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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Darley Newman horseback riding with Kelly Terry of D&K Ranch in the Finger Lakes National Forest. (Photo credit: Chad Davis/ Travels with Darley.)
“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.”
A view of the Pisgah National Forest from the Biltmore Estate where some of the earliest experiments in forestry were conducted by Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the USDA Forest Service. (USDA Forest Service photo by Robert Westover)
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.
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!
The former Allman Brothers pianist and honorary Rolling Stone talks to Kevin E G Perry about inadvertently giving ‘Top Gear’ its theme tune, celebrating 40 years with the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, and the ‘big loss’ of Charlie Watts.
ven if you don’t know Chuck Leavell by name, you’ve almost certainly heard him play. You might know his piano work from the Allman Brothers Band’s thrilling 1973 instrumental “Jessica”, which achieved hummable ubiquity across the UK as the theme tune from Top Gear. Then there’s his session playing for bands such as Train, who put Leavell front and centre on their huge 2001 hit “Drops of Jupiter”. Alternatively, if you’re one of the countless millions who’ve caught The Rolling Stones live at any point since Leavell started touring with them in 1982, you’ll have noticed his unruffled presence anchoring the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band from behind the keys. The 70-year-old with a cherubic face and snowy white beard from Birmingham, Alabama, credits his half-century of success to his ability to lend a touch of Southern rock authenticity to any song he graces. “My hands,” says a grinning Leavell, raising them up as if to play a riff on an invisible piano, “have a Southern accent”.
He’s speaking over video call from a hotel room in Amsterdam, the day after the Stones continued their 60th-anniversary celebrations in front of a local crowd of 53,000. The show had been postponed from June after frontman Mick Jagger tested positive for Covid, but he made a full recovery in time for the band’s massive appearances in London’s Hyde Park. “Mick’s back in perfect form. He’s a madman running around. He must be from another planet, is all we can figure,” says Leavell with palpable awe. “Most of us felt like it was between [the second Hyde Park gig] and Milan as the two best shows of the tour so far, but all the shows have been very consistent.”
He says it with a note of pride in his voice. When it comes to the Stones, consistency is Leavell’s department. Ever since the Steel Wheels tour in 1989, Leavell has been meticulously taking notes of exactly how the Stones do what they do each night on stage. “I did handwritten chord charts for every song,” he explains. “And I would make note of the tempo. If we needed to bump the tempo up, or if it felt good to slow it down a little bit.”
In what is perhaps an example of the essential yin-yang pull at the heart of the Stones, in the early days Leavell found that Jagger tended to want the tunes played faster, while guitarist Keith Richards was perpetually trying to ease things down a notch. “I think somehow, through all this time, we’ve found the balance of the right tempo!” says Leavell, whose encyclopaedic notebooks have become the band’s bible. “They’ve given me the moniker of musical director, which I scoff at,” he says. “Because Mick and Keith are the musical directors of the Rolling Stones.”
Over the past four decades, Leavell has been afforded the perfect vantage point to observe the miraculous, sometimes fractious, Jagger-Richards partnership. In that time the pair have sniped, squabbled and publicly made fun of each other’s genitalia, yet somehow they’re still together. What’s their secret? “First of all, it’s the songs,” says Leavell, reverentially. “Some of the greatest songs ever written in rock’n’roll. People ask me: ‘Don’t you ever get tired of playing ‘Can’t Always Get What You Want’? Hell no! I’ll play ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ any day of the week, baby, and twice on Sunday.”
Beyond the music, Leavell says, Jagger and Richards have reached their diamond anniversary the same way any couple does: sticking it out. “Yeah, they’ve been through turbulent times and they’ve had their differences,” says Leavell, “But it’s like a good marriage, man. I’ve been married 49 years. Have we had bumps along the road? Hell yeah, but the more we stuck it out the stronger our relationship became. I think it’s the same with Mick and Keith.”
In a band of notorious hellraisers, Leavell’s half-century of steady marriage and his easygoing manner sets him apart, but he cops to having enjoyed his share of wild nights. “Look, every band I’ve been in and artist I’ve worked with, pretty much at some point in their careers have experimented with this, that and the other, and, you know, guilty!” says Leavell, putting his hands up. “I’ve tried just about everything, but enough to know that, for me, the important thing was being able to play music.”
