial recounted how his Les Paul was stolen

The cherry-finished Les Paul 1957 Gibson Les Paul,— dubbed Lucy — had been owned by several famous guitarists, including Eric Clapton, who gifted it to Harrison in 1968.

Eric Clapton used it to record his lead and solo work on the 1968 on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

In 1973 — the guitar was stolen from Harrison’s Beverly Hills home. It was subsequently purchased and transported across the Mexican border, leading the former Beatle to launch a TV plea for its safe return. Clearly, the guitar meant everything to him.

The guitar’s earliest-known owner was the Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, who purchased it in 1965. The following year he gave it to Rick Derringer of the McCoys.

Afterward, Derringer sold it and Eric Clapton purchased it for himself.

The story goes that it was quickly sold to a music shop, Whalin’s Sound City on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Rather than wait the required 30 days to determine if the instrument was stolen, Whalin sold it within a few days to a Mexican musician by the name of Miguel Ochoa.

Harrison managed to trace the guitar to Whalin’s, and then to Ochoa, as he revealed to Guitar Player in a 1989 interview.

A meeting was arranged, but the guy just took off, jumped in a car, and drove to Guadalajara and kidnapped my guitar!”

By coincidence Ravi Shankar happened to be in the Mexican city at the time, and was due to make a TV appearance. Harrison seized the opportunity to put the heat on Ochoa.

“Ravi went on TV and read the guy’s name on TV.

Eventually, Harrison and Ochoa reached a deal: The guitar would be returned in exchange for a sunburst ‘58 Les Paul.

Lucy has remained in the safe keeping with Harrison’s family since his death, while Ochoa’s Les Paul — dubbed the Ransom guitar — has changed hands several times over the years and taken on greater value thanks to both its status as a Les Paul ‘Burst and its role in Harrison’s guitar history. Ochoa sold it a decade later, and it ended up on the auction block in 2022, where it fetched $312,500.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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Hey K-ZAP listeners! Live Nation is bringing George Thorogood and the Destroyers to Hard Rock Live on July 29th, and we`ve got your chance to win tickets! Email free@k-zap.org with "George Thorogood" in the subject line by Sunday, 3/9, at midnight. One entry per person (previous winners may be excluded). Include your name and phone number—we’ll notify winners by Monday. Tickets go on sale Friday, 3/6, at 8 AM on ticketmaster.com. More free music from Sacramento’s K-ZAP! …

Manfred Mann Guitarist’s Awkward Interaction With @springsteen After “Blinded by the Light”

Manfred Mann’s version of “Blinded by the Light” topped the charts after its 1976 release, elevating the English rock band into an international household name.

One night on tour members of the Earth Band (sans their frontman, Manfred Mann) settled in at a restaurant with Springsteen and his E Street Band bandmate, Steven Van Zandt. Guitarist Chris Thompson sat next to Springsteen.

“I said to him, ‘Bruce, what did you think about “Blinded by the Light?” He took a little while to reply, and he said, ‘What’s the other band that you’re playing in at the moment?’ By this time, I’d begun playing with a band called Night, and we had a hit with our song, “Hot Summer Nights.” So, I said, ‘Oh, you mean “Night?”’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ I said, ‘Oh, it’s called “Hot Summer Nights.”’ He said, ‘I like that song.’”

Thompson said that after their dinner he heard Bruce wasn’t a fan of their version “He hated it,” Thompson said. “He really disliked it.”

But according to Manfred Mann Earth Band guitarist Chris Thompson, Springsteen’s problem with their version of “Blinded by the Light” wasn’t because of its chart performance. “He was upset that it had ‘douche’ in it,” Thompson explained, “and that we’d actually changed some of the words.”

You likely know the line that Thompson is describing. One of the most commonly misheard lyrics in rock history, most listeners assume the Manfred Mann line is, Blinded by the light, wrapped up like a douche.

In reality, Thompson was singing wrapped up like a deuce. An improperly aligned tape machine led to tape distortion that made the words sound like the famously misunderstood lyric.

