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Best Bets: Chuck Leavell returns to Sacred Heart
Chuck Leavell returns to Sacred Heart
Just over a year ago, Chuck Leavell — the keyboardist and vocalist best-known as a longtime performer with the Rolling Stones — visited Sacred Heart Music Center. He filmed a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone,” jointly with Duluth band Big Wave Dave and the Ripples, for an episode of the PBS series “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell.”
On Thursday, Leavell will return to Sacred Heart and reunite with Big Wave Dave for more music, a conversation about local forestry issues, and film screenings including the finished episode. For tickets and information, see sacredheartmusic.org.
Keith Richards teases Rolling Stones will return with new music and possible gigs in 2023
Keith Richards has teased new music is “on its way”.
The Rolling Stones guitarist was seemingly referring to new tunes from the Start Me Up legends in a new clip to his fans.
In a belated Happy New Year video message on Instagram this week, the Gimme Shelter rocker said: “Hi guys, here we are again.
“Wishing you all a belated Happy New Year and there’s some new music on its way and hopefully we’ll get to see you. You know? Anyway, let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
2022 saw the band continue to celebrate their 60th anniversary with their mammoth SIXTY tour, where they played UK dates, which included a return to Liverpool for the first time in over 50 years and two nights at BST Hyde Park.
The band – completed by frontman Mick Jagger and guitarist Ronnie Wood – also paid tribute to their late drummer Charlie Watts at their gigs, who sadly passed away in 2021 aged 80.
Speaking to the crowd at Anfield, the frontman said: “In 1962 we met a drummer called Charlie Watts and this is our first tour in England we’ve done without him, so we’d like to dedicate this show to Charlie.”
The Paint It Black rockers also began each gig with a slideshow of Watts throughout the years.
Meanwhile, Ronnie Wood recently revealed that the late drummer is set to feature on the band’s next album.
Speaking to The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column, he said: “We are recording the new album now and we are going to LA in a few weeks to carry it on and finish it off. Charlie is on some of the tracks and drummer Steve Jordan.”
Though the band released their Living In A Ghost Town single in 2020, the new album will be the first full length LP to feature new compositions since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.
Tom Poland: A Story Of Music, Trees, And Family
On a January day in 2019 I met Chuck Leavell in Georgia’s geographic center. We met to write a magazine cover story. Our story would lead to a feature on his wife, Rose Lane, and later Chuck’s profile-interview for the James Dickey Review. Earlier, Chuck had written back-cover praise for my book on the Carolina bays. Two writers had come together. Now two sons of the American South are co-writing Chuck Leavell’s story of music, trees, and family.
Chuck Leavell’s keyboards and vocals grace the works of Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, John Mayer, The Black Crowes, George Harrison, The Indigo Girls, Blues Traveler, Train, Montgomery-Gentry, Lee Ann Womack, and many other artists. His work with the Allman Brothers Band is legendary. His piano feature on “Jessica” and Gregg Allman’s “Laid Back’s” “Multicolored Lady” endure as classics.
In 1982, Chuck began touring as keyboardist, vocalist, and musical director for the Rolling Stones. He tours with them to this day. “Without the continuity Chuck brings to us, the Stones would not be the Stones,” said Keith Richards.
Chuck’s history with the Stones goes back a ways. Chuck’s favorite Stones song to play with the band is “Honky Tonk Women.” He first heard the song while living in Nashville. “Man, I was riding down a road and a new Stones song came on the radio and blew me away. I pulled over to listen to it and went straight to the record store.” Today, he plays the song with the band. Life’s come full circle and within that circle is Chuck’s role as a noted environmentalist.
While riding a tour bus with the Fabulous Thunderbirds in the mid 1980s, Chuck studied forestry by correspondence. He and Rose Lane turned their 4,000-acre Charlane Woodlands & Reserve into a textbook tree farm. Conservation organizations recognize their work, praising them. Chuck is as comfortable on a tractor as on a piano bench. He’s the only two-time recipient of the Georgia Tree Farmer of the Year award.
In 1999, the American Tree Farm System selected Chuck and Rose Lane as National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. The National Arbor Day Foundation, Georgia Conservancy, FFA, and other conservation organizations praise Chuck for his work. He sponsors a scholarship at the University of Georgia and sits on conservation boards and committees. Chuck’s book, Forever Green: The History and Hope of the American Forest earned praise acclaimed by the forestry and conservation communities.
PBS’s documentary series, “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell,” illustrates how vital public and private forest habitats are to our communities’ well-being and economic health. Chuck co-founded the Mother Nature Network, at one time the world’s most visited online network for news and information about the environment and responsible living.
The writing’s underway. This spring Chuck and I plan a walk through the iconic Capricorn Records in Macon. Music historians credit Macon’s Capricorn Records for creating the Southern Rock genre. Consider it hallowed ground.
