Maine-based Americana act The Mallett Brothers Band released a new single, “Dogs and Horses,” featuring legendary keyboardist Chuck Leavell. The track is set to land on the band’s forthcoming album, Higher Up in the Hills, arriving on April 4.
The Mallett Brothers Band — guitarists/brothers Luke Mallett and Will Mallett, bassist Nick Leen, fiddler Andrew Martelle, and drummer Brian Higgins — previously shared the Higher Up in the Hills single “Nothin’s Working.”
The group now follows with “Dogs and Horses.” The song “captures the dichotomous nature of rural Americana life,” press materials for the track noted, “with Luke Mallett’s lyrics conjuring up broken-down tractors and mounting gravel piles alongside the nomadism of touring life. The track builds dramatically as violin, electric guitars, piano, and organ cascade over each other, creating a rich sonic landscape.”
“‘Dogs and Horses’ is a love song at its roots. It’s a song about two people building a life around the things that they love and then balancing and supporting each other in those endeavors, Luke Mallett said of the new song. Those endeavors are Luke’s life on the road and his wife Carissa’s commercial horse farm in Maine.
“These lifestyles aren’t compatible at all,” Luke added. “I spend half my life out on the road, and she spends 12 hours a day in the barn taking care of animals. If it isn’t one thing, it’s another, but the way that we try to hold each other up is really what I was moved to write about.”
“Dogs and Horses” also features former Allman Brothers Band and current Rolling Stones touring keyboardist Chuck Leavell, who met The Mallett Brothers Band when they appeared on his PBS program America’s Forests.
“When we were bringing this song to life in the studio, all of us agreed that keys would fit the vibe really, really well,” Mallett said. “Having his piano and organ on the song brought it to a whole new place.”
Listen to “Dogs and Horses,” premiered by Americana Highways, below:
“[W]hen you think about how Mick is engaging the public, that’s his gig, and sometimes it’s not unusual for him to have a question like, ‘Do I come in here?’”
The Rolling Stones’ longtime touring keyboardist and musical director Chuck Leavell is the subject of a new USA Today feature. Leavell gave a glimpse inside what it’s like to direct the legendary rock band.
Chuck Leavell was already a seasoned performer when he joined The Rolling Stones entourage in 1982. Leavell was a member of The Allman Brothers Band in the ‘70s and led his own group, Sea Level. While one might think that the pressure of being The Stones keyboardist, let alone music director, would be a tense gig, Chuck learned something quickly with the band.
“Back in the day with Sea Level or the Allmans, if something would go wrong, I’d tend to get upset,” Leavell told USA Today. “And when I joined the Stones and those moments would occur, it was a lesson learned to just let it go, and don’t dwell on it. Most of the time it all ends up with a laugh.”
The Rolling Stones’ longtime touring keyboardist and musical director Chuck Leavell is the subject of a new USA Today feature. Leavell gave a glimpse inside what it’s like to direct the legendary rock band.
Chuck Leavell was already a seasoned performer when he joined The Rolling Stones entourage in 1982. Leavell was a member of The Allman Brothers Band in the ‘70s and led his own group, Sea Level. While one might think that the pressure of being The Stones keyboardist, let alone music director, would be a tense gig, Chuck learned something quickly with the band.
“Back in the day with Sea Level or the Allmans, if something would go wrong, I’d tend to get upset,” Leavell told USA Today. “And when I joined the Stones and those moments would occur, it was a lesson learned to just let it go, and don’t dwell on it. Most of the time it all ends up with a laugh.”
With months separating Jimmy Carter from his 100th birthday on Oct. 1, Atlanta’s Fox Theatre has announced a celebratory concert to mark the landmark occasion. Deemed Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song, the event doubles as a benefit that supports The Carter Center, an organization that began 40 years ago with the mission of alleviating human suffering. Today’s announcement includes a list of exemplary musical talents who have signed on to participate.
The artist lineup leans into various genres and reflects pop, rock, gospel, country, jazz, hip-hop, and classical music tropes. Making up the list of musicians who have signed on to participate in the occasion are Chuck Leavell, D-Nice, Drive-By Truckers, Eric Church, GROUPLOVE, Maren Morris, The War And Treaty, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus. The evening is also billed to include arrivals from Dale Murphy, Killer Mike and Sean Penn.
