Jim Keltner's Gig Book: A Great Drummer's Early Trajectory
“Damn, I’d forgotten that’s what Delaney and Bonnie paid me. Twelve bucks a night."
One day in the spring of 1989, Jim Keltner was sitting at home in Los Angeles in his favorite chair. “The older you get, the more you stick with one chair,” he said, though at 46 Keltner wasn’t exactly a pensioner, but the wiliest, subtlest drummer in rock & roll.
He opened an ancient, imitation-leather ledger, its cardboard edges crumbling, its pages brown and brittle: Jim Keltner’s carefully kept record of his first 10 years of work. The first entry was “Frat party, L.A. State College w/ Mike Conlon, 10/1/60. Paid: $15.” Keltner flipped a few pages. “Little League Ballpark opening, Van Nuys, w/ Steve Johnson, 4/15/62, paid $20…. Battle of Bands (2nd Place), w/ Hal Willis, 6/22/62.” For second place, the pay was zero dollars.
Slowly, magically, the names swam into focus: “….Las Vegas, Tropicana, Perez Prado, 11/19 to 12/16/64, paid $720 …. Start on salary w/Gary Lewis, $200/wk, first gig Minneapolis, 8/21/65…. G.L. session, ‘Just My Style,’ Leon R. producing [that would be Leon Russell], 10/6/65, paid $177.95…. 1/15 to 1/19/69, Ledbetter’s, Westwood, Delaney & Bonnie, 5 nites, paid $60…. 3/17/70, A&M Studios, Hollywood, Joe Cocker & Leon R., ‘The Letter’…. 3/20/70, Joe Cocker tour begins, Detroit, salary $250/wk…. 3/27/70, Joe Cocker, Fillmore East, live recording…. 5/15/71, Western One, Hollywood, Ry Cooder session…. 5/24/71, Ascot Sound, John Lennon & Phil Spector, ‘Jealous Guy’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier’ session…. Sunday, August 1, 1971, George Harrison, Madison Square Garden, Bangladesh concert, benefit….” 1
Keltner shut the gig book. Pushing back his trademark shades, he half-laughed. “Damn, I’d forgotten that that’s what Delaney and Bonnie paid me. Twelve bucks a night. But I didn’t give a damn, I just wanted to play.”
Gary Lewis and the Playboys, “She’s Just My Style” (released late 1965). Keltner: “First record I ever cut, bang, it’s Top Ten [the single rose to #3] and I’m hearin’ it everywhere I go and the whole thing just got into my system. I was hooked.”
Keltner skipped over a notable session. From March 16 to 19, 1971, with Leon Russell producing, Bob Dylan recorded “When I Paint My Masterpiece and “Watching the River Flow.” The latter was released as a single on June 3, rising only to #41 on Billboard’s Hot 100. These were the first of literally dozens of Dylan songs on which Jim Keltner played. Bassist Carl Radle, later of Eric Clapton’s Derek and the Dominos, and guitarist Jesse Ed Davis, who excelled with Taj Mahal and many other artists, were on the March session, too.
Adapted from “Jim Keltner’s Beatnik Beat,” by Tony Scherman, Musician, June 1989, pp. 76-81, 103.
Of course we are human. And I admit that I was a Gary Lewis fan and would not have missed any MN gig.
The Beatles played Met Stadium on August 21, 1965. I found no information about a specific Gary Lewis performance or event in Minneapolis on August 21, 1965.
Gary Lewis and The Playboys were active in 1965 and had success with several songs, such as "Everybody Loves a Clown," released as a single in August of that year, which reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
They may have played Duluth, where their single was breaking, but I found nothing.