Musicians and writers, artists each, harbor passions. It’s what makes them tick. Chuck’s passions include family, trees and music. Mine include family, writing, rock history, nature, nostalgia, and the American South. Wayne Ford of the Athens Banner Herald wrote, “Tom Poland is an inquisitive man who keeps an eye out for extravagant chunks of nature, disappearing cultures, and people who are salt of the earth. He has ridden those so-called back roads for years chewing foods, sipping drinks, absorbing stories and documenting his finds. Change is what Poland touches upon frequently.”
In 2018, Governor Henry McMaster conferred the Order of the Palmetto upon Tom noting that, “His work is exceptional to the state.” The Order of the Palmetto is South Carolina’s highest civilian honor.
Together, Chuck and I will document the life and career trajectory of a Southern musician and conservationist. Chuck Leavell is from Birmingham, Alabama. Tom Poland is from Lincolnton, Georgia.
America’s Forests in Minnesota / Chuck Leavell in Duluth
Famed musician Chuck Leavell visited Duluth on March 29 to record a performance of the Bob Dylan song “Like a Rolling Stone” with the Duluth band Big Wave Dave and the Ripples at Sacred Heart Music Center. The collaboration was for the closing segment of the 10th episode of the television series America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell. Embedded above is the full episode, which recently aired on select PBS stations, but not Duluth.
In the Minnesota episode, Leavell snowmobiles through a boreal forest, meets people who are restoring the pines along Lake Superior to their former glory, and explores what’s being done by the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to protect Minnesota’s moose population.
Leavell has been the primary keyboardist and music director for the Rolling Stones since 1982 and has also worked with Eric Clapton, the Allman Brothers Band and others. Additionally, he is a conservationist, environmentalist, author and tree farmer. His TV series celebrates how forest habitats enhance the well-being and economic health of communities across the country. From architects to artists, from climbers to carpenters, each episode shines a light on individuals and their love and concern for the woods around them.
How to Watch ‘Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man’ at Home (Plus, a Giveaway!)
These may not be normal times, and we may not be able to enjoy the pleasures of a movie theater to see new films – but all is not lost. For now, movies can debut at virtual festivals and screenings, and then as if by magic, appear in our homes via video on demand.
The latest documentary to make this journey is “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” – which is available on-demand beginning December 1. The film is about the eponymous Leavell, who you may know as the pianist for the Rolling Stones – but who is also a consummate lover of trees and presides over a bucolic tree farm in Georgia with his wife Rose Lane Leavell. You may also know Leavell as co-founder of Mother Nature Network and now editor-at-large for Treehugger.
We wrote about the film when it was released last month. In a nutshell, the documentary chronicles the life of one of the greatest pianists in rock ’n’ roll history as he divides his time and talent between music, forests, and family. What makes the documentary even more remarkable is the roster of luminaries who sing Leavell’s praise, from former president Jimmy Carter to Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Billy Bob Thornton, David Gilmore, and many more. Rockstars, a love story, former presidents, forests – this film has it all! You can read our earlier story here.
Now that the documentary is out in the wild, we wanted to make sure everyone knew where to find it.
You can order the film directly on iTunes – and you can check this directory for links to a number of other platforms including Vimeo, Amazon Prime, and YouTube.
In Celebration: A Giveaway!
We thought that it would be fun to celebrate the occasion by giving things away – who doesn’t love a giveaway? We have five limited edition box sets of Leavell’s “Forever Green, Forever Blue.” The sets are signed and numbered, and include a copy of Chuck’s first book, “Forever Green: The History and Hope of the American Forest” and a copy of his solo piano CD “Forever Blue” – plus tree seeds and some other goodies.
To enter the giveaway, head over to the Treehugger Instagram page for details, we will be picking the winners on Friday, December 6 at 5 p.m. EST. For more information about the film, visit the “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” website. And for a quick tease, see the trailer below.
Accuweather: This legendary rock pianist is working to save our forests
This legendary rock pianist is working to save our forests
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO!
Chuck Leavell may be most known for his work with The Rolling Stones, but he also considers himself a student of forestry, working for decades to conserve and protect the world’s trees.
Falling in place | US Forest Service
Fall is the favorite season of many a poet, song writer, visual artist or just you and me. The quaking gold aspen sprouting from the giant Pando on Utah’s Fishlake National Forest inspire the imagination. The purple wildflowers of the Sierra National Forest in California entice the adventurous to walk in the meadows the stunning and incomparable magnificence of the bright oranges, reds and yellows of the iconic maples of New Hampshire’s White Mountain National Forest can fill one with awe.