This engineering mishap, paired with the band changing Springsteen’s original lyric of cut loose like a deuce (Thompson said, “I didn’t really want to sing that, I don’t know why”), was enough to rub Springsteen the wrong way—even decades later.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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On this day March 8, 1977 @officialqueenmusic, Thin Lizzy and Sammy Hagar played Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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@lindaronstadtmusic’s colorful family history

Hailing from Arizona, the Ronstadts were a prominent ranching family who made a huge impact on their state’s industrial history.

In particular, the singer’s maternal grandfather, Lloyd Copeland, was a prolific inventor with over 700 patents for different products credited to his name – from the rubber ice cube tray, the grease gun, the electric milking machine, and early forms of both the microwave and the electric toaster.

Leaning into her ancestry, Ronstadt previously said that: “He [Copeland] invented a lot of stuff. He was brilliant and he was always working on something. He was so successful that he was judged to be third behind Thomas Edison in the number of useful patents he had developed.”

But it’s clear that as far as material resourcefulness goes, Copeland was not the only crafty member of the family. For the part of Ronstadt’s other grandfather, Federico José María Ronstadt, he was also a pioneering businessman who created one of Arizona’s earliest public transport systems through the idea for mule-drawn streetcars. It must be a tough crowd when you come from a family of wall-to-wall geniuses.

Ronstadt’s status as the ‘First Lady of Rock’ could merely be seen as a natural succession given the calibre of lineage she comes from. With so many stories of success already swirling in her head by the time she hit the California beat, it’s hardly surprising that the family jump from inventing to music was a deft one, making her a sure-fire hit that was never in doubt.

While it’s not nepotism of the conventional kind, it’s absolutely certain that Ronstadt’s ethos of ingenuity was ingrained very early on, and she has an electric milking machine to thank for all of it.

So, the next time you’re pinging your dinner in the microwave or waiting on your toast in the morning, you can think of Linda Ronstadt and her line of inventing ancestry for gracing us with the novelty.

Every family has a backstory, but evidently, the Ronstadts have a more interesting one than most.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
#kzaporg …

Steel Guitar Master: Ben Keith’s Legacy, From Patsy Cline To Neil Young

Among the sidemen and women who have helped create some of the greatest sounds in North American music history without ever being household names, Ben Keith stands tall.

As a steel guitarist beyond compare, he played at the top level for 50 years and can be heard on some of the greatest country and Americana records ever made.

Keith’s work with Young alone spanned 40 years and more than a dozen albums, on which he helped define the Canadian’s classic rootsy sound. But he had been an in-demand steel player for a dozen years by the time they met in 1971.

As Young himself later recalled, Keith’s first steel guitar was one he made himself at home from a piece of wood and leftover parts.

Keith’s first work with Young was on the album “Harvest,” released in 1972 and featuring his intuitive playing on the hit single “Heart Of Gold” and other memorable tracks such as “Old Man” and “Are You Ready For The Country.” “We did five songs that were on the Harvest record, just one right after the other, before I even said hello to him,” he recalled in 2006.

In later years, he lived on Young’s ranch in northern California, working on new projects with his friend, and touring with Neil’s wife Pegi.

The Youngs had played on Keith’s own 1994 album “Seven Gates,” on which he also played with Cale and Johnny Cash.

Keith died on July 26, 2010 at the age of 73. Young called him “a great American, the quiet giant…he moved gently through the world, with kindness and grace.

“Of course, in Nashville Ben Keith is legendary,” continued Young after his friend’s passing, “one of the last of the original country greats, the man behind the song. No one will ever fill his shoes. He has countless friends and admirers. They all miss him as much as I do. I will miss him every time I look to my side, remembering him, my brother and fellow traveller.”   

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
#kzaporg …

For @davidgilmour, @pinkfloyd’s wildly ambitious the Wall tour was a blast – and a challenge

Reflecting on the experience in a 2000 interview with Guitar World, David Gilmour lauded the show as being “terrific fun,” adding that it was “really an achievement for everyone involved, particularly Roger.”

On the intricacies of his duties, the guitarist explained, “I had a huge cue sheet up on my amps, because we had all these cues coming up on monitors or on screen, and there were different DDL settings which I had to transmit with very primitive equipment to all the delay lines onstage. Very tricky.