Despite an already-populous list of participants, Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song will continue to up the excitement with weekly additions to the artist lineup. Moreover, according to the official announcement, famous friends and dignitaries known for their admiration and support of Jimmy and the late Rosalynn Carter are expected to take part in this special occasion.
To quote former President Carter, “Music is the best proof that people have one thing in common no matter where they live, no matter what language they speak.”
Tickets go on sale Monday, Aug. 5 at 10 a.m. local time.
Tens of thousands in a sold-out stadium are visually stapled to Mick Jagger belting “Start Me Up.” But the band’s eyes will frequently dart to the snow-haired presence stationed stage right.
Chuck Leavell is perched behind his bank of keyboards, electric piano and organ, his hand occasionally airborne, his glances with Jagger and Keith Richards subtle.
But those aren’t just friendly nods. They’re meaningful cues, just as a conductor directs an orchestra.
The maestro of the Rolling Stones, Leavell has served as their keyboardist and musical director since the early ‘80s, coming in as a veteran of the Allman Brothers Band and his own jam-rock outfit Sea Level.
“They count on me if anyone gets lost to be the person to make everyone feel comfortable,” Leavell says in his Southern lilt and with a crinkled smile the night before the April kickoff of the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds tour.
An exclusive look at Rolling Stones history
In his Houston hotel room, Leavell flips through weighty binders, giving USA TODAY an exclusive look at a trove of Stones history.
Pages of white loose-leaf, yellow legal paper and Rolling Stones stationery are meticulously slotted in alphabetical order, many of them bearing the names of song titles etched in rock history – “Miss You,” “Ruby Tuesday,” “Beast of Burden” “Gimme Shelter,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – with notations alongside the names.
Chord changes, song keys and tempos are often scrawled in the margins, necessary reminders for a catalog spanning six decades and for a band that might need that head nod or hand signal as a prompt during one of their massive stadium shows.
Rolling Stones guitar hero Richards readily shares his appreciation of Leavell’s archives, telling USA TODAY in a statement that “without being able to fall back on these priceless records ‒ of chords, keys, arrangements, and other bits of alchemy – we would be truly lost,” while also bestowing the Keith-ism, “Gold rings on you, Chuck.”
Since that tour launch April 28 – also Leavell’s 72nd birthday – the Stones have played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, with Jagger sharing “Time is On My Side” with its original singer, Irma Thomas (“To have the privilege of being with just the two of them in the dressing room (to rehearse) and then bring it to the band was so exciting,” Leavell says a few weeks after that performance); pulled out infrequently played fan favorites “Monkey Man,” “Shattered,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together” “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” and “She’s a Rainbow” at various shows; and, for Leavell, owned the spotlight at each date with fiery solo work during “Honky Tonk Women.”
Each show, with the core trio of Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood and additional players Steve Jordan, Darryl Jones, Matt Clifford, Karl Denson, Tim Ries, Chanel Haynes and Bernard Fowler, Leavell has rolled through set lists of classics usually totaling 20 songs.
There are only a handful of concerts until a July 21 wrap at a nature preserve in Missouri, and Leavell says that already the tour “far exceeded all of our expectations. … To me, it feels very much like a family working together.”
How Chuck Leavell helps Mick Jagger onstage
That’s a heady statement from someone who has been part of the Stones’ inner circle for decades, having played 890 concerts with them as of July 5.
A devout Rolling Stones follower and photographer in the Netherlands, Hendrik Mulder, keeps scrupulous stats about Leavell’s tenure with the band, and by his account, Leavell has performed in 247 cities (London the top location) and played 191 different songs (“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Start Me Up” the most, at 881 and 879 times, respectively).
Leavell, at the suggestion of a band tech, started saving almost every song list from rehearsals, set list from shows, notes about cover songs the Stones might attempt and personal scribbles to nudge his own memory since the band’s 1989 Steel Wheels tour.
Those details are regularly revisited.
“Let’s say there is a song we haven’t done for a while, and I’ve refreshed my memory through the notes and go through soundcheck and I’m looking around at everyone to make sure they remember the parts,” Leavell says. “But when you think about how Mick is engaging the public (on stage), that’s his gig, and sometimes it’s not unusual for him to have a question like, ‘Do I come in here?’ So he can glance at me and with a nod or hand signal (and) I can help him out.”