Times have certainly changed since the debauched Stones tours of the Seventies. These days the band are what Leavell calls a “big organisation”, with hundreds of road crew, and the drugs backstage come with a prescription. “We have a team of doctors that come and go, swapping in and out,” explains Leavell. “We have a Covid compliance officer. We have nurses. We have several rapid PCR testing machines, and we’re all tested at least three times a week.”
Leavell always dreamed of being part of a “big organisation” like the Stones. When he was 13, growing up in Tuscaloosa, Leavell went with his sister to see Ray Charles. He was never quite the same again. “It just absolutely blew me away,” says Leavell wistfully. “It was the Raelettes and the whole presentation. Billy Preston was playing organ, and Fathead Newman [on saxophone]. I left there thinking: ‘Wow, if I could ever be in a band that would move people like that just moved me, then that’s what I’d like to pursue.’ It was life changing.”
By then Leavell had already been learning piano for over half his life. His mother, Frances, was a keen player who would keep him occupied by sitting him at the keys. “She’d say: ‘Hey, Chuck, what do you think it would sound like if there was a big storm outside?’” recalls Leavell. “So I’d rumble in the low end and do some lightning strikes. Then she’d ask: ‘What do you think it would sound like if you hit a home run?’ She instilled in me the idea of thinking about music in terms of feelings and emotions rather than just chords and melodies.
At 18, Leavell moved to Macon, Georgia, the home of Capricorn Records, where his future wife Rose Lane White was working as an assistant. Leavell was trying to find work as a piano player, and one of his first gigs was with legendary New Orleans bluesman Dr John, real name Mac Rebenack, who had no qualms about putting aspiring musicians through their paces. After Rebenack told the band they might not be up to his standards, Leavell decided to pay him a visit at the Holiday Inn to get to know him better. “We talked a little while, and then he says: ‘Hey Chuckie, I’ll be right back’,” recalls Leavell. “He goes to the bathroom. I knew he was on methadone, but I didn’t know he was still copping on the streets. Time goes by, and I see this notebook. Curiosity got the best of me and I turned the cover over and on the first page was the name of everybody in our band, and to the side was all these voodoo symbols. I thought: ‘Oh, my God, what have I gotten myself into?’” As it turned out, the symbols were lucky charms. Reunited years later, Rebenack gave Leavell an envelope full of actual lucky charms. “And boy,” says Leavell with a wide smile, “Have I had good luck ever since!”
It was while playing with Dr John that Leavell caught the ear of Gregg Allman, who invited him to play on his first solo album Laid Back. Eventually, Leavell began jamming with the rest of the Allman Brothers Band, who were still reeling from the tragic death of lead guitarist Duane Allman in a 1971 motorbike accident. To his surprise, the band invited Leavell to join full time.
Joining the Allman Brothers catapulted Leavell to the top of the rock stratosphere. The band’s concerts were the stuff of legend, and Leavell was there at Watkins Glen in New York State in July 1973 when 600,000 people turned out to see them on a bill with the Grateful Dead and The Band. The show’s mammoth attendance broke the record set by Woodstock. That August they released Brothers and Sisters, their first album with Leavell and their most commercially successful. It contained timeless classics like “Ramblin’ Man” and “Jessica”, which featured Leavell prominently and has been synonymous with Top Gear since 1977. “It was so well known in England!” says Leavell happily. “It took a while for me to know that it was on the programme. One of my British friends told me: ‘Hey, man, did you know that song opens every episode?’
I was going to become a tree farmer. My wife said, ‘Well that’s interesting, but the Rolling Stones called you today’
Chuck Leavell
When the Allman Brothers split in 1976, Leavell continued playing with bassist Lamar Williams and drummer Jaimoe for a few years as Sea Level (a pun on the “C Leavell” the pianist had stamped on his tour cases). By 1981, however, Leavell thought his days as a touring musician might be behind him. Rose Lane had inherited land in Georgia, and Leavell told his wife he might focus on building a new career as a tree farmer. Fate had other ideas. “She listened patiently,” remembers Leavell, “And then she said: ‘Well that’s interesting, but the Rolling Stones called you today’.”