“Except for the “Comfortably Numb” solo, there were virtually no moments where I could say, ‘Forget everything. Just play.’ You know?

As if that weren’t enough, though, the guitarist, his bandmates, and the crowd were all also treated to a, shall we say, fiery, surprise on opening night.

Roger Waters remembers, “this drape went up to reveal us. Fireworks had gone off beforehand and one of the Roman candles had gotten into this drape and set light to it.

“I was singing away and I kept hearing this noise and I thought, ‘God, the P.A.’s going off.’ ‘Cause I could hear this strange noise. Eventually I looked up and saw one of the riggers, a guy called Rocky, leap about six feet through the air, with no safety harness or anything on him, from one drape to another.

“He had a fire extinguisher in one hand and he was trying to put the thing out,” Waters continued. “And then lumps of burning drape the size of tennis balls started hitting the stage all around us. And the auditorium was beginning to fill up with smoke.”

“I stopped singing and just shouted ‘stop!’ through the PA,” Waters recounted.

“I said, ‘Look, we’re going to have to lower this drape, because we’ve got a fire. Everything’s cool. We’ll put it out, go back five minutes and pick up from there.’ Which we did. But it was quite a hair-raising beginning to the first show.”

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
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This week’s Rush Hour Blues celebrates the legacy of premier guitarist and singer @johnnywinterofficial

Join Sacramento’s K-ZAP this Friday, 5p as your host Bill Prescott digs deep into this legendary bluesman’s catalog.

RHB is sponsored by @blackrockauto 1313 C Street, Sacramento. “They can do stuff.”

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
#kzaporg …

🎸 SGT. PEPPER TICKET GIVEAWAY! 🎸
Sacramento`s K-ZAP is giving away pairs of tickets to The Museum of Science & Curiosity Planetarium for the Laser Concert Series featuring The Beatles` Sgt. Pepper on Saturday, March 15th!
Experience this iconic album with MOSAC’s 25,000 watt Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound System and psychedelic lasers—pure Beatles magic!
To Enter:
Email free@k-zap.org
Subject Line: Sgt Pepper
Include your name and phone number
⏰ Deadline: Thursday, March 13th. One entry per person.
🎉 Winners notified Thursday. Frequent winners may be excluded.
Don’t miss this trip with Sacramento`s K-ZAP!
🎟️ Tickets: //visitmosac.org/laser-concert-series/
#SacramentosKZAP #TheBeatles #SgtPepper #LaserConcert #Sacramento #FreeTickets #MOSAC …

How @georgeharrisonofficial Charmed Roy Orbison Into Joining the @travelingwilburys

Roy Orbison’s career in the ’70s did not match his career in the ’60s. That being so, the man existed on a musical island.

Ostracized both musically and socially, Orbison was seemingly looking for his next big thing.

Matter of fact, Orbison’s son, Roy Jr. once stated, “Roy never really had peers, so it was great for them to get together.” “It re-started Roy’s career – and the careers of all of them. They helped each other. It was a beautiful thing,” added Roy Jr.

The idea for Orbison being in the band was originally thought of by Harrison and Lynne after they collaborated on Harrison’s 1987 album, “Cloud Nine.”

Following the fun they had on that album, Harrison and Lynne made it their mission to start the Traveling Wilburys, and that is when Harrison approached Orbison in a rather vulnerable manner.

According to Roy. Jr, when George Harrison asked Orbison to be in the band, Harrison “got down on one knee and asked [Roy Orbison] if he wanted to be in his band.” Regarding the quite literal proposal, Roy Jr. added, “That showed such humility. He didn’t kneel before anyone.”

Tragically, Roy Orbison’s career with the group didn’t last too long, as he sadly passed away from a heart attack shortly after he joined the band at 52-years-old. The Traveling Wilburys debut album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, released just roughly a month before Orbison’s passing in 1988. However, Orbison found the final big break he was looking for.

Catch the stream at k-zap.org, on the k-zap apps or at 93.3 FM in the metro Sacramento area.
#kzaporg …