Leavell has also shared stages and studios with Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, John Mayer and The Black Crowes and is a lauded environmentalist with the notable 2020 documentary “The Tree Man.” He believes that his innately calm demeanor, expressed even more prominently when he returns home to his tree farm in Macon, Georgia, benefits his responsibilities as a behind-the-scenes guardian for the mightiest rock band still performing.
“Back in the day with Sea Level or the Allmans, if something would go wrong, I’d tend to get upset. And when I joined the Stones and those moments would occur, it was a lesson learned to just let it go, and don’t dwell on it. Most of the time it all ends up with a laugh.”
Tempo and the Rolling Stones: ‘There was only one Charlie Watts’
Cadence is a crucial component of the Rolling Stones’ live performances, and many of Leavell’s song sheets include numbers that can look random to an untrained eye – 135 for “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” 113 for “Miss You,” 143 for “Paint It, Black” – but those beats per minute are truly the heartbeat of each song.
“When you’re on stage, it’s easy to get overly excited, and you don’t want to count a song off and realize, uh-oh, it’s too fast. Or you’re too cautious and counted off too slow,” Leavell says. “We are adamantly checking the tempos in soundcheck, and the variations can be miniscule. On stage, I do a digital readout of the BPMs and take a moment to absorb that tempo. Mick is always concerned about getting the right tempo.”
This is the third tour in which the Rolling Stones are joined by Jordan, who has occupied the drum stool since the death of Charlie Watts in 2021. While reverence for the beloved sticksman is firm – “Charlie was Charlie Watts, man. There was only one,” Leavell laments – there is also much appreciation for Jordan and his different style.
“Steve is a harder hitter, a little more energetic,” Leavell says. “And we love that because it helps get us the energy that we all need. But he also does a great job respecting Charlie’s parts.”
‘Who knows what the future may hold’ for the Rolling Stones?
With the Hackney Diamonds tour trotting to a close, there of course remains the eternal question of when it will literally be the end of the road for the seemingly immortal rock band, all of whose core members are in their late 70s (Wood) and 80s (Jagger and Richards).
Given the impressive level of showmanship and reliable musicianship on this run, there is always the possibility that the band will continue to romp across stages worldwide.
Though Leavell is uncertain about more live shows, he is grateful for the present.
“Who knows what the future may hold?” he says, “But this tour has been historic and so much fun.”
It also has given him many more pages to add to his binders.
Fresh off his latest tour with the Rolling Stones, the legendary keys player talks some of his biggest musical moments—and reveals Nick Saban’s post-game song of choice
When Chuck Leavell recently wrapped his latest concert tour playing keys for the Rolling Stones, his main gig for the past four decades, he got as far from the stage as imaginable—the rural Georgia land where he raises trees.
The through line in his long music career—during which he’s manned the piano, keyboards, and organ for the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, and the aforementioned Stones—is easy to find. “One of the things that struck me was, where does that thing that has given me a great career and so much joy come from? Meaning the piano and the resource of wood,” he says of an epiphany he experienced several years ago. “Growing trees is a way of giving back to what’s been so good to me.”
Leavell estimates he has planted about three hundred acres of longleaf pine—the towering, broad-canopied species that once covered the Coastal Plain from Texas to Virginia—in Twiggs County, Georgia, and in recent years he has become an evangelist for the nation’s natural history. Since 2017 he’s hosted the PBS show America’s Forests With Chuck Leavell, a series about sustainable forestry and habitat restoration that has taken him across the continent, including to the Fender Musical Instruments factory in California.
But above all else, Leavell is a Southerner whose connection and contributions to the music of the region is as deep as his love for the soil. We challenged him to reflect on some of the biggest moments of his life in music—the career that now allows him the freedom to spend his downtime surrounded by giants of a different sort.
Leavell already had a hall-of-fame career as a sought-after sideman by the time he appeared on Eric Clapton’s episode of MTV Unplugged in 1992. But Clapton, perhaps inspired by the tasteful piano lines Leavell played on the traditional blues track “Alberta,” proudly announced Leavell’s name to the studio audience at the song’s conclusion. That moment became enshrined in music history as Clapton’s subsequent Unplugged album became the best-selling live album of all time and won a trio of Grammys, including the coveted Album of the Year award.