Within 36 hours, Leavell was on a plane to Massachusetts to audition. Although former Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan was chosen for that tour, Leavell impressed Jagger and Richards enough that he made a guest appearance when the tour came through Atlanta, and then joined full-time on their 1982 European run. He’s been there ever since, an essential component of a line-up that remained remarkably unchanged until the death of longtime drummer Charlie Watts following a heart procedure in August last year. “It still stings hard, it really does,” says Leavell. “It was just a shock, because everyone figured Charlie would recover, the doctors included. There was never a feeling of: ‘Hey, we’re going to lose Charlie’. It was just: ‘Hey, he’s got to have this thing done and in two to three months he’ll be fine.’ But it didn’t go that way. It’s a big loss all the way around: personally and musically. I think of him every day, and miss him.”
Away from the band, Leavell did stick to his plan to grow trees. In 1999, he and Rose Lane were named the National Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year. “We need to really start thinking hard about not blowing this thing up,” says Leavell when asked what his conservation efforts have taught him about the future of the planet. “For me, there’s a personal connection. Where does that piano come from? The thing that’s given me so much joy and a great career. There’s a spiritual connection for me, to wood.”
As Stones backing vocalist Bernard Fowler quips in The Tree Man, a 2020 documentary about Leavell, the pianist isn’t “just good at piano, he’s good for the environment.” He’s become, as Keith Richards once put it, the Stones’ “own Southern Gentleman”. Occasionally he still likes to take centre stage. His 2018 album Chuck Gets Big, recorded live with the Frankfurt Radio Big Band, saw him revisit music from throughout his storied life, with Stones, Allman Brothers and Sea Level tracks all in the mix. “I wanted to have a representation of who I am and what I do, and also wanted to make sure that the songs would adapt well to the big band arrangements. We had a lot of fun with that, it was quite a trip.”
This goes for forestry and nature. But in other cases, it might be the other way around. The lack of moss could also be a sign of vitality and freshness. It depends on the type of stone.
You may have noticed, dear reader, that I have been silent a bit longer than usual. I apologize for that. The reason may not be acceptable to everyone, but it is simple:
I sneaked off to get old(-er). Not like the elephant hiding away to die. More like me trying to prove that I’m not that old after all. So, there happens to be a band that is the same age as me – as a band. The members of the band are slightly older than me. What I did was that I went to their hometown to see them live in the local park called Hyde Park.
A birthday selfie at Carnaby Street No 9 in London.
What’s that got to do with forestry?
A most relevant question. Well, apart from that I after my vacation temporarily ran out of things to write about: Hyde Park is a combination of a meadow and a forest. We did see a fox there so I think you can call it a forest.
A nicely carved log in Hyde Park that we sat on, listening to Elton John the day before the Stones, and the Eagles the day after. About a mile from the Great Oak Stage.
Also, the main stage of the arena that is used for concerts is called the “Great Oak Stage” and it has a big oak on it. I’m not sure if the oak is real, but it’s there anyway, to the far left on the pic below (taken with my phone at a distance). And even if this oak is fake, there are many more, enough to call it a forest, in Hyde Park.
The Great Oak Stage in Hyde Park with the oak on the far left.
The Tree Man
Furthermore, the Rolling Stones keyboardist since 1982, Chuck Leavell, is known as “the Tree Man”. He is a forest owner from Georgia, US who combines his passions for music, sustainable forestry, and the environment. Chuck has his own tv-show, American Forests with Chuck Leavell where he informs about forestry and forest products.
Chuck Leavell at the keyboard behind Mick and Keith in Stockholm 2017.
Personally, I find it amazing that “we” (the forestry people) have a guy among us who is a professional musician. In most jobs and professions, you can start as mediocrity and then work yourself up on the job. To get a job as a musician, working with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Allman Brothers, Chuck Berry, Hank Williams Jr, the Stones, and many others like Chuck do, you must be the best from the start.
Let´s hope there will grow no moss on those Stones for many years yet.