Where to go and what to see in autumn can be a struggle and hearing from someone who has seen a lot of fall colors is always welcomed. My suggestion is to just go and find what inspires you. Personally, I will never forget the iridescent colors of a New England fall, but I’ve also been enchanted by the glory of fall in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest.
I’m not nearly as traveled some, so I asked for advice from people who are.
The first is Chuck Leavell, who for 40 years was a rock keyboardist that included 25 years with the Rolling Stones. What some of his fans don’t know is his passion for conservation and tree farming, which earned him the title of Forest Service Honorary Forest Ranger and twice recipient of the Georgia Tree Farmer of the Year.
Leavell recommends enjoying fall colors at his favorite place, Tallulah Gorge State Park’s Amicalola Falls near Hellen, Georgia. He looks to the Pisgah National Forest as one of his favorite national forests for fall colors.
“Most of the forest was formerly owned by the Vanderbilt family, and the views from the family’s estate, the Biltmore in Asheville, are amazing,” Leavell said. “In fact, the Biltmore is often referred to as the cradle of American forestry because George Vanderbilt allowed Forest Service founder Gifford Pinchot to conduct some of his earliest studies in forestry on the vast estate.”
Another world travel and supporter of Forest Service-managed lands is Emmy Award winning Darley Newman of Travels with Darley. She is a travel expert who has documented on PBS and other channels the excitement of finding special places to visit.
“My favorite forest for fall colors is the Finger Lakes National Forest in New York State,” Newman said. “It is New York’s only national forest, and it’s in a stunning location that draws in hikers, horseback riders, history buffs and travelers who combine wine tasting at nearby vineyards with exploration. There are beautiful rolling hills and meadows to explore there.”
Newman added that for those who like hiking, a great view to see the changing leaves along the Finger Lakes Trail. That trail connects to other large trail networks, including the 3,200-miles North Country National Scenic Trail and The Long Path.
Where do you like to go? When you post your fall color photos, tag us (#ForestServiceFallColors). If you want to keep your favorite places just to yourself no problem. Either way, we are happy with visitors finding national forests and grasslands a great place to see fall colors.
Visit the Forest Service Visitor Map for destination ideas.
Society of American Foresters (SAF) is proud to announce Chuck Leavell as the 2022 Honorary Membership Award winner!
Piano Keys and Big Tall Trees!
A homegrown documentary film about legendary Georgia musician Chuck Leavell is flying high as the #1 Most Watched Film on Delta In-Flight Entertainment!
Directed by Allen Farst, “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man” provides an epic, in-depth look into Leavell’s life both on and off the stage. Leavell has played and toured with the Rolling Stones since 1982, and his status as rock royalty may be equaled only by his stature within the world of environmental forestry, where he previously has been named the National Tree Farmer of the Year in the United States. It’s this fascinating combination of passions, coupled with more than 80 gripping interviews from legendary musicians with a combined 58 Grammy Awards, that has already produced quite the buzz for the film.
The documentary originally captivated crowds at both the Macon Film Festival and Sedona International Film Festival, the latter of which recognized the film as the 2020 People’s Choice Award. Then earlier this year, with capabilities of reaching more than 100 million homes in North America and nearly 1 billion homes worldwide, Gravitas Ventures acquired the digital streaming rights to the make this must-see movie available on several VOD platforms, including iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, VUDU and Delta Studio (where it now sits at #1.)
The soundtrack alone is worth the 102 minute run time and many of the passengers on Delta Flights have been attracted by the music. The documentary is full of star power with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt, Dickey Betts, Paul Shaffer, Chris Robinson, Charlie Daniels, Miranda Lambert, Charlie Watts, Bruce Hornsby, Juliann Lennon, Mike Mills, John Bell, Pat Monahan, Ronnie Wood, Warren Haynes, John Mayer, David Gilmour and more.
While the music and star power might attract viewers, people are loving the film as they continue to watch because of the man, Chuck Leavell.
There is no doubt that Leavell is a master musician. He’s had an incredible career and his contributions are many, spanning across musical genres. But Chuck’s story is more than music. It’s about life, love and the precious world we live in. While Leavell’s advocacy for environmental forestry and tree farming is also a noteworthy contribution to the documentary, it’s Chuck’s heart and warm personality that truly takes the film to the next level.
Perhaps the greatest take away is that the film is a grand testimony that finding love and life is possible in a career known for its devastating impact on many musician’s lives. The balance that Chuck Leveall seems to have found between his talents, passions and the love of his life, Rose Lane White, is a rare story to find in a “rock-u-mentary.” It almost contradicts the “fame, fall, and comeback” formula that most of these kinds of films rely on for structure. In ‘Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man’ we learn that being generous with talent, serving others with a smile, and loving with all your heart, is actually what it takes to make it to the top…and stay there!