“I couldn’t believe they left it on the record,” Leavell says of the shout-out. “The other part of that, of course, is that version of ‘Layla’ on Unplugged was a real joy to do, and then probably my favorite is ‘Old Love’ [written by Clapton with Robert Cray and originally on 1989’s Journeyman]. We did the show and went through the whole set and played an encore too, and the audience still wanted more. And I don’t know why Eric turned to me, but he did, and he said, ‘What can we do?’ I said, ‘Eric, do “Old Love,” man.’”
He was the unsung hero of the Black Crowes’ debut
Leavell’s piano and B3 organ parts were essential to the Black Crowes’ 1990 debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, including to the hits “Hard to Handle” and “She Talks to Angels.” They added so much swagger, in fact, that the band soon added keys player Eddie Harsch as a full sixth member. But the collaboration came about through what Leavell calls “a happy accident.”
“George Drakoulias, the producer, reached out to me out of the blue,” Leavell recalls, “and he said, ‘Listen, we signed this band’—they were actually called Mr. Crowe’s Garden at the time—and he said, ‘They’re from Georgia, and they would love to have you play.’ So we had lunch together, and he played me this recording. It was one microphone in the middle of a rehearsal room, but there was no doubt, you could hear the energy and passion.”
The rest is music history: “We convened in Atlanta, and it started out with, ‘Hey, can you play on this song? Oh man, that was good. Can you put organ on it? Well, we got this other song…’ And this went on until I was on the majority of the record.”
Although he’s lived in central Georgia for many years now, Leavell is an Alabamian by birth and carries all the duties and privileges of a native son—namely, cheering for the Crimson Tide on whichever field or court of play they appear. He’s also befriended other ’Bama royalty and discovered he shares a mutual appreciation with the school’s recently retired football coach, Nick Saban.
“I’ve become friends with Coach Saban,” he says. “He’s a big Stones fan, and when he came to our show in Atlanta, I got to hang with him a little bit there. When we first met, he said, ‘You know, after every game, whether I’m going back to the hotel or going home, can you imagine what song I play?’ And I said, ‘No, coach, what do you play?’ He says, ‘I play “Gimme Shelter” at a very loud volume.’”
When the Rolling Stones close out their North American “Hackney Diamonds” tour on July 21, their concert venue will be a far cry from the bustling cities they have visited on the road.
The rockers will perform in Ridgedale, Missouri, with a population of less than a thousand, taking to the stage at the picturesque Thunder Ridge Nature Arena in the middle of the Ozark mountains.
Set amid 1,200 acres of land and overlooking Table Rock Lake, the 20,000-seat amphitheatre opened in May and has hosted American country music stars Morgan Wallen and Chris Stapleton. It was built by fishing and hunting gear supplier Bass Pro Shops founder and chief executive Johnny Morris.
“We just wanted to share this beautiful part of the world with others,” Morris, who grew up in the Ozarks, told Reuters.
“We’ve been having some events out at this place for many years … little gatherings and concerts. And then … we got carried away.”
Like Red Rocks in Colorado and The Gorge in Washington state, Morris’ arena immerses visitors in the outdoors. The venue’s proceeds go towards conservation efforts in the Ozark region.
“I went (to the Gorge) and I’m a little biased, but I felt like our beauty rivals that kind of beauty for a natural setting,” said Morris, adding that he just wanted to “see people come and have a good time together outdoors.”
Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards of rock band The Rolling Stones kick off their 2024 Hackney Diamonds tour at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, U.S. April 28, 2024. REUTERS/Callaghan O’Hare
Landing the Stones is a huge get for any venue. For Morris, it all came down to his love of fishing.
Twenty years ago, he met musician Chuck Leavell, who has been performing with the Stones since 1982. The pair went fishing – and Morris helped Leavell net “an enormous fish.”
“He said ‘Johnny, this is the happiest day of my life… If I can ever do anything for you, you let me know,'” Morris said.
The businessman, 76, called in that favor years later.
“I said, ‘Could you get the Rolling Stones to come to Ridgedale, Missouri?’ And he goes, ‘Where? What?’ and … how that came about is just through fate, through fishing and a friendship.”
He said a group representing the Stones attended a Garth Brooks concert at a related venue and apparently liked what they saw.
The Stones’ tour is named after their critically-praised album released last October. At each stop, frontman Mick Jagger, 80, commands the stage for two hours with guitarists Keith Richards, 80, and Ronnie Wood, 77.