The Rolling Stones opened their 2022 tour on Wednesday (June 1) in Madrid, Spain, a city they hadn’t played since 2014. The latest edition is named “Sixty” to mark the band’s 60th anniversary. For now, the tour is limited to 14 concerts, all in Europe and the U.K. The band had closed the 2021 U.S. edition of their “No Filter” tour – held entirely in the U.S. and first without Charlie Watts – – on Nov. 23 in Hollywood, Fla.
The opening night concert, before 53,000 fans at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, featured 19 songs, and the setlist was almost identical to those performed last year. The evening’s biggest surprise wasn’t lost on the audience: Mick Jagger let them know that it was the first time that the Stones performed the set’s fifth number, 1966’s “Out of Time,” in concert. Watch it and many other clips below.
Jagger and Keith Richards are 78. Ronnie Wood turned 75 on opening night (and the audience sang “Happy Birthday” to him). They were joined, once again, by drummer Steve Jordan, Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (piano/organ), Karl Denson (sax), Tim Ries (sax) Matt Clifford (keyboards), and Bernard Fowler/Sasha Allen (backing vocals).
As the lights dimmed, a brief video montage of Watts appeared on the giant screens. And when the tribute ended, there were the Stones, kicking things off with “Street Fighting Man.”
Pianist and vintage keys pro Chuck Leavell has been at the top of his game for more than 40 years, playing on record and live with The Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, John Mayer, The Black Crowes and – of course – The Rolling Stones.
In addition to his prolific and prestigious musical career, Leavell is also an active environmental campaigner, and co-founder of the influential Mother Nature Network(opens in new tab) website.
As long-standing Musical Director for The Rolling Stones he’s currently with the band, starting out on their brand new ‘Sixty’ tour – celebrating 60 years of great music – taking The Stones out on the road for 14 dates across Europe. We caught up with Chuck in rehearsals before the first gig in Madrid…
How are you doing, Chuck? Is the tour all set?
“It’s fantastic. Of course, we’ve had the sad loss of Charlie Watts but Steve [Jordan] came in for the tour of the US last year and all of us have known Steve for a long time, so it’s not like he’s a new guy. And he’s known ‘the book’ backwards having worked very closely with Keith on solo projects. Now that we’ve got one tour with Steve under our belts and the rehearsals are just finished it feels really, really natural now.
“Of course we miss Charlie – Charlie was there for 59 years – and Steve honours certain of his parts, of course. Just like I try to honour some of the parts by Nicky Hopkins or Billy Preston or Ian Stewart. It’s really feeling like a band now and we’re anxious to bring it to the people.”
Charlie always seemed like the ‘firm hand on the tiller’ of the Stones. Keeping everything together.
“Absolutely. He has a certain delicate touch. I’ll tell you a secret about Charlie. He used big heavy sticks. But he had a light touch. The heavy sticks created that Charlie Watts sound, but his technique was very delicate, which made for a unique style of drumming, as we know.”
Tell us about being Musical Director of the Rolling Stones. They’re quite an unpredictable bunch…
“Yes, it’s a challenge at times! I sort of scoff at that moniker. Mick and Keith are the Musical Directors of the Rolling Stones. Back in ‘82 – that was my first tour with the band – the setlist was the same every night for the 20 to 30 shows that we did. But in ‘89 we had a new record – Steel Wheels – and I made a point of saying to the guys ‘let’s not do the same set every night, you’ve got this incredible catalogue, you’ve got new songs, let’s go deep’.
“When we started the rehearsals and started to explore the songs, I started making hand-written chord charts of them, and making notes. So if there were background vocals, where did they come in? If there were horn parts, what were the horn parts? And the roadie I was working with at the time said ‘hey man, you’ve got pieces of paper everywhere, I’ve got to organise this for you’ and he went out and got a notebook with plastic sheets and he alphabetised everything.
(Image credit: R. Diamond/Getty Images)
“And this went on for the next tour – Voodoo Lounge – and the next one, the next one, the next one… Consequently I’ve got two deep volumes of notebooks, alphabetised, with all the notes and chord charts. Most of it I can keep in my head, but if there’s ever a question – ‘Hey Chuck, does the solo come before or after the middle eight?’ – y’know? I started to be able to give those answers.