Asked if he would attend the July 21 show, Morris said: “If I’m kicking, I’m gonna be there, yeah.”
During a recent week off from the Rolling Stones’ current U.S. tour, the band’s keyboardist and musical director wasn’t lounging around at a swanky resort or jetting off to a private island retreat. Those hedonistic pursuits are for pampered rock stars. For Twiggs County-based multi-instrumentalist Chuck Leavell, the break was much better spent resting in his own studio in the Middle Georgia town of Dry Branch.
“This is my resort. Why would I want to go anywhere else?” said the affable musician during a recent phone chat. “I get to check on our projects out here in the woods, because we’ll be harvesting this season. It’s just nice to see things around here and be a family guy for a minute.”
Musician Chuck Leavell has played alongside some of the most famous rock bands. He told Monica Pearson he played concert tuba for two years in school.
Tens of thousands in a sold-out stadium are visually stapled to Mick Jagger belting “Start Me Up.” But the band’s eyes will frequently dart to the snow-haired presence stationed stage right.
Chuck Leavell is perched behind his bank of keyboards, electric piano and organ, his hand occasionally airborne, his glances with Jagger and Keith Richards subtle.
But those aren’t just friendly nods. They’re meaningful cues, just as a conductor directs an orchestra.
The maestro of the Rolling Stones, Leavell has served as their keyboardist and musical director since the early ‘80s, coming in as a veteran of the Allman Brothers Band and his own jam-rock outfit Sea Level.
“They count on me if anyone gets lost to be the person to make everyone feel comfortable,” Leavell says in his Southern lilt and with a crinkled smile the night before the April kickoff of the Stones’ Hackney Diamonds tour.
An exclusive look at Rolling Stones history
In his Houston hotel room, Leavell flips through weighty binders, giving USA TODAY an exclusive look at a trove of Stones history.
Pages of white loose-leaf, yellow legal paper and Rolling Stones stationery are meticulously slotted in alphabetical order, many of them bearing the names of song titles etched in rock history – “Miss You,” “Ruby Tuesday,” “Beast of Burden” “Gimme Shelter,” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – with notations alongside the names.
Chord changes, song keys and tempos are often scrawled in the margins, necessary reminders for a catalog spanning six decades and for a band that might need that head nod or hand signal as a prompt during one of their massive stadium shows.
Rolling Stones guitar hero Richards readily shares his appreciation of Leavell’s archives, telling USA TODAY in a statement that “without being able to fall back on these priceless records ‒ of chords, keys, arrangements, and other bits of alchemy – we would be truly lost,” while also bestowing the Keith-ism, “Gold rings on you, Chuck.”
Since that tour launch April 28 – also Leavell’s 72nd birthday – the Stones have played the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, with Jagger sharing “Time is On My Side” with its original singer, Irma Thomas (“To have the privilege of being with just the two of them in the dressing room (to rehearse) and then bring it to the band was so exciting,” Leavell says a few weeks after that performance); pulled out infrequently played fan favorites “Monkey Man,” “Shattered,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together” “Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)” and “She’s a Rainbow” at various shows; and, for Leavell, owned the spotlight at each date with fiery solo work during “Honky Tonk Women.”
Each show, with the core trio of Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood and additional players Steve Jordan, Darryl Jones, Matt Clifford, Karl Denson, Tim Ries, Chanel Haynes and Bernard Fowler, Leavell has rolled through set lists of classics usually totaling 20 songs.
There are only a handful of concerts until a July 21 wrap at a nature preserve in Missouri, and Leavell says that already the tour “far exceeded all of our expectations. … To me, it feels very much like a family working together.”
How Chuck Leavell helps Mick Jagger onstage
That’s a heady statement from someone who has been part of the Stones’ inner circle for decades, having played 890 concerts with them as of July 5.
A devout Rolling Stones follower and photographer in the Netherlands, Hendrik Mulder, keeps scrupulous stats about Leavell’s tenure with the band, and by his account, Leavell has performed in 247 cities (London the top location) and played 191 different songs (“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Start Me Up” the most, at 881 and 879 times, respectively).
Leavell, at the suggestion of a band tech, started saving almost every song list from rehearsals, set list from shows, notes about cover songs the Stones might attempt and personal scribbles to nudge his own memory since the band’s 1989 Steel Wheels tour.
Those details are regularly revisited.
“Let’s say there is a song we haven’t done for a while, and I’ve refreshed my memory through the notes and go through soundcheck and I’m looking around at everyone to make sure they remember the parts,” Leavell says. “But when you think about how Mick is engaging the public (on stage), that’s his gig, and sometimes it’s not unusual for him to have a question like, ‘Do I come in here?’ So he can glance at me and with a nod or hand signal (and) I can help him out.”
Leavell has also shared stages and studios with Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, John Mayer and The Black Crowes and is a lauded environmentalist with the notable 2020 documentary “The Tree Man.” He believes that his innately calm demeanor, expressed even more prominently when he returns home to his tree farm in Macon, Georgia, benefits his responsibilities as a behind-the-scenes guardian for the mightiest rock band still performing.
“Back in the day with Sea Level or the Allmans, if something would go wrong, I’d tend to get upset. And when I joined the Stones and those moments would occur, it was a lesson learned to just let it go, and don’t dwell on it. Most of the time it all ends up with a laugh.”
Tempo and the Rolling Stones: ‘There was only one Charlie Watts’
Cadence is a crucial component of the Rolling Stones’ live performances, and many of Leavell’s song sheets include numbers that can look random to an untrained eye – 135 for “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” 113 for “Miss You,” 143 for “Paint It, Black” – but those beats per minute are truly the heartbeat of each song.
“When you’re on stage, it’s easy to get overly excited, and you don’t want to count a song off and realize, uh-oh, it’s too fast. Or you’re too cautious and counted off too slow,” Leavell says. “We are adamantly checking the tempos in soundcheck, and the variations can be miniscule. On stage, I do a digital readout of the BPMs and take a moment to absorb that tempo. Mick is always concerned about getting the right tempo.”
This is the third tour in which the Rolling Stones are joined by Jordan, who has occupied the drum stool since the death of Charlie Watts in 2021. While reverence for the beloved sticksman is firm – “Charlie was Charlie Watts, man. There was only one,” Leavell laments – there is also much appreciation for Jordan and his different style.
“Steve is a harder hitter, a little more energetic,” Leavell says. “And we love that because it helps get us the energy that we all need. But he also does a great job respecting Charlie’s parts.”
‘Who knows what the future may hold’ for the Rolling Stones?
With the Hackney Diamonds tour trotting to a close, there of course remains the eternal question of when it will literally be the end of the road for the seemingly immortal rock band, all of whose core members are in their late 70s (Wood) and 80s (Jagger and Richards).
Given the impressive level of showmanship and reliable musicianship on this run, there is always the possibility that the band will continue to romp across stages worldwide.
Though Leavell is uncertain about more live shows, he is grateful for the present.
“Who knows what the future may hold?” he says, “But this tour has been historic and so much fun.”
It also has given him many more pages to add to his binders.
As the legendary Stones eye two big shows in Chicago — the closest they’ll come to Michigan — their keyboardist chats with Local Spins about the tour, which will also feature Albion-bred The War & Treaty.
Even after more than four decades as The Rolling Stones’ keyboardist and music director, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chuck Leavell still gets his thrills touring with the iconic rock band – never taking its legacy for granted.
And midway into their current U.S. tour, Leavell and his famous bandmates have hit their stride with a Chicago stop at Soldier Field looming on Thursday (June 27) and Sunday (June 30), the closest they’ll come to Michigan.
“We all felt confident from the start. We had done the homework in the rehearsal phase and got a good many of the new songs down fairly quickly,” Leavell said in a recent interview with Local Spins while on tour.
“We played probably about 60 or more songs in rehearsals and started sorting out what we could do for set lists. … The reviews were very positive. Jazz Fest (in New Orleans) was very special. We had scheduled it twice before and circumstances caused us not to be able to fulfill playing it, so I guess the third time is a charm.”
Busy On and Off Tour: Leavell (Courtesy Photo)
Charming audiences is nothing new for the Stones or Leavell. Considering his lengthy tenure in the band, Leavell’s comfort level with Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and crew – and their exhaustive repertoire – is unsurprising.
“Someone recently told me that they calculated how many shows I’ve done with the band since I came in and the figure is about 870,” Leavell noted. “So if I haven’t gotten things down by now …”
Getting things down for the Stones is only a small part of Leavell’s astounding accomplishments and impressive resume.