“And Charlie felt comfortable if I could give him cues. So, if there’s a breakdown coming up, I’d give visual cues to him, or to Mick. Sometimes when Mick is out there entertaining the crowd he might get a little lost and I can be ‘Hey, it’s a verse’ [he holds his hand in ‘V’ shape] or ‘It’s a chorus’ [he makes a letter ‘C’]. So that’s kinda how the moniker came about. They were being kind to me and they put ‘Musical Director’ in the program these days, but I laugh at it. I’m just happy to do what I can.”
We were watching Martin Scorsese’s Shine A Light movie the other day and they won’t tell him the setlist until one second before the show starts. I guess things are a little more locked down for this tour?
“I draft the set list and in rehearsals I draft the songs of the day. And of course, I do this with Mick. We get together and I’ll compile a list and say ‘Hey, we haven’t done this one… All Down The Line… Or Rocks Off… Or She’s A Rainbow. Maybe we should go over these?’ And he’ll pick and choose. And we work together.
You know you’re gonna do Start Me Up. You KNOW you’re gonna do Can’t Always Get What You Want. And you’re gonna do Tumbling Dice every night. And Street Fighting Man…
I keep a database of every setlist we played at every city on every tour. And so here we are in Madrid. It was 2014 the last time we played here and I can see what the setlist was. And we played Barcelona in 2017 so I want to look at that to compare, just so we can make it a little different.
“That said, you know you’re gonna do Start Me Up. You KNOW you’re gonna do Can’t Always Get What You Want. And you’re gonna do Tumbling Dice every night. And Street Fighting Man… 65% of the set you know what it’s gonna be, but you can fool around with the rest of it. I won’t spill the beans but there’s one song now that the last time it was performed was in 1969. So it’s fun to work on these and bring something fresh to the audience. It’s fun to be a part of making those decisions.”
So you do know what song is coming next?
“There’s a part of the show – we’ve been doing this for about 15 years – we call it ‘the vote song’ and it’s officially known as ‘by request’. We put four songs up on social media and we let the fans pick. It’s a great way to let the fans have their say. We’ve had over 200,000 votes on songs. It’s a wonderful way to interact.
“But the setlist is always decided by the soundcheck. I’ll send a draft to the guys and if there’s any last minute decision about this or that, then we can make that call. Then the list is printed for all the crew three hours before the show.”
So what’s the opening song for this tour?
“I can’t tell you, man! I can tell you that the last tour we did, Sympathy [For The Devil] was the opening number a few times, which was a rare thing so we won’t be doing that. Jumpin’ Jack Flash we did quite a lot so we won’t be doing that. I can’t reveal the setlist. That’s top secret. [SPOILER: The band opened at Madrid with Street Fighting Man]”
You’ve worked with so many big stars. Why do you think they want to work with you?
“You want to know the secret? Work cheap, man! Look, my career has always been ‘one thing leads to another’ y’know? The Allman Brothers band… My years with them in the ‘70s. I got to know Bill Graham as a good friend. And then he became Tour Director for The Stones. He was kind enough to put my name forward when they were trying different people on keys. And the Steel Wheels tour had Eric Clapton as special guest on about half a dozen shows and they set him up, close to me on the stage, and we did Little Red Rooster together so there’s a nice musical dialogue between us.
“So then I have a voice on my answering machine [in an English accent] ‘Hello, this is Eric Clapton calling from Hong Kong. I’d like to know if Chuck Leavell would be interested in doing some shows at The Royal Albert Hall?’ Well, yes I would…
We did not think Unplugged would be Eric Clapton’s biggest selling record of all time, but it’s an honour that it is.
“The timing was good. And that led to the George Harrison tour. His last tour, the one in Japan. That was an amazing experience. It’s literally been one thing leads to another. John Mayer is a good friend. He’s spent a lot of time in Atlanta in my home town of Georgia. He was working with a guy called Clay Cook in the ‘90s and I did a session remotely on a song they had written together. And he was like ‘Let’s try Chuck on an album or two’. And then David Gilmour…
“I was Musical Director on a show in Passaic New Jersey at The Capitol Theatre in the MTV era. It was called Guitar Greats. I put the band together and we backed up guitar players. Dickey Betts was on the show, Tony Iommi, Lita Ford, Link Wray and David Gilmour… And then my wife was looking at the messages on the guest book of my website and she says ‘Hey Chuck, there’s a guy here that says he’s David Gilmour’. And the message read ‘It’s David Gilmour here – honest.’ And he left an email. I was reluctant to get in touch ‘cos I thought someone was scamming, but I did and sure enough it was David.”
You played on Clapton Unplugged. Did you realise at the time what a giant that was going to be? What is that – 26 million albums sold?
“It’s pretty crazy. At that time Eric was playing with Greg Phillinganes as the lead and I came in to replace Alan Clark who’d gone back to play with Dire Straits. We did 24 nights at The Albert Hall, and then the Japan tour. At the end of that Greg decided that he didn’t want to tour anymore so I got the chair. Unplugged was the next thing after that.
“During the event it was great, but the feeling was, ‘there’s been a lot of Unplugged’. A lot of artists had done it – at least a dozen at that point – and so maybe this is just another one? We did not think it would be his biggest selling record of all time, but it’s an honour that it is.”
(Image credit: Chuck Leavell)
On Tears In Heaven you’re playing a harmonium? That’s quite something. It would have been so much simpler to bring a synth?
“[Laughs] Well, we wanted to be true to the name ‘Unplugged’. There have been some artists who’ve cheated a little bit on the show, but we were adamant that we were going to do it the real way. But I can tell you, my legs got a workout that day!”
You’re obviously an amazing pianist too, but surely you’re not bringing a full-size piano out with The Stones these days?
“Well, thank God for the digital age. Technology is so amazing. I’m using a Yamaha CP-4 for piano. And there’s a specialised phased Rhodes sound on there that I use. There’s also a Wurlitzer and that’s the real deal. I’ve yet to hear a digital reproduction of the Wurlitzer that’s as accurate as it needs to be, so I use the real thing. I use a real Hammond, too. Used to be the original Hammond B3 but I’ve retired that now and now use an XK-5. It’s still made by Hammond. Suzuki bought the Hammond name many years ago and they’ve worked really hard to recreate the sound of a B3 and they’ve finally done it. I’m really, really pleased with this instrument.”
When I hear all those synthy sounds from the ‘70s I’m kinda glad that I didn’t go that route. I guess I’m just a purist.
Does that have a Leslie on it as well?
“I use a pedal called The Ventilator. A friend of mine, Greg Black, is a Hammond organ technician. He owns Black Hammond who do great work on Hammond organs, and he turned me on to it. I tried it in rehearsals and I was amazed. The first time I used it the sound man said ‘Man, that thing sounds incredible’. We used to have a Leslie inside an isolated case, but you still get a muffled sound and the wind sound of the horn spinning round but with this pedal just get a direct sound without any distraction. I’m very happy with it.”
I was listening to your big band album which is great. Is that a digital piano there or is that the real thing?
“That’s the real thing. I was invited to come and play as a guest artist with The Frankfurt Radio Big Band and I sent them 12 MP3s of songs I wanted to do and they had three arrangers do the arrangements for them. They had a rehearsal without me there and I arrived the next day to play with them. I was scared shitless. These guys were so good! I’m sitting there thinking ‘You better raise your game up, Chuck, ‘cos these cats ain’t foolin’.
“The album was so well recorded. When we came to the mixes I said ‘Let’s see if we can take the audience out’ and make it more intimate and that’s what we did. The isolation on the recording was so good. So it’s absolutely a live record, front to back, but we’ve just taken the audience out.”
I loved Blue Rose on the album. It’s a great opportunity for you to cut loose with some soloing.
“I’m not a great songwriter but I do like to paint a picture musically with instrumentals. I got to give a shout out to the folks at BMG who were kind enough to put my big band record out. They have the solo records of Keith and Ronnie and Charlie. I think it’s great that they’re supporting us guys.”
Let’s go right back to your work with The Allman Brothers… Jessica, Ramblin’ Man… What were you playing back then? Just whatever was in the studio, or were you playing something special?