Not only was he a key member of The Allman Brothers during their heyday, but the Alabama native fronted his own band, Sea Level, and has since toured/recorded with the likes of Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Gov’t Mule and John Mayer.
Perhaps even more important, he’s established himself as a leading conservationist who co-founded The Mother Nature Network, an environmental news website.
As tree farmer outside Macon, Georgia – on land inherited by his wife, Rose Lane Leavell – Leavell created the award-winning Charlane Plantation and often speaks on conservation issues. He was the subject of an engaging and in-depth 2020 documentary, “Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man.”
He also hosts a PBS television program, “America’s Forests,” with two new episodes on the way.
“That will make 13 episodes for us, and now we are hoping to go to a one-hour program from the current 30 minutes. We’ll see how that pans out,” he said, noting he’ll be busy after the Stones tour concludes.
“My documentary has done well, and both of the aforementioned are available on Amazon Prime and some other streaming services. I have probably a half- dozen personal appearances booked before the end of the year, and of course, I’ll be spending a good bit of my time on my tractors and in our woods at Charlane, our tree farm in Georgia.”
FROM ‘ANGRY’ & ‘MESS IT UP’ TO ‘GET OFF MY CLOUD’ & ‘SHATTERED’
But for now, Leavell’s concentrating on his significant role with the Stones, including managing each show’s set lists — lineups that have included new songs from the band’s latest studio album, “Hackney Diamonds.”
“In addition to ‘Angry,’ we’ve done ‘Whole Wide World,’ ‘Mess It Up’ and ‘Sweet Sounds of Heaven.’ Keith has also done ‘Tell Me Straight.’ Don’t be surprised if others surface,” he said, adding that the band also has delved into songs they haven’t performed live in years.
Embracing Old and New Tracks: Leavell (Courtesy Photo)
“We’ve done ‘Out of Time’ – that’s a deep track for sure. ‘Get Off My Cloud’ some, ‘Shattered,’ ‘She’s So Cold’ and others.”
The goal for the band’s first U.S. tour since 2021? “We just do our best to balance the set offering with some new ones, some classics and some deep tracks.”
Tickets for Thursday’s Chicago show — $99.50-$2,500 — are available online via AXS.com. Sunday tickets available online here.
Leavell also said he’s happy that Albion-bred The War and Treaty will open for the Stones in Los Angeles in July. He noted that he had asked Michael and Tanya Trotter to sit in with him at a solo gig in North Carolina several months ago, but they had to decline because Tanya’s voice was stressed.
Of course, members of The War and Treaty are substantially more excited about opening for Leavell and the Stones come July 10 at L.A.’s mammoth SoFi Stadium.
“To me, opening for the Stones is the pinnacle of rock ‘n’ roll,” said Michigan native and band music director Max Brown. “Michael, Tanya and I were playing a gig in L.A. near SoFi Stadium a few months ago and Tanya said out loud, ‘I hope we get to play SoFi some day,’ and 10 minutes later we got the call.
“It feels like the culmination of years of hard work and I couldn’t be prouder to be playing this music before I watch one of the best bands ever.”
Chuck Leavell, a Birmingham-born musician, is best known for his role as the keyboardist in The Rolling Stones. What you may not know is that Leavell is also an environmentalist and host of America’s Forests on PBS—a documentary-style program about America’s most beautiful forests and how we can protect them.
Alabama-born music icon turned environmentalist
Born in Birmingham, Chuck Leavell has had a colorful career as a keyboardist for Dr. John, The Allman Brothers Band and eventually The Rolling Stones beginning in 1985. The Alabama Music Hall of Fame member and Birmingham Area Music Award winner has also worked with artists such as:
George Harrison Eric Clapton Blues Traveler John Mayer Miranda Lambert
Chuck Leavell hosts America’s Forests on PBS
In addition to his music career, Leavell is a tree farmer with a 2,500-acre tree farm and preserve in Macon, Georgia. As supporters of sustainable forestry and conservation, Chuck and his wife Rose Lane have two Georgia Tree Farmers of the Year awards under their belt.
As host of America’s Forests, Leavell focuses on forests across the country and highlights how sustainability creates a better world and community. From the Northwoods of Wisconsin to the Arkansas Delta, America’s Forests demonstrates the importance of keeping our forests beautiful and clean.