“Well, it was a Steinway. It wasn’t a Model D as I recall. It was about a six and a half-foot piano and we used that. Then we did a tour with Greg Allman as a solo artist and we played all these beautiful halls in all these cities, and we played Carnegie Hall. And they had a Model D – nine foot – and it was just brilliant. It was the best piano I’d ever played and everyone who played it wanted to buy it. But the overseer of Carnegie wouldn’t sell it. But then he died, two weeks before we got to play there. So we asked if we could buy it and they said yes!
“We got it back down to Capricorn Records in Macon and so all the records I did subsequently were on that Model D. But Capricorn went bankrupt in 1980 and everything got sold off. I think it went to a church somewhere. That was a special instrument.
“There was a time in the early 80s when there were synthesizers on all the records and I thought ‘I’ve gotta start learning this technology’. I married up with the Korg company and did a lot of clinics around the country, demonstrating their different models, but I thought ‘I just love the piano… And I love the Wurlitzer…’ Vintage keys like the Clavinet and the Rhodes. When I hear all those synthy sounds from the ‘70s I’m kinda glad that I didn’t go that route. I guess I’m just a purist.”
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Tell us about your documentary film, The Tree Man. What’s it like being centre stage for a change?
“The impetus for that was just to have a document for my family and future generations. But part of the contract was that ‘Chuck, you must make every effort to secure interviews with all the artists that you work with’ and I was like ‘Oh god, what have you done… Now I gotta go asking favours’. It was a little embarrassing. But we ended up as a tag team where I would do the first ask – ‘Would you be willing?’ – and then [filmmaker] Alan Forrest would do the hard asks. We thought if we can get 60% we’ll be happy… But we got 95% And that was very flattering and a big shock. It worked out great.”
So are you looking forward to the tour ahead?
“Y’know, what an amazing opportunity to celebrate a band’s 60th anniversary? It’s an honour that none of us take lightly. This isn’t just another tour. It’s an amazing thing to be able to go out and do it at this level. Of course, it’s The Rolling Stones and I’m just a part of that, but it’s to celebrate them writing great songs, making great records and playing great shows. We want it right, from the beginning to the end.
“Mick is so dedicated. He does vocal exercises every day and his pipes have never sounded better. His energy has never been better. He knows how to work it.
“Keith and Ronnie on guitar. Everybody has cleaned up and sobered up. Ronnie had a little bout with cancer and got over it so there’s a feeling of ‘Wow! We’ve gone through all this stuff and we still get to do it’. So let’s do it to the utmost that we know how.”
Are Mick and Keith speaking to each other right now?
“They’re brothers. Totally, brothers. I read an interview with Mick and they asked him about that, and he said that the older they get, they realise that whatever conflict here and there they may have had in the past is not there any more. To see them together with Ronnie in rehearsals laughing it up, going off and playing a blues song and Mick grabbing a harmonica and playing so beautifully… They’re brothers. I think we’re all brothers at this time.”
We are thrilled to announce the Rolling Stones 2022 Tour! Titled SIXTY to celebrate 60 special years together – Mick, Keith and Ronnie (along w/ Chuck Leavell) will be playing dates across Europe this summer, including two shows at London’s BST Hyde Park.
JUNE 01 – Wanda Metropolitano Stadium – MADRID, SPAIN 05 – Olympic Stadium – MUNICH, GERMANY 09 – Anfield Stadium – LIVERPOOL, UK 13 – Johan Cruijff ArenA – AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS 17 – Wankdorf Stadium – BERN, SWITZERLAND 21 – San Siro Stadium – MILAN, ITALY 25 – American Express Presents BST Hyde Park – LONDON, UK JULY 03 – American Express Presents BST Hyde Park – LONDON, UK 11 – King Baudouin Stadium – BRUSSELS, BELGIUM 15 – Ernst Happel Stadium – VIENNA, AUSTRIA 19 – Groupama Stadium – LYON, FRANCE 23 – Hippodrome ParisLongchamp – PARIS, FRANCE 27 – Veltins-Arena – GELSENKIRCHEN, GERMANY 31 – Friends Arena – STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
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.
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